Grace Watch #18 (September 16-October 28)

New Words/Phrases:
ticklish - lik-lish
hot dog - hah-doga
bell pepper - buhl-puppy
lemon - memmon
tomato - tato-tato
hiccups - ee-dops
jacket - dac-dek

She has also started adding a -y sound to the end of lots of words, such as hug(gy), dog(gy), bag(gy), ball(y), etc. We're not sure why she does this, but it's pretty cute anyway.

I've also been trying to wean her away from the TV (which she would watch constantly if I'd let her), so I've had to answer, "Not now..." a lot to repeated requests for movies. One time I said that and then said, "Say, 'okay'," so she said, "O-tay" and went about her way. Later I heard her talking to herself, saying the same thing over and over again, and so I listened carefully. This is how it went:
"Lilo?...Nah now...Tay....Nani?...Nah now...Tay....Buds?...Nah now...Tay....Nine-nine?...Nah now...Tay."
Translation: "[Movie title: Lilo & Stitch, Bugs, Einstein, respectively]?...Not now...Okay."
Isn't that hilarious? It kinda made me sad, too, 'cause I don't want to say no to her all the time, but I also don't want to let her watch movies all day either. Oh well, at least she wasn't sad as she was saying all that.

She is also developing into quite the drama queen. When it's time to go to bed, I say (in a subdued, attempting-to-be-calming voice), "Time for n'night, Gracie." However, she has misinterpreted this as me being sad. So whenever we talk about n'night, she says "sad", does the sign language for it, lays down, and then moans and groans like she is very sad. She does this for several seconds and then I say, "No, let's be happy!" and then she says "happy!", signs that, and then is very happy and smiling. Maybe she'll be an actress someday. Hopefully not, though. :)

Another recent development is that after a meal she always tells me what she just ate (as if I didn't just make it for her! ;) ). She says, "All done!" and I say, "Are you all done?" "Mmm-hmmm, wan-wich" "Did you have a sandwich?" "Doops" "And grapes?" "Moke" "And milk too?" "Yee-haw, num-num-num!" It's pretty cute, and definitely makes me feel good about the food I've just prepared!

Okay, last thing for language! She has started repeating everything we say, which has made it very difficult to figure out what she wants! One such conversation went like this:
Gracie (gesturing towards something on the counter): Dat
Me: What do you want?
G: Want?
M: What is it?
G: Is it.
M: Can you show me?
G: Mow me.
M: No, can you point?
G: Point.
M: Ahhhhh! (ok, not really, but that's what I want to do)

Favorite Foods: smoothies (moo-mies), marshmallows (lu-lellos), candy (tanny), raisin bran (cereal), and pumpkin bread

smoothie mustache!

Favorite Movie: Dora the Explorer! We rented a video from the library, and she has watched it over and over! She even sings and dances along to "We Did It!"

Favorite Books: Dora's Colors, The Sneetches, Curious George, and Yummy-Yucky
She loves books, and quite often we find her reading on the couch or in her room all by herself. I hope she always loves books so much!

Adventures: We got to go to Knights' Ferry (a historical site near here) as part of a ward preschool group last month, and we had a nice little hike and picnic while we were there. Here is a picture of all the little girls who went. (Mine's the short one.)

We've also had some fun Halloween-themed fun, but I'll do another post about those.

Other:
Her hair is coming in so thick, and it's getting so long! I love it! I was going to cut it, but I think I'll wait a little while since it's wavy and doesn't look as uneven as if it was straight. I've been experimenting with some different hairstyles, and it's been so much fun. She's really good about sitting still while I do it, too (well, as long as she's eating or watching TV).

Look at that thick head of hair!

Fun hairstyles!

A couple weeks ago Dave was playing with her, doing Daddy things that really are safe but still are hard for moms to watch (y'know what I mean?), like throwing her in the air or tossing her on the bed. Anyway, I got a little scared at one point and said, "David!" and Gracie said, "Bavid!" It was so funny!

She's learned how to gargle liquids in her throat, so now she does it at every opportunity. She'll do it, look at us proudly, and say, "Bubbles" (as in, I just blew bubbles in my throat). It has actually come in handy a few times, though, like when she's had something sugary and I want her to rinse out her mouth with water. :)

She has lots of fun pretending to be a big sister when we watch a friend's baby twice a week. Here they are watching "Baby Einstein" together. I put the baby on the blanket, and Gracie was in her rocking chair. A few minutes later I looked and Gracie had left her chair to sit by the baby! She's such a good helper!

My computer doesn't have speakers, so I have to use headphones to listen to any audio. One day Gracie was begging to listen to "Hoo-hoo" (i.e. Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape"), so I found it on YouTube and let her listen on the headphones. She was really getting into it...until I got the camera. These pictures cracked me up!

Jammin' out!

What?

She also played her first "board" game! We got out Hi-ho Cherry-o after FHE one week and played it. Kinda. She got very upset if anyone else got to pick up cherries, and she really just wanted to spin the spinner, thank you very much. But a good time was had by all nonetheless.

And here are some more pictures I had to include.

sittin' in the Lego box!


THE END!