Playing Catch-up

It's been so long since I last posted that I don't even know where to begin. I apologize to all my loyal fans, but Mommy has been too busy and too tired lately to take my dictation.

I now know that a sheep says "baa," a chicken says "buck buck buck" and an owl says "who, who" in addition to a cow saying "moo." Occasionally I will also say "hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo" for monkey. Today Mommy made me some schnitzel and when I saw the picture of the chicken on the package I said "buck buck buck!" Sometimes I will also say "roar" when I see a picture of a lion, and I know the sign for elephant. I also make a fish face for fish and stick my tongue in and out for frog. Unfortunately I am a little confused between a frog and a rabbit right now (because frogs say "ribbit," which sounds a lot like "rabbit") so I stick out my tongue when I see a rabbit. Mommy is trying to help me figure it out by saying bunny (instead of rabbit) and making bunny ears, but now I stick out my tongue AND make bunny ears when I hear the words "bunny" or "rabbit." I also know that they both hop, and I love to jump when anyone says the word "jump."

On Shabbat we were reading a book about colors and I said "blue" every time we got to the blue page and something resembling "yellow" on the yellow page.

I know hot and cold - when food is hot I do a combination of the "hot" sign and saying "haa." Usually I make Mommy blow on it for me but sometimes I will blow on it myself. No one can figure out how I learned this, but I also say/sign "hot" when I point at the heaters (in the living room, bathroom or my room - which all look different), at the crock pot and at the tea kettle! I don't sign "cold" too often. I'm rarely cold and if I am it's easier to just shiver - but once in awhile I'll do the sign for "cold."

I'm getting pretty good at doing puzzles. I'm not an expert yet but I'm definitely improving. I used to just plunk the pieces down anywhere and ask Mommy to help me put them in the right places. Now I can find the right place for each piece but most of the time I don't turn it the right way to get it to click, so I still ask Mommy to help me (or I just get frustrated and throw the piece).

Mommy takes me to the park every day that it's not too rainy or cold. Yesterday we were there for three hours! I like to swing on the swings but Mommy is not allowed to stand near me when I'm swinging. She gives me a push and then I point "deh" (there") so she knows she has to go over there (to swing on another swing) until I'm done. Sometimes I let her come back and give me another push but then she has to return immediately to her swing.
Last week Mommy taught me how to pour sand from one cup into another. I loved it and immediately transferred the information to other parts of my life, like water or milk that I'm drinking. Soon after that Mommy made me go back to drinking out of sippy cups. (For awhile there she would give me a plastic cup with a few sips in it but I guess now I'll have to regain her trust. Especially since I also like to dump out whatever's left when I'm done drinking.)

I am a total bookworm. I have my favorite books and I like to skip to my favorite pages, like the one where The Very Hungry Caterpillar eats cheese ("chs"), the one in Carl's Afternoon at the Park with the balloons ("booo"), and the "S" page in the alphabet book because I know almost all the words - strawberries ("staw"), slide ("sye"), shoes ("shs"), spoon ("sboo"), socks ("saah"), star ("stah"), and snail (I approximate the sign for snail). Another favorite of mine is the "shh shh" book (a.k.a. The Wheels on the Bus - but the parents on the bus say "shh shh shh" so I say that and put my finger to my lips when I want to read (sing) that book). I like to bring books to bed with me and sometimes I sit and read them until I'm tired enough to go to sleep. I make Mommy and Daddy read the same books to me over and over and over again. Sometimes for a change of scenery I ask them to read to me in the bathroom, but Mommy says we only read in the bathroom if we're actually going to sit on the potty. Which I'm kind of over right now. Sure, I like to go over to the bathroom door and say "pah!" but most of the time I don't actually want to sit on the potty. Mommy says it's ok, I can take my time.

I know most of the parts of the body - eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, hair, ears, cheeks, chin, hands, feet, fingers, toes and belly button. I enjoy uncovering and re-covering Mommy's knees and legs because they are usually covered. But I'm pretty much over my belly button fixation. I like to point to parts of people's faces but I often get confused between "Lolly's eyes/nose/mouth/etc" and "Daddy's/Mommy's/baby's/etc eyes/nose/mouth/etc." I also like to point out Coby's facial features. When I try to gouge his eye out he usually just whines.

I love walking Coby. When we go for a walk I insist on holding his leash (for the first few minutes until it loses its novelty). And when we are getting ready to go out (or when I am getting ready to go out and hoping someone will take me) I say "shhhhh" and go get Coby's leashhhh because Coby ALWAYS has to come with us (although Mommy and Daddy disagree with me on that).

Going for "bye-byes" has gotten much more fun lately. About a week ago I discovered that I can walk up and down stairs if Mommy holds my hand so I almost always insist on walking rather than being carried, which is pretty difficult for Mommy and Daddy when their hands are full, but it's important for me to practice! And we have a lot of steps in our building (64), so it's good practice. Also, when we get outside I insist on walking for as long as I can get away with it. I don't need a stroller; I'm a big girl and I can walk anywhere!

I love to call Grandma, Zayde, and my other relatives on the Webcam. I wave to them, show them things (like the new clothes Mommy bought me yesterday, which I held up against my body as if I was trying them on), and offer them things (like a drink from my doll's bottle, which I hold up to their mouths on the screen). Today Mommy laughed because I saw someone I thought I knew on the computer screen and waved at him, but it turned out it was just a character on a TV show that she had been watching and paused.

Mommy bought me colorful Sesame Street placemats in America. I don't have much experience with Sesame Street but I love pointing to the different characters, shapes, colors, letters and numbers so Mommy can tell me what they're called. (I do that when we're reading books too.) The other day I noticed that Elmo (the red guy from my placemats) is on my toy box too and I got really excited that I recognized him! Today Mommy and I were tired so she put on Sesame Street for me and I sat and watched it for awhile and really liked it.

I'm a really good helper. Today when we went to the store ("stoh") I paid the man and carried the groceries home (well, I carried it a little bit and then Mommy carried both me and the groceries the rest of the way). I also throw garbage in the garbage can when I'm asked (I throw away my dirty diapers without being asked!) and I also put my dirty clothes in the hamper and/or washing machine (sometimes I move them from one to another and back again).

Well, I guess that pretty much catches you up for now. We will try to upload some pictures and videos soon.