Look Who's Cooking Now!

Patrick and I bought Grace a red retro play kitchen! I have been eyeing kitchens for a while. You see, Grace joins me in the kitchen every morning as I make breakfast. She has her own tupperware containers and often digs through the cupboards to haul out a pan or two. She will go to our utensil drawer and get a spoon or spatula. As I cook, she will sit looking at recipe books or pretending to stir something in her tupperware, all the while saying to me, "Hot." She's been doing this a while and seems to be into imaginative play...so I was looking around for a kitchen of her own. I received a discount coupon for a website which sold a kitchen I was interested in...and, well, ended up purchasing a kitchen for Grace a bit sooner than planned. It's a pretty cool kitchen (see for yourself!) and Grace seems to really love it!

We bought a few play food sets to go with it. The other day, while I was in my kitchen, she was in her own. As I was cooking, Grace walked up to me with her pot in her hand, her toy spatula in the other and said, "Look." So, I did. She had an assortment of play food inside the pot and she was stirring. I "tasted" her meal, and she happily tasted it too, then returned to her kitchen to put the final touches on her dish! She's a happy camper! And loves the sink in her kitchen especially. She says, "hands" and places her hands under the faucet to "wash" them. It's so darn cute.

Grace's Latest Antics

Grace is awesome. And at 17 months, she's officially a toddling toddler with antics that keep mommy and daddy amused. A few such antics include:

• Today, Grace and I went to the store to get some fruit and snacks. As I was putting things away in the fridge, Grace dug through the grocery bags, pulled out the plastic-wrapped seedless grapes and used her chompers to gnaw her way to a grape (through plastic and all). Hilarious!
• Grace LOVES bath time. She knows how to say bath and sign it in ASL. Nothing makes her happier. She will stand at the tub and place her hand under the water, without removing it, until I turn the water off and strip her down!
• Grace is a dancing machine. She comes up with her own dance moves and will dance to just about any catchy tune (including the ice cream truck music, commercial jingles, or even a humming mommy). Some moves include raising her hands above her head, twisting her shoulders back and forth, stomping her feet, flapping her arms...speaking of flapping her arms...
• Grace will flap her arms and make "Bac, Bac, Bac" chicken sounds anytime you say the word "chicken." So, guess what she did when we mommy told her we were having "chicken" for lunch?
• Grace now says something very close to "Thank you" and gets a kick out of hearing "You're welcome" in response.
  
• Grace brushes her teeth (and tongue)...and now mimics mommy by bending over and pretending to "spit" in the midst of it. Please note, she does not "spit" into the sink, but onto the floor. The first couple times, she just went through the motion of it. The last time, a little spit did hit the floor. Uh-oh!
• A short time ago, Grace had a little bit of a diaper rash on her bottom. So, I would allow a little more wait time before putting on a diaper. After we gave her a bath, I dried her with her towel, then let her play with her music table for a minute. Suddenly, I see her walk to the bathroom (not unusual as she is obsessed with the bathroom and the bathtub)...when I followed her, I saw her sitting on the floor. Up she stood and left behind a little puddle of pee. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but one could say this was the first time Grace peed in the bathroom. Now we just need her to do it on the potty. (And spit in the sink).

Every day is a new amusement, a new story to tell...Grace amazes me with her humor, her kindness, her affection, her intelligence (I can't believe how perceptive she is), her memory...what's most amazing is that she's our little girl. She is our joy!

Latest Words

Grace is expanding her vocabulary to include:

• kitty
• cold
• shoes
• socks
• eggs (pronounced "ah"ggs)
• house (pronounced "haas")

There are likely more that I am not thinking of. She also howls when I show her a wolf toy that came with a Three Little Pigs set. And whenever someone says the words "scare" or "scary," she will say, "Boo!"

Today she also helped mommy cook. As I was making an egg scramble, Grace helped add the cheese. She also stirred it up a little. I can't wait to get her a play kitchen! She would love it! Anyone know of a cool one, especially one that makes sounds?

Mark This Day in History

Today is one for the history books, for today Grace has learned to say NO. This morning as she was having breakfast, she started saying "no,no,no,no,no..." and has been practicing ever since! She says it with flourish and the word is well-articulated. She has also been practicing her scowl face and fingerpointing.

On top of it all, Grace has been having a ROUGH time (and so, naturally, have mommy and daddy) presumably because she is teething. She has one new tooth breaking the surface up top...and her gums in general look a bit swollen, so I am not sure how many might be on the way or which ones.

Oops, gotta go...she's crying again. Poor nugget. (Poor mommy.)

15 month checkup

Grace had a doctor visit today. I always dread taking her..and this time I did it solo. She handled it pretty well at first. She only started to cry when she got on the scale. During previous visits, she would go into hysterics as soon as we entered the exam room. Overall, it wasn't as traumatizing (for mom) as it has been the past couple of times!

The doctor asked about Grace's development...is she walking? running? talking? Grace is walking...not quite running...and definitely talking. The doctor asked how many words Grace can say. I was trying to guess the number (I was thinking it's close to 20, was sure it was over 10)--as I pondered the number, the doctor said, "At her age, I would expect her to say about 3 words." Well.

So it got me thinking...how many words can Grace say now? Here's a list of what I can think of at the moment...I may forget a few. Note, I am only including those that are consistently well-articulated and used in appropriate context.

(in no particular order)

1. uh-oh

2. mama

3. daddy

4. up

5. bottle

6. ball

7. this

8. hot

9. hat

10. cat

11. moo

12. boo

13. woof

14. cheese

15. clock

16. teeth

17. eyes

18. hi

19. bye bye (though this can sound like buh buh)

Hmmm...I feel like there are more, but I can't recall them at the moment.

A few anecdotes:

• Grace enjoys reading Goodnight, Gorilla. On the last page a little mouse says "Goodnight, Gorilla." The gorilla responds with "Zzzz." When I read it to Grace, I act out the sleep part by laying my head to the side and snoring. Grace mimics this by laying her head to the side too.
• Today Grace was reaching for a sharp object. I told her, "No" and pointed a finger. She spent the next five minutes practicing pointing her finger at me and trying to say "No"--she only managed a "Nah" sound. Note to self, limit fingerpointing.
• Grace loves being scared/startled. A common game we play is that I pretend to not notice her, then I suddenly turn upon her and say "Boo!" Sometimes she jumps if I really sneak up on her. But she giggles hysterically every time. This game doesn't seem to grow old.
• I hum a superhero song as I have Grace "fly" through the air. When I hum the song while holding her, she automatically assumes the superhero position in my arms (leans over so she can "fly" parallel with the ground).

What an awesome kid right?