She started stuttering about a week ago, but the pediatrician said that many kids stutter after they hit their explosion of vocabulary. They are thinking faster than they can speak, so it comes out in a stutter at the start of a sentence or phrase. We will monitor it and if it doesn't subside or gets worse in 3-4 months, then we will head back for a referral to a speech therapist. But, our doctor really thinks this is just a normal developmental stage, so I was glad to hear that.
Hannah loves to pray and sing songs.
Her prayers at bed time going like this,
"Dear God, thank you for mommy and Papa, thank you for Judah and Levi, thank you for Mia and Ally and Emi and Jonas. Thank you for Tante Tanya and Wilson. Keep Papa safe, bring Papa home. Protect us and thank you for Jesus, Amen!"
Her favorite song to sing is, "God Loves Me". She knows all the words to the song and I find her singing, "God loves me, God loves me, in my Bible book it says God loves me...God helps me, God helps me, in my Bible book it says, God helps me" It is precious and I can hear her sweet innocent voice singing this beautiful song.
(Did I mention her pre-surgery voice is back?--I am so grateful)
She loves to sing her "ABC's" in English and in German.
If we are not clapping in the car to a song, she gets us going!
Hannah has become private, when is is going potty, she says, mommy, stay out. When she is getting her shoes on, dressed, in the car, etc., she will say, "mommy wait right there, I am a big girl, I can do it myself". I don't think she is independent at all!! :-)
Hannah loves all things "girl", shoes, dresses, purses, bracelets, necklaces, she asks for earring all the time. She carries her baby and diaper bag often when we go out. People are always commenting on how cute she is carrying her baby on her shoulder with a blanket over it. She LOVES babies! She regularly gives her babies naps on her bed and closes the door. If you talk to loud, she will whisper and tell you," Shh, baby is sleeping, we have to be quiet!".
She is growing up so fast. She always wants to put on chap stick and use deodorant I even caught her one time trying to shave her face since she watched Daniel...yes she had a little rash on her face from the razor, yikes! She likes to shower, because that's what mommy and daddy do. She set the table for us the other night as well, she likes to be in control. While I have to be careful with that trait, I definitely take advantage of it when it means she can help out at home. She loves to help vacuum and mop, fold laundry and put them away and she enjoys still helping with the dishes.
She truly is becoming a little girl, she is no longer a toddler.
Of course, with the growing, comes new and unsuspected challenges.
Now that she can communicate what she wants, she also likes to talk back.
She is very strong willed and consistency is a must with Hannah.
I still find it difficult taking her out to the store with me, unless I let her walk. This can be challenging when at the grocery store, because she can't walk. She wanders and get's distracted by everything around her. If she is told to sit in the cart, it is a battle. We end up in the bathroom for a chat often times, then going back out to try again. I'm hoping one day she will not be so tough minded when it comes to running errands and the tantrums will fade soon.
She is all potty trained and mostly night trained too. She might be dry most nights with 1-2 wet during the week. She is all dry for nap time. It's been almost 4 weeks since she was potty trained and she still asks for M and M's and tic tacs for going potty. Sometimes, she gets one.
She is a very picky eater. She will eat broccoli, if you call them "trees", peeled cucumber, carrots and hummus, LOVES brown rice--plain, peeled apples, mango, canteloupe, watermelon and raspberries. She still loves cheese and yogurt, by far her favorite. She adores pancakes, bagels and cream cheese too. She prefers water over anything else. It's hard to get her to drink milk, even with chocolate ovaltine added. She loves Orange Juice.
She finally learned to ride her tricycle and enjoys ringing the bell while riding.
She also enjoys riding on the scooter with Daniel, motorized (15-20 mph), driving the little jeeps we have. She loves to swing and slide. Drawing with chalk is fun, as are bubbles. She enjoys feeding the cows and helping out with yard work.
Hannah is very good with her fine motor skills. She enjoys doodling and coloring. She can color in the lines of small pictures and draw circles. She can cut in straight lines using large scissors.
Some of her favorite activities are:
-Making popcorn with Papa
-Playing with playdoh
-Having Tea parties, making cake, coffee
-Putting her babies to bed, feeding, humming, reading and singing to babies
-Checking the mail at night
-Building block towers
-Playing with legos
-Doing mommy's hair
-Singing and dancing along to her piano as it plays ABC's
-Playing Guitar and asking Mommy to sing a song while she plays
-Jumping on her trampoline
- Playing with the tunnel we have
-Drawing on paper
-Helping to cook/bake, crack eggs, stir in the pan
-Loves to swim
-Loves to practice floating in the bathtub, loves to bathe and shower
-Looking through "Where's Waldo" books.
-Reading Bible stories--especially Isaac and Sarah and Noah and the Ark.
There are more I know, but this is all I can think of at the moment. She is quite the active girl.
And, lastly I will leave you with this, in the words of my sweet darling!
(Of course, in the color purple, her absolute favorite color)
"Ok, bye, tschus (German for goodbye)!"
- Hannah
