No Excuses

It's been a long while since my last post. I won't go into a big song and dance with excuses why...there's nothing to blame. That being said, it's all the house's fault. After passing on two (low) offers within the first 9 days, this dang house is still on the market. I've spent all my time running around after a little busybody, cleaning things up. As you can imagine, it's been exhausting straightening every little thing each time we leave the house--and for that reason we didn't do as much this summer as I would have liked. Turns out, it's easier to hang around the house and keep things moderately clean, then scramble before a showing. (Which, to be honest, there haven't been many in the last two weeks.)
The list I have of Laine's words seems ridiculous now. It's months old, and instead of just words, she currently rattles off 5 or 6 word sentences. I feel rather guilty not having documented this AMAZING time in her development, but I calm myself by knowing how much we've enjoyed it.

The following is an untimely list of her words before and around the 4th of July. Dirty, sweep, diaper (die-py), bite, pat, bear, truck, lamp, noodle, pasta, hockey, run, clock, yellow, blue, cocoa (hot cocoa), chalk, pie, eggroll, wipe, onion, coffee, other (uses correctly), spoon, fork, knife, cracker, jean, strawberry, weak, zipper, work, wet, boss (as in, "who's the boss?" "Laine boss!") bumbum, out, animal, pirate, eat, light, cookie, on, comb, heart, (knows the shape), mouse, bunny, bone, peek, hand, poke, naked, two (uses correctly but now uses for anything other than one!) shirt, sheet, cup, kitty, mommy room, ride bike, remote, towel, pillow, pat and pet, tap, blow.

A few funnies and things:

For awhile, everything was "yeah yeah." Not just one affirmation, but always two.

She called everything yellow for a while, and just as I was thinking she'd never know her colors, she shocked me by knowing them all. In an instant.

She says hello to everything. Dogs, rocks, her feet. One night at dinner, she said, "Hello, knife!"

For awhile, her most common phrase was "Mama read it!"

She knows a lot of her books by name. Her words: "I Yove Trucks," "I a Bunny," "Goodnigh Moon," "Runny Bunny" "Yamberry," and "Daddy Cozy Hug" among many others.

She's big on order and doing things the same way every time. She and I snuggle and watch a little Sesame Street in the morning, and she tells me repeatedly as I drink my daily caffeine, "Mama coffee. Mama hot cocoa." (I have hot cocoa in my coffee.) If I don't have it, she wonders where it is.

She can say and do "Pat-a-cake," "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes," "Where is Thumbkin?" and sing a number of Wiggles songs, including "Rockabye Your Bear" and "Hot Potato."

She's always wanting us to do what she does. "Mama do dat!" "Daddy do dat!" (As she lays on her tummy naked in the tub. Um, not gonna do dat. My favorite sentence of hers for awhile was "Mama do dat float on tummy!")

If she hears a car coming into our cul-de-sac, she runs onto the grass and says, "Car coming!" If it is a louder sound, she says, "Truck coming!"