"More-n" Talking and Tickling

 

This is a Video of Grace saying "tickle tickle." It is like she is speaking in tongues. She says it at the very beginning a bit and then at the end right before throwing her shoes down.

Grace is at such a cute age! Her speaking skills have really skyrocketed lately and her personality is so much fun to watch come to life. She loves to tell people, "Bye-Bye!" and she has such a loud, fun way of saying it...I will have to get her to do it on video soon. Every night and before going to the bath for nap time she will make the rounds telling everyone, "bye bye!!" and waving and sometimes blowing kisses. She is extremely affectionate and always wants to give everyone in the house a kiss goodnight on the cheek as well.

When it was Halloween she took to telling all the ghosts goodbye when we went on walks and saw decorations. Her way of saying it was, "bye, bye BOO" or if it was a small ghost, "bye-bye baby BOO."  It was adorable!

Another favorite waving moment was when she was playing around while Mommy tried to watch "Dancing with the Stars" (Michelle got us all hooked this season!). When the contestants all walked down the big staircase at the beginning of the show, Grace ran up to the TV and waved to them. Then they waved back!! and she was soo excited. She kept waving and waving! It was hilarious.

Lately she has taken to talking a lot about it being cold outside and needing to stay warm. She likes to play with her dollies "babies" and put them under blankets, telling them, "Baby, COLD, blankie."  She also tells me, "hat, on, COLD."  She is also getting very good at enunciating her consonants: "BooKK" and "BooTT" are favorites.

Truly, it is amazing to watch a baby learn a language. And it is neat to realize she is picking up new words almost daily, and trying out sounds. A few weeks ago when she and I were in the bath playing, she wanted to stop and nurse, which she calls, "num-num." So, I said to her, "num- num break." and she pulls away from my breast and very thoughtfully says, "bake? bake?" since that was a new word to her.

What is perhaps most fun is just being able to communicate so much with her. She has been very good at understanding me for quite some time but it is great to have more dialogues now and to see what she comes up with when we talk. The other day she wanted to go outside and I told her she couldn't because it was snowing and she didn't have boots on. Her response was to go down the hall and get my big Sorrel Boots and heft them to the entry hall and try to put them on (see below). She then looked up at me like, "ok, problem solved. Let's go!"

Lastly, I have to explain the title of this post. Grace says, "More-n" for "more" because she has not yet differentiated between when to say "More" and when to say "again" so she just combines them into one word. This is one of the most common words to hear throughout the day. That and "you" which Grace uses to mean "me" and especially to mean. "I want to see videos of me on the computer!"  I am a full-time translator these days, but I love it.

 The ladies in Red

 It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around our house.

Grace jumping on the tramp in the first real Snow

 Thanksgiving

Going Sledding for the first time with Alex, Johnny, Michelle, and Jenny.

My love-bug

Autumn

WEll...I just wrote a very long post to go with these pictures...and it just erased it all!! So I am sorry, I don't have time to do it again and I guess I will just put the pictures out there. Hopefully some day I will find time to write again. How extremely frustrating!

Smiling (but no singing) for the camera

Grace and I have started going to a mom and baby music class at the home of a girl in our neighborhood. Grace spends most of the class intently taking in everything, especially all the many other kids. I wasn't sure at first if she even liked it at all, but then when we get home she sings the songs and it is really cute. This morning she was singing a song we call "the me song." She was sitting next to me just singing it right on key to herself and I tried to sneak over to get the camera, but as soon as I did she stopped.

 I turned the camera on and tried to coax it out of her, as seen, but she wouldn't sing anymore. She really likes to see the pictures we take of her right after we take them, so that is what she is trying to do here. She keeps thinking I am taking her picture, so she does that funny smile with her eyes squinting. So funny!

Fun with Cousins--Summer Highlights

This is a bit of a catch-up blog. As the weather FINALLY starts to get cooler, I have been thinking back on all the fun outdoor adventures we have had over the last few months.

Grace loves to go do things! And luckily we have been able to get out and go see the Zoo, many a park, The Aviary, This is the Place State Park, and the State Fair (some many more times than others).  Often we have been lucky enough to have cousins and family along which always makes everything more fun. We even had the supreme blessing of meeting up with Auntie Miriam,  Uncle Dave, and cousins Abby and Elena who came all the way from Australia to spend some park time. Grace really loved meeting her cousins (OK, so she met them once before, but she was only a few days old then so it sort of didn't count from her view).

 Also, I have to give a huge thanks to Michelle, or Mee-Mee (Korean characters for "Beautiful, Beautiful" ;) as Gracie calls her, for stepping in for me and taking Grace to the Fair and the Zoo with Angie and the kids while I taught class etc.  It is a fun aunt who takes 2 nieces under the age of 3 on the big sack slide at the Fair...at the same time! Thank you, Michelle, you rock!

P.S I can't seem to get the "up and down" photos to not come out sidewards on the blog...this is a new phenomenon that started with the new and improved downloading. They are the right side up in our files on the computer but when I download them they automatically go this way. So...I apologize for the neck cranking involved below. If any of you know how to fix this issue, let me know.  

Without more Adieu~ 

Getting Ready for Halloween...a bit early

Gracie and Grandma singing "Boo," one of Grace's favorite songs. She can sing all the Boos, and mumble the rest right on the melody when she is in the right mood. It is so cute! She has been singing this all summer so we are excited to soon have it be appropriate for the season.

Firsts

 Her shirt says, "I'm Mommy's Dream come True" which is, well, true. So I wanted to take a picture. This was Grace's first "camera smile." Love it! She looks like the happy Buddah.

This darling outfit was given to cousin Alex by my good friend, Joh Mee Kyung. I think it is adorable.

This is Grace getting ready for her first haircut at a barber shop.

The stoic awaits the cut

And here is Grace's first real swimming adventure. I had taken her swimming a few times before in the Winter, but this was her first time in an outdoor pool in the Summer. And now she is old enough to really have some splashy fun.      

 Gracie loves her Daddy. She also just started to say, "Da Da" which is super cute. She gets really excited whenever she sees her Dad, like now, as I type this with her on my lap, she is saying, "Da-Da?"

We also got a new safety net on the trampoline and Grace loves to run around like a crazy person on it now. It is a great place to just let her go wild.

And, the newest Gracie phase: The Dolly.  Grace absolutely LOVES her "baby." She is the most attentive mother ever and is vigilent at making sure her baby is taken care of at all times. Her first word upon waking up is, "baby?" and even in the middle of the night, she often wants to be reassured the baby is right next to her on her bed. Below is a picture of Grace pushing her baby in her stroller that Grandma Nan got for her. It is amazing how much mothering instinct Gracie has already. I didn't really expect her to take to her baby like she did, but boy--she is a mother in embryo for sure.