This little girl is silly and fun and cuddly and smart and so sweet. I can’t believe how big she is getting and how much she already wants to be as big as her brother & sister. If they are having a snack she has to have exactly what they are having. If they are doing a game, she wants to be right in the action. If they are running around the house, she sure wants to do the exact same (even if she is a little slower). She started walking “full-time” at the beginning of February and hasn’t crawled since!
Abigail has developed a love for books. If I’m sitting on the floor, every once in awhile she’ll bring me a book and turn to plop down on my lap. Usually she just wants to turn the pages but I’ll take it. Every night at bed time she points at her bookshelf and does her little grunt that supposedly means I’m supposed to read to her. And then once I read one book, she points & grunts for another. We’re working on using words, but right now she just points and grunts for whatever she wants. She has said a few words, like “juice” & “up”, but not on a regular basis. Most of the time everything is called “dad-dy” (except Daddy himself).
She loves to climb, but not as much as she used to. She still gets on the kitchen table regularly, but we’ve taken all the enticing objects off. Now her favorite activity is pulling books off the shelf or throwing small game pieces all over the floor. She still loves to climb desk chairs and whatever else she can find. She also loves to play outside. She’s rarely fussy when we’re out. She especially loves the swing and will go to it and do her grunt for me to put her in—even if I’ve just gotten her out.
She loves to eat, although she’s getting a little pickier about vegetables. Most of the time she’ll eat whatever I put on her plate. Now she’ll even eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast like Leah & Andrew. She’ll eat peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, apple slices, and a lot of other things I know I would have never fed Leah or Andrew when they were her age! She’s not too proficient with a fork or spoon but she loves to try! She stopped nursing mid-January, probably the easiest to wean of all the kids. She does still take a bottle of milk in the morning when she wakes up but she can drink milk from a cup.
She still loves her sleep—has always been a great sleeper. Over the course of this month, we’ve phased out her morning nap. She was very fussy by 10:30 or 11 most mornings but as long as I give her snacks & keep her busy, she can now make it most days (unless we’re traveling, when she’ll fall asleep in the car). So she’ll usually sleep around 3 hours in the afternoon now. I’ve gotten Leah & Andrew to take a one hour quiet time (since Andrew no longer naps, now, either!) at the same time, so it’s a great break! And then she’ll sleep at night from about 7:30 to 7:30 in the morning. She rarely ever fusses when it’s time to go to bed and will still let me rock her a little while (although she wants to fall asleep in her bed) and she’s usually pretty happy when she wakes up.
She loves to cuddle stuffed animals now. I remember this phase with the others, but it never ceases to be cute when she gets her little lambie and gives it a big hug and a pat. She loves her lambie the best and will whine for it if she sees it and can’t get to it!
She can name almost all her major body parts, and it’s fun to do it with her. If you ask her where’s her mouth, she’ll stick her tongue out; where’s her feet, she’ll stomp them. I asked her what a dog says once and she said something that sounded a lot like “ruff, ruff” but then she said it later too when I asked her what a cow says. Even though she doesn’t say a lot, she understands way more than we think. She will go find her cup if I ask her or go give something to Leah or Andrew if I ask her.
And here is a little video of what happens when you leave your husband at home with the kids and he falls asleep.
