wrapping up 2009 ...

We're on the road coming home from having spent a wonderful couple of days down in Melbourne, Florida - where Tim's parents reside. Maggie has had an excellent time with her grandparents and though she always takes a while to warm up, her moodiness and sadness this morning definitely had to do with the realization she was leaving her new friends and family ... and that was difficult for her to do! Slowly but surely, she developed relationships and games and routines with her aunts and grandparents ... and experiencing all those fun new things made our leaving today SO hard to do!

Tim & I have just been marveling at Maggie's communication - this week alone! She is making so many strides with expressing herself - not just with words, but also with signs. And she is repeating SO many things ... guess it's time to check ourselves and be a little more careful as we may have quite a little talker on our hands VERY shortly! Some of her revelations have included:

- When Tim's mom sang vocal warm up songs to her, she was able to say "'gin! 'gin!" asking her Grammy to repeat that same vocal song ... again and again. :)

- Saying, "Amen!" repeatedly at the end of our mealtime prayer. Girlie has got the Spirit!

- Being very clear with her "all done" signs at the end of meals, bathtimes, naptimes ... and while we try to honor her clear signal, we also tried to make sure still napped as necessary. :)

- Doing more signs than usual - "water" and "change" standing out.

There's lots of other things too ... mostly lots of repetition and things that sound pretty close to real words and phrases - "I diit" (I did it) or "Bangda" (granddad) or "eeee" (which now could mean not only monkey sounds or teeth ... but also "tree" or "east." Grandma taught her about going east.) :) She's also saying "nana" (banana) and "keeee" (kitty) and meowing (ya ya ya, she "sings" it) ...

Anyway, we will soon stop at our hotel for the night (in Florence, SC). Happy new year! May 2010 bring blessings upon blessings - and joy and peace of mind and heart to help you through the inevitable difficulties!

communication!

We've been having some fun little breakthroughs with Maggs in the communication department. Of course, she chatters away all the time and much of what we do is guess and go by her emotional cues (oh, and she has emotional cues!) ... but for the sake of my memories (and not being a diligent scrapbooker or baby-booker), here are some of things Maggie says/signs as we approach the 18mo mark:

- eee eee eee! (Depending on inflection, this is either a monkey OR a toothbrushing request)
- hewp/ewp ("help!" - usually w/getting in a chair or out of a basket, she also signs this by clasping her hands together and raising them up and down in front of her - very close!)
- uh-oh!! (her phrase of choice ... for mischeviousness, for dropping things, for...just about anything!)
- umma umma! (Yum! I like this! ... or want this!)
- da (refers to Dad ... and sometimes other relatives ... an oddly enough, Ms. Ruth, our church organist)
- mama (yes folks, that's me!)
- nasal snorts (in general she is looking at a picture of a pig when this happens)
- quack/guack (duck sounds, she also signs "bird" for just about every kind of aviary she sees ... and sometimes for other animals as well? She talks about birds a lot!)
- oof oof (says a dog)
- tayoo (I swear I've heard this and in context it could really be "thank you"!)
- signs "eat" and "more" and "all done" and sometimes makes a drinking motion for a cup of milk

I am sure there more, but I know I'm forgetting some things. I will add to the list as I remember/witness more of these fun little "breakthroughs." :)

And many happy wishes to my sister-in-law/new mama (the girl is a natural): Amy, who birthed Sofia Victoria on the morning of December 3! She is such a sweet girl who we got to spend the last two days with and we are looking forward to many more visits in the future! Many blessings be upon your days together and may God continue to bless this beautiful family: Amy, Gonzalo, and Sofia!


Me with (the slightly jealous) Magdalena and new cousin, Sofia!

new skill!

Look what Maggs can do! I'm used to helping her scoop but I just let go... and what do you know? She can do it! (Of course, it's a little messier with something like applesauce or pureed peas ... they don't stay put on the spoon as well!)