Still a favorite!

When we first introducing solids Mercy wasn't so crazy about most of them.  She didn't really love avocado, or pears, or cantaloupe, cucumbers, or broccoli.  The first food she really seemed to enjoy was a fresh peach. 


And they are still a favorite of hers. We recently bought some monster peaches from Costco and she thoroughly enjoyed them.

Sentences

So after thinking about it, I realized that Mercy has actually been saying "sentences" for a couple weeks now.  She says "Thank you", "Bless you", "All done", and tonight "All done Mama".  ♥

She's like a little person!

It is so amazing to me how much Mercedes has grown into her own little person from the itty bitty baby that depended on me for everything.  Now, she still does depend on me for quite a bit, but its different.  She has her own thoughts now, and opinions on things, her own preferences.  She prefers water to juice.  Sometimes she wants to be naked, other times naked is the worst thing in the world.  She is her own cognitive being.  She can form connections between things.  Daddy got her a little ball the other day, and they play with together, throwing it back and forth.  Earlier today she was sitting on my lap upset, drinking her sippy.  Daddy walked in and she jumped out of my lap, ran and got her ball and threw it to Daddy, because she connected playing ball with him.  She is on the verge of forming "sentences".  She will say "watta.......pleease."  Not quite strung together yet, but almost there.

She picked out what shoes she wanted to wear today.  She brought me her little green sandals to put on her, she didn't want to wear her jellies.  She insisted on wearing them all day.  If I asked her if she wanted them off I got a vehement "NO."  At one point I needed to take them off so I could take off her jeans and change her diaper.  She was not happy with me for that, and insisted I put them back on her.  She walked around naked, wearing just her shoes for awhile.  She will tell me when she wants me to take her shirt off her, or if she wants to keep it on.  I put one of my old shirts on her today to keep her from getting messy while she was eating and she loved it so much she didn't want me to take it off.  When I told her it was time to take it off and "arms up" she said "No." and clamped her arms at her side.  She's now sleeping in it.

It just blows my mind how smart she is.  I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that this little girl who used to only be able to cry and nurse, is her own independent little person now forming her own thoughts.  I can't believe how quickly shes growing up.  It makes my heart simultaneously swell with pride, and break a little because I know that before I know it she will be sitting at a computer, writing about her life and her own amazing little girl.

My little helper

My baby is 17 months old today. (Scuse me while I go cry a little bit.) My baby is not such a baby anymore, shes turning into a big girl.  I'll look at her and see my little baby, but then she'll go and do something like bring me a water bottle while saying "Wata. Pleeease."  Or bring me her Animal book saying "Amals.  Book. Pleeease." Then sit there and make the animal noises as I turn the pages for her. And I'll realize Wow.  My little baby is not such a baby anymore.  She is a big girl.  One part of being a big girl that she wholeheartedly embraces is helping.  Oh boy does this girl LOVE to help her Momma.

I was cycling laundry the other day and she was standing under my feet getting upset.  It took me a second to realize its because I wasn't letting her help like I usually did.  She likes it when I take the clothes out of washer and hand them to her to put in the dryer, sure it means that we cycle it one item at a time, but oh well.

She helps fold and put her cloth diaper away too.  Yesterday I was taking them out of the dryer and she came over to me and started trying to pull them out of my arms, she wanted to carry them to the couch.   Then she handed them to me so I could match them up and fold them.  Then she moved the folded ones from the couch to her fluff box.  (She also likes to pull her fluff box off the table and dump them all out, but oh well right?)

For dishes, she likes to pull the silverware out of the basket and hand it to me to go put in the drawer. (Don't worry, I take all the knives out first.)  She also likes for me to pull the mixing bowls/pots/pans out and hand them to her to put in the cupboard.  I think her favorite part though is trying to unload the dirty dishes as I am trying to load them....

If I am making a snack like a sandwich she likes to help me pull the stuff out of the fridge.  This usually consists of me standing at the fridge, pulling an item out, handing it to her, then walking across the kitchen so she can hand it to me to put on the counter.  Repeat for all the items.  She can put them away better though, I hand them to her and she takes them to the open fridge and puts them all in a produce bin.

Its amazing to me what a big girl she is, and all the things she understands.  I love how much she loves to help, sure it usually makes the job take longer and creates more work for me, but that is totally worth helping her learn and explore and making her feel important and valued.

Oh yeah, she also likes to help me vacuum.