She's Brilliant

My littlest one has really grown up so much over the last several months. She’s begun talking and putting words together. Of course, her favorite word is NO, which she uses in response to almost everything. No musi (no music), no sing (no singing)…[apparently she doesn’t care for my voice at bedtime]. She can also be very determined and contrary. The sweetest thing is that she has begun to read some of her stories along with me. When I read “Goodnight Moon” she says, “Moo” and when I say “Goodnight Room”, she says, “Roo”. And she just smiles and smiles when we read this story [Goodnight Moon]. I think she’s just so proud of herself that she is able to mimick me and read the story along with me. She also used to say Poo-bee but can now say Pooh Bear, just two weeks later. She still says Seato for seat or chair and she often adds a ‘y’ to many words like sweaty for sweater. I find this last bit odd because most the adults around her do not use baby talk. She earnestly listens to every word used now and tries to repeat it. She has also mastered the shape sorter in only one week. She’s brilliant.

She and her sister have also begun playing together and really talking to one another without need of parental intervention. I just think it is the cutest thing and it also makes me proud. [of course there are the other moments but they are becoming fewer]

In amongst all the cuteness is the hardest part for Z guy and me. This child still does not sleep through the night. Every 6 days or so, she tricks us and does sleep for almost 7 hours, but practically every night, she wakes between 1 and 3am and then again between 4 and 5am. Her wakeup time should be around 6:30am but when she wakes up around 5am, we usually can not get her back to sleep. Most nights only require about 30-40 minutes to get her back to sleep but some nights are much worse and can last longer than two hours. I know that someday she’ll figure out this sleep thing but there are days where I am so exhausted. It’s a darn good thing that she’s 80% adorable most of the time. As much as I’ve expressed the wonders of being a parent, my complaints to my co-worker have convinced her that children are not for her.