Happy Halloween Baby J

Unlike most Halloween nights, I had this evening free and Baby J and I got to experience trick or treating.   We went to a cousin's and went out with her.  Baby J had a blast.  In fact we spent most of the evening literally chasing after her- she has really started to run well and fast.   She thought this evening was great and thoroughly enjoyed it.   I've noticed she is getting true joy out of so many things lately.  Last night she went to a skating party with me and people took her out on the rink in her stroller all night and she loved it, I even put her in way to large skates and went around with her once.   It's so much fun to see her having true joy in the things we do.  
Baby J is becoming little Miss Independent and she will soon be a huge handful, but I wouldn't change it for anything.  She is talking all the time and we are hearing sentences from her.  She has started to really reach the stage where she repeats what she is hearing.  Most things are called "puppy" until she is told what they are.   Puppy is her favorite word and she goes around saying it.  It's amazing how fast she catches on to things.  She was calling a bird a puppy the other day and I told her it was a bird so she repeated back  "Ird."   And now she calls the birds birds instead of puppy.  She also now keeps going to the tub and saying "ubbles" aka bubbles.  She is climbing everything and takes off to other rooms and areas now.  
Today Baby J started daycare at a center...I'm glad for the closer drive, but really liked where she was.  I was worried we would be starting over with the crying like she was doing, but they said she did very well.  She cried in the morning some and a little later, but she played, took a nap even, and did not even have her blanket all day (which is HUGE).  I didn't even let her take her best bud in this morning...which by the way is her cup.  I guess she loved trick or treating with them as well this morning.  Hopefully she will do as well tomorrow without all the halloween distractions.  

1st day in new seat.

Baby J Learning and Love

I know I over share my daughter's picture and information, but I can't help it.  She's so adorable and learning so much right now and makes me laugh on a daily basis.   When I started the process to adopt, I knew I wanted a younger child because i knew how important those first years were and I'm really good with young children.   After my experience with the foster care system and moving to the adoption path I took, I decided I wanted a baby (though I definitely want to do foster care again with all ages), I wanted the chance to raise a child from as close to birth as I could.   Baby J is entering the

main reason for this decision.  I love love love to watch kids learn new things, but it's especially amazing to me when they are young.  Each new thing they learn is so much fun to watch as the wheels are turning, even when they are learning things you wish they weren't.
Baby J has been learning so much lately and each thing just amazes me.   She keeps adding words and sentences and each time she talks with them, I'm amazed at how quickly she is learning them.   It's not just vocabulary though that is amazing to me.   Just this month I have watched her really get to interact with cats for the first time.

She knows to be gentle and they seem to love her, I've watched as she has figured out how to get to the top of the chair and play with the light switches as she is learning they turn on and off the lights, she is learning to play with the dog, giving kisses and hugs, waving hi/bye and saying it, I've watched her figure out how to climb into her stroller and today she even got up into her high chair and sometimes she fails the first couple of times, but she continues to try.   I've watched as she has learned how to tear the paper towels off the role, get up and down stairs, try to use silverware, dancing, trying to swim away from the wall and blowing bubbles.

I think the reason it's so amazing is because we take things for granted and to see thing through a child's eyes makes us focus on the small things even if just for a second in our busy crazy lives.   This part of growing up is why I wanted the opportunity to experience it.   To see what a baby can learn in such a short time is a testament to how awesome human beings are.  And maybe it's even more amazing because Baby J was so early in life and the outlook is not always good for preemies, but even as a baby who never made it to the third trimester, she has gone beyond all expectations.  Honestly everything is a new surprise because she did start out so rough with so many problems and we never know how it could affect her in the long run, but so far she has overcome all obstacles and expectations- she caught up faster than almost any other preemie and was on target by age 1 instead of the 2 years they are given to catch up.   In fact I'm sure she will probably be deemed ahead of her age by our next visit in almost every area.   I'm so proud of everything she has done.  Baby J definitely fits the Shakespeare quote "Though she be but little, she is fierce"



We don't always have good moments (like I feel like she doesn't feel the need to sleep.....ever) and sometimes we have tantrums when angry, but most of the time Baby J is a happy, talkative, brave little girl and while I may be in debt for the rest of my life from adopting, she is worth every penny and the best decision I ever made.   I love watching her and laughing with her...but mostly I just love her.

Sit Down Child!

"Sit down child" - I believe I say that more than anything to my now 16 month old child.   Baby J loves to stand up in chairs and can get out of most every belt.   She's a sneaky one and so I find myself always saying Sit down.  
Baby J and I have had an extremely busy couple of weeks.   We moved and have been in our new place for about 2 weeks.   It's a single floor duplex with plenty of room.  While not totally finished I really like it and Baby J is adjusting well to it.  She loves all the space she now has and will go all over the house on her own.  Someday we will be unpacked.  It also came with a stray kitten that comes around alot.  It's probably just a few months old and is pretty skinny, but clean looking.   Baby J loves the Kitty Cat and so far they do well with each other.   We sometimes give the kitty snacks.  Baby J has started to look for 'kitty cats' everywhere.  She says Kitty Cat, Puppy, and bye bye very clearly now and does so often.  I think she thought Petco was the greatest place ever with all the pictures of pets and the dogs that were there.

At 16 months now, baby J is walking all the time, a huge climber (which often results in falls) and when she is with me, she's usually pretty independent.  She jabbers all the time and now has many words within her conversations.   I asked her one day where her stars went (something that plays at night for her) and she looked up and said their gone.   It is amazing how quickly little ones learn.   She can buckle the top part of her seatbelt now and loves to do so.

While we still have some problems with fussiness at child care she is doing so much better most of the time.   Our sitter does such a great job and I'm sad that J will be going to a different place in November---but I also can't keep doing 3 hrs on the road every day with my schedule.   Poor Baby J and the little boy at childcare suffered from Hand foot and mouth disease this past week.   It came so quickly.  Thankfully J could still go to daycare since they both had it and she is on the mend.   Actually I'm pretty sure she's over it, but her skin keeps marks forever-  it looks like bug bites never heal.  I'm so glad she is feeling better.    Now if we could only get a better night time routine going.   If she gets any sleep on the way home from rehearsal she is up forever and many times very hyper.    I love listening to her talk and have fun.   She is doing really well at rehearsal and the kids are enjoying her most nights.  

We haven't gotten to do a lot of activities together.  Between the move, being sick, and rehearsals our time has been crazy.   We did go to our town fall fest and watch the parade and then Grandma and Grandpa took her to the rest where I know she ate, looked at crafts, and went to a petting zoo.

Baby J is growing up so fast and I'm having so much fun watching her grow.  She cracks me up on a daily basis.   Life has been kind of rough in some areas...but Baby J always makes me smile.  I often have moments where I suddenly remember this baby used to be the size of my two hands.  She's come so far.