Lauren started getting bit at daycare a few months ago and unfortunately she learned the behavior. When she bites or tries to bite at school, she gets time-out and they explain to her that she must be nice to her friends and that teeth are for eating. Lauren has lost both her teachers at school recently and has had a different teacher everyday (we’re looking to move her to the new school they’re opening a mile from our house…it’s the same school, just a new location). What that means is that after a few weeks of no biting, Lauren’s probably a little stressed and the biting returned today. The teacher told me that she stopped Lauren before she bit the other child and put her in time-out and asked her if she knew why she was there and Lauren said “teeth for eat”. At least she’s listening:).
Happy Father’s Day to the best dada in the whole world.
Love,
Lauren
Apparently Lauren knows her shapes! Last night we were giving Lauren her bath and I drew a star with her bath crayons and she said and signed star (which I’ve seen her do before). So I drew a circle and she said “circle”, then I drew a square and she said “square” then I drew a triangle and she said “triangle”!! Then I asked her to draw a circle and she did! I can only assume she learned it in school, makes me wonder how long she’s known it? Such a little smarty pants we have!
I think the two biggest things that have happened between 19 and 20 months is that Lauren is talking even more and she’s running really well and getting really fast!
Talking - She repeats anything and everything you say…it’s so cute! She’s picking up so many more words each day and I can’t even keep track of how many words she knows now, but my guess would be over 200. She’s putting 2 and 3 words together all the time and she said her first full sentence this week…she had just woke up and over the monitor I hear “What happened to Elmo?” She had ripped pop-up Elmo out of a pop-up book and he was laying on her dresser. So cute and smart! She’s still adding to her signing repertoire too!
Favorite saying - “What happened?” We hear this no fewer than 1,000 times a day! Followed closely by “yeah” as a response to most everything except “do you want to change your panties”…that is almost always “no”. =)
Favorite color - purple, hands down
Favorite toy - her pink blankie and her phone (which she calls her “hello” and talks on in the car just like mommy!)
Running - She’s getting so much faster! I actually have to jog to catch up to her! She LOVES to run through the aisles of Target, Dillons, etc.
Secrets - She loves for mommy/daddy to tell her secrets (usually to go give the other one a hug/kiss), puts her hand next to her ear to listen, gets a HUGE smile on her face and takes off running to the other one to follow through on the secret!
Jumping - Right around 20 months, Lauren started trying to jump but she’d jump with one foot and the other would step after. But just a week later, she was jumping all by herself! She’s such a quick learner!
Favorite people - Of course mommy and daddy are at the top of the list, but that is followed closely by grammy and Shane. Billy teases Shane asking him how he likes having his own fan club!
Comprehension - Lauren understands almost any command you give her and loves to help out. She gets really upset if you don’t let her help…”I help” is another of her favorite sayings. Grammy planted flowers for us this weekend and Lauren loves helping mommy water them.
Favorite food - popcycles. She LOVES freezer ice (the colored ice in the plastic tube thing) and requests a certain color then when she has a few bites left, starts requesting her next color. =)
Teeth - Her top 2 eye teeth continued working their way down this last month and 1 of the bottom ones started coming in. Only 1 more to go and then the 2 year molars are next!
Potty training - We continue to let her sit on her potty whenever she wants and she usually potty’s on it once everyother day or so. There hasn’t been any recent success at daycare.
Daycare - She’s been through quite a bit of change in the last few weeks as her lead teacher, Tracy, was promoted to a lead preschool teacher and Annie, her asst lead, was promoted to Lauren’s lead teacher. Unfortunately, after being bit a few times by her best friend, Alli, Lauren has learned the behavior and has bitten Alli back a few times and recently bit other children over toys she wanted or toys they took from her. I guess I have to be glad that considering she’s the smallest kid at the entire school of 100 kids, at least she’s standing up for herself, but I know that the behaviour isn’t good. The director, teachers, and I are hoping the biting will stop as she adapts to the change.
Favorite animals - Dogs and ducks. We have a family of 5 ducks in our neighborhood and one of the first thing she asks for in the morning is the “quack quacks”. We spend a lot of time looking for them and when we find them, trying to pet them (she thinks all animals need some love, including the baby goats at the petting zoo!) and feeding them bread. She absolutely loves Brody and thank goodness Brody is one of the most patient dogs in the world. She spends time laying with/on him, feeding him food one at a time off of a spoon, throwing balls for him, and giving him hugs/kisses.
She’s getting so big and is just such a little girl now! This summer is going to be so fun!
