In case any of you have been wondering if we stopped taking pics of Lauren after Christmas, the question is answered…the gallery is now up-to-date through the end of April! As an auditor, my life is pretty hectic from January - April, so that time period every year is rough to get any personal stuff done as I’m working a bit in the evenings as needed and putting in time at the office on Saturday’s. But that is over and hopefully I can keep up a bit better. I could ask Bill to do it for me during that part of the year, but who are we kidding, I’m much too controlling and “he wouldn’t do it right”. =)
Lauren is just amazing. We really feel like she’s gained a lot of confidence in the last few months. She’s not afraid to push her way through on the playground, to speak up and ask for what she wants, and to volunteer to do everything first and demonstrate to the rest of her gymnastics class. We went for a bike ride this weekend and rode to a playground…after we’d been there a few mins, another family with a little boy Lauren’s age got there and Lauren immediately went over the little boy and said “come on, let’s play” and off they went. Any hint of “shy” she used to have is about gone! That makes her daddy a little nervous!
The saying of the weekend was “do they”. At the end of about everything, we’d hear “do they”. I’m not sure what she thinks it means, but she’s been hearing it somewhere! The classic that we still love is “so”. You’ll ask her “why did Brody go outside?” Her response “so”…said like there’s going to be more, but there never is. It’s hysterical. We think she has it confused with “because”. She’ll also end sentences that way…”Brody went outside and he’s chasing bunnies, so…”. One of our other favorites is “I’d LOVE to!”. Anytime you ask her something she’s excited about (such as yesterday, “would you like to go to the farm and see the animals (Deana Rose Farmstead)?” she answers with “I’d LOVE to!”). Or, if you do something good, she’ll say “good job mommy!!” or “I’m proud of you mommy!” She is a very nurturing person…she’s always concerned with whether you have something to eat/drink, that you are comfortable, have a blanket, whether you are cold and need a jacket, if you feel ok or are sick, if you’re tired, if your food tastes good, if you’re full, etc. She is going to make a great mommy someday!
We’re also convinced that she may be a dr. or nurse someday. That is her favorite pretend play, her dr. kit (but we still play with our baby dolls all.the.time too). One of our best friends had a baby last week and when we went to the hospital for a visit the nurse was taking the moms vitals, Lauren stood at the mom’s bedside with her hand on her hip absorbing everything that was being done and kept asking our friend if she was ok. Adorable.
The new thing that’s been going on lately is pretending she’s being chased by monsters, alligators, snakes, tigers, etc. We think part of that is due to her love obsession for Dora the Explorer. We’re forever running through parking lots or jumping onto sofas because the “alligator is going to get us”. The other positive to Dora and Spanish in her preschool class is her Spanish skills! On the way home from Damon’s birthday party, she surprised us by counting to 10 in Spanish, we’d never heard her speak Spanish before! She now practices her words a lot and we’ve heard her tell Brody “vamos” occasionally (let’s go), she’ll talk about the “estrellas” she earns at school (stars) and will say “abre” to open things. As I have my second major in Spanish, this makes me very, very pleased that she’s training that part of her brain at an early age and I’m doing all I can to speak to her in Spanish as frequently as I remember and teach her new words. She still knows a good number of her signs and will use them every once in awhile…just think, 2 years old and learning 3 languages…pretty amazing!
And finally, it appears she’s starting to like swimming. She’s always liked the IDEA of swimming and asks to go to the pool a lot (but would just splash around on the stairs), but now she’s actually letting daddy hold in the deep end of the pool on her belly and makes the motions of swimming with her arms/legs (we swim at the pool at the gym during the cold months). I missed it yesterday, but Billy told me that they actually went under water together! I may just have to go see that for myself next week! It looks like it will be a fun summer at the pool!
Other than all the good stuff, she is 2, so we do have our moments where we throw tempertantrums and the incessant whining can really grate on your nerves after a long day at work…but she’s usually very easily corrected with some alone time in her room and comes out a happy kid…usually.
That’s about all the Lauren news I have. We are heading to Asheville in a few weeks for Tiffany’s wedding and then on to Columbia to visit Billy’s grandparents. We hope to take a week long vacation to Florida sometime this summer to let Lauren see the ocean for the first time (no Disney this year, I’m trying to talk Billy into going for her 4th birthday next year!). We still live in the same place, but are busting at the seams with dolls and doll furniture and easels and stuffed animals but plan to stay put for about another 2.5 - 3 years but I still drag Billy to the Parade of Homes each year in the name of “knowing what’s on the market”, which is partially true, but I just enjoy house hunting:) The goal is to move the spring of 2011 before Lauren starts kindergarten in the fall so that she can get to know all the neighborhood kids that summer that she’ll be in school with. In the meantime, we are doing some work around the house readying it for sale…painting, landscaping, etc. Between that and trips to the farmers market, zoo, bike rides, farmstead, dog park, and birthday parties…it will be a full summer!
