Letter Month Sixteen

Dear Sarah Graves,

We have had a fun and busy month.  We took a vacation to the beach, which you loved.  We have also gone to outdoor festivals, playgrounds, and parties.  All the time you have been learning so much and trying to express yourself more.  You are fun to listen to in the car as you jabber to yourself.  One of your favorite things to practice is saying, "ducka ducka ducka ducka!"  I think you are mimicking what we say when we tickle you, but it's hard to be sure. 

You have started to be a little particular about what you eat.  You sometimes want to feed yourself, but you also get frustrated because it goes so slow.  We have had a difficult time enticing you to eat veggies and that's a bit of a concern.  Almond butter sandwiches and bananas are sure hits with you.  You still like other fruits, oatmeal, and yogurt, but veggies and meats are tough to get you to eat.  I am working on new ideas for how to make foods that suit your toddler needs.  We are trying more finger foods for now to see if that is more exciting, but so far nothing is as pleasing as bread (you say it so cute, too). 

You eat tons in the morning and then it really drops off to almost nothing at dinner.  You will literally eat 3 - 4 different breakfasts between 6 a.m. and your naptime around 11 a.m.  It is just crazy!  You nurse, you eat oatmeal and fruit, then depending what everyone else is eating, you eat again.  If Lovie has yogurt and blueberries, you do too.  If Aunt Nay has pineapple and cottage cheese, you do too.  A little later you may say that you are hungry and eat a half a sandwich.  Then at dinner, you eat two bites and tell me you are done.  We are trying to work with your toddler ways and hope that you really know what you need. 

You are really good at signing to us for your needs.  You have been able to sign things like "eat", "more", "all done", "milk", and "drink" for a while, but lately you will use them without being prompted.  You will out of the blue tell me that you are thirsty and when offered your cup, you drink and drink.  I love it!  I think how gratifying it is to you to have a need and a way to tell us so that we can get what you want without you crying and being frustrated.  I'm not worried about you talking either, because you are practicing new words all the time.  You have started saying "bow" regularly and are repeating words that we say a lot.  "Baby" is another one of your regular words now.  You will see a baby when we are out and point to it saying "baby".  You even see kids your age and refer to them as a baby.  I guess that's because we describe you as our baby, which you are and always will be!

Your favorite hobby is still climbing and you try to climb everything!  You have even tried to stand on Lucy!  You love playgrounds, but you can make your own jungle gym just by climbing up a kitchen chair and the table!  I just canh't put into words how precious you are!  You turn on your ipod in your room and dance around to your music; you readily point out different parts of your body, especially your head and your toes; and Aunt Nay taught you to give the gentlest head butts as a way to show affection.  You even give head butts to your baby dolls.  It really is the sweetest.
I just enjoy being with you so much and love seeing your personality start to come out.  You are expressive and you have a sense of humor.  You enjoy being social and tell everyone hi.  You just have such a special light inside of you.  I'm just grateful that I get to see it all the time. 

Love,
Momma