Update Time

Well it is official...little green martians are inhabiting my child again. In short she has a slight cold that has her nose running a mile a minute. The tissues are out by the dozens, but to no avail. Maeve takes delight in rubbing her nose and smearing all her nose's runny stuff all around. Did I mention, she usually likes to get her hands dirty first. I wash, wipe and scrub, but it is an uphill battle. The good news is that she is having a great time. Here are a few other tidbits.

- The poor dogs. Maeve is breaking every rule of "No-No" in the doggy world. Every chance she gets she jumps on them or is climbing over one or the other. She has taken to eating their food when possible (I don't leave it down for long) and likes to walk up to them and steal their chewy treats. It's not all bad news for the dogs, they have discovered that if they sit near enough to her while she is eating she will dump her food onto the floor so as to enjoy the entertainment of two dogs frantically licking the floor clean.

- Maeve has discovered the joys of toilet paper. No, we have not begun potty training, rather she knows how much fun it is to unroll the roll and then rip everything to shreds. She also likes to rip other random pieces of paper to shreds as well. The good news is that if my paper shredder ever goes on the blink, I can just give everything to Maeve to tear up.

- In typical newly walking toddler fashion, Maeve tends to watch her feet and look down when she is walking. This leads to some occasional "Mommy" mix-ups when she approaches the wrong person who happens to be wearing similar pants or shorts as me. Today, in our exercise class it happened again. One of the other women and I had almost identical capris on, Maeve had walked off a few feet then came back, but went to Katie instead. She was hugging her legs until she finally looked up. I wish I had a camera for the look on her face. :) Maeve quickly regrouped looked around, found me and high tailed it back over.

- Stairs and climbing are her favorite activities right now. I have to keep a close eye on her because she is always trying to figure out how she can get to a higher elevation. The fact that her balance isn't that great doesn't bother her in the slightest. Although I have gates up at all stairs, she is bound and determined to find a way up.

- Besides eating the dog food, hair ties & barrettes are high up on the list of favorites. If I put something in her hair, it is just a matter of time before it is in her mouth. Doesn't stop me from trying. :)

- Her comprehension is definitely there. She only says a couple of words, but I can tell that she knows more than she is letting on. She is starting to bring me her books to read to her and especially loves her word book. Maeve mimics me, especially the sounds I make on a regular basis and she knows the songs that I sing to her. Many of the songs have actions involved and she anticipates them. For example, part of "Wheels on the Bus", talks about the people on the bus going up and down. She has started bouncing up and down when I get to that part. I used to bounce her myself, but now she is doing it on her own. I can mix up the lyrics and put them out of sequence, but she recognizes that part and responds. It is so much fun to watch her soak up more new things each day.

- She is sleeping in to almost 7am now. I thought I would be happy to lose the 6am rise and shine call, but it is actually throwing my schedule off a bit. I need to regroup and reorganize now. She is also taking two naps a day. A short one in the morning, and then about two hours in the afternoon. Maeve is usually pooped around 7:30-8pm and out she goes.

There is more, but it is time to finish packing for our big trip back to the midwest to meet the entire family. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and a ton of cousins are all eagerly awaiting our arrival! We leave tomorrow for a nice vacation.

Posted by Laura at 11:03 PM