Words

Molli has really been exploring the idea of verbal communication.  Her tongue sounds clumsy and she can't say very many things well, but she is trying things out everyday.  Some of her favorite words are:
Daddy- "dahdee"
Molli- "Mah-yee"
No- "No"
Bye- "BYE!, buh-bye, bubbies"
Night-night- "nih-night"
Elena- "Ah-na-na-na"
More- "Maaaah" (which also means please, I'm hungry or I want something)
Hello?- "A-oo?" (answering phone)
Book/banana- "buh"
Ball- "Bah"


There are probably several others, but these are what came to mind.

It's all so sweet!  We've been trying to teach her to say "I love you" because she's tried it our before.  When she does it, it usually is just a sloppy mess of syllables and tongue movements.  It definitely doesn't sound like anything, but it's cute when she tries.  More often than not, however, when we tell her "I love you," she will say "Bye!".  She has heard us say "I love you" in a salutation enough times that the two have become synonymous for her.  One day she will figure it out, but for now it's just sweet.  It makes me happy that Myles and I are telling the people we love on a regular basis, that we do, in fact, love them.

Recent happenings

If you haven’t figured it out, my daughter is the joy of my life.  She makes ordinary things so much more interesting on a daily basis.  Something as simple as drinking water from a straw is an activity, not just a refreshing sip of water.  Walking through leaves is a whole sensory experience with sound, texture and cause/effect.  A meal is an opportunity to explore tastes and textures, a tactile experience to hold the food in her hands and sometime mush, crunch or smear it around.  I don’t typically like messes, but I am willing to let them happen if it means my little sponge will benefit. 

Halloween happened and I was almost certain it was going to be a disaster.  Judging from our costume fitting, I was sure Molli would spend most of the evening freaking out until I relieved her of her costume.

 

Fortunately, she proved me way wrong!  She rocked her feathery costume and was so interested to participate.  Of course she didn’t understand what was going on, but she had fun nonetheless! 

A good friend of mine got a new job and I’ve been watching her little girl, Elena.  It’s only been a handful of days so far but it’s really been a positive experience.  I am blessed to have the opportunity to stay home with Molli and I really try to use our time in a positive way.  I engage her and provide learning experiences the best I can.  I can help her develop her skills in many areas, but having her friend here has really shed light on her social development.  It’s amazing how much kids learn from each other.  After one day of playing together, Molli learned to say “no.”  So I’m stretching myself to engage two one year olds in a meaningful way.  So far, so good.  They are learning more about sharing and being a friend.  I am so glad for both girls to have the opportunity to play together, especially now that the weather is turning on us and we are stretching for sufficient attention-keeping activities.

In other news, Myles has a job interview this weekend.  We’ll be traveling to Wabash, Indiana to spend some time with the church and hopefully will see if we’ll be a good fit there.  I’m torn.  I so badly want Myles to finally have a job he loves and has been working hard towards, but at the same time…Indiana?  That is like the opposite of what we want.  We’ve spent time living in Florida and now the Midwest and I’m really quite ready to move northwest, toward family.  The Midwest does little for me.  It’s flat and windy.  There are fields and little else.  We have a small group of friends but we need grandparents and aunts and uncles around for Molli.  Not to mention, I need some mountains in my life!  I want something to look at and climb up.  Our first winter here the town had a snow day and I witnessed children sledding on plowed up snow in the Walmart parking lot.  Are you kidding me?!  I cannot let Molli grow up sledding on a parking lot “hill.”  So, anyway, I have determined that my prayer for the weekend is that the church and my family will leave encouraged and the answer for this job will be plainly obvious to everyone.  Whatever that may mean. 

So, please pray with us. Pray that whatever is determined with this job will be perfectly clearly God’s will.