Week 58

Dear Jorie,

This was a week of ups and downs. You've continued to grow and change and continually amaze everyone around you. 

There was swimming at your Nannie and Grandpa O's, a day of playing at the play ground with Your Aunt Becky and Cousin Wesley. The weekend was full of fun and play. 

At the play ground, there was a kids birthday party going on. You were enthralled with them, and seemed to want nothing more than to go play with them. The kids were mostly much older than you, around 7 or 8, but there was one 18 month old little girl, who at one point came over to say hi. You got all excited as she toddled over, but as soon as she got close, you became suddenly, inexplicably, shy. I've never seen you get shy around other kids before! You did try to follow her around a bit, but when she started doing things like climbing stairs, and climbing around the big kids (one of whom almost landed on you at one point), I decided the swings might be a better place for you to play.

Your father and I were exhausted by the end of the weekend. So much so that I ended up with a migraine on monday, and had to stay home from work. I was just starting to feel human again when I got a call from the day care. You had a high fever, and I had to go get you. I made an appointment with your doctor and brought you straight in. Good thing I did too, you had an ear infection and a sore throat. Both most likely caused by whatever virus you had. So, we got a prescription for antibiotics, and lots of advice on keeping you comfortable. 

Yesterday, you spent the day at your Grandma and Grandpa R's. They said you played boisterously all day, stopping only for a massive 3 hour nap. We had dinner there, but you fell asleep long before we ate, going to bed around 6:30.


Today you spent the day at your Nannie and Grandpa O's. You haven't had a fever all day, so hopefully you'll be able to go back to day care tomorrow.

One of my favorite moments this past week was when you decided that you wanted us to laugh, so you started fake laughing, which was hilarious, and caused us to start laughing, which made you laugh. We just kept going back and forth making each other laugh for a good 10 minutes. 

We also finally got plates on the new(ish) car, so no more van rides for you! The new car is much smaller, but has working A/C and an awesome sterio. It'll be much more comfortable for our upcoming road trips!

You still only have two teeth, but you use those teeth with gusto! You're very good at toddling, and climbing and pulling wires and pushing buttons. Right now some of your favorite toys are the ones that play music. You love to push the button on this one book we have that plays classical songs. You play the same song over and over and kind of bop back and forth to it. It's amazingly, heart breaking-ly adorable.

You say Mama now, and Dada, and your favorite "Uh oh." You wave hello and bye bye. You use the signs for More and Milk and Eat consistently. You can find your head and your nose, and are working on actually using the shape sorter to sort the shapes. You know how it's supposed to work, you just can't figure out why some blocks won't go through some holes yet. 

You are incredibly persistent and (even when sick) almost always cheerful. Your father and I have gotten decently proficient at reading your moods, so we can tell when you need to take a nap or when you're getting hungry. Now that we can tell when you're starting to get tired, putting you to bed (or down for a nap) has gotten much easier. If we catch you at the right time (when you're tired enough to want to nap, but not so tired as to be cranky) you go to sleep without any fuss. 

You've started getting attached to this sock monkey stuffed animal that my parents got you. It's kind of an odd looking thing, with blue, black and white stripes, and black button eyes, and red buttons down it's front. But you seem to love it, so it stays in the crib with you.

I love you baby girl. I hope you're feeling better by the time I get home!