In other news (i.e. come on now, I'm entitled to a little gushing)

Aside from her being sick all the time and probably having the worst luck ever when it comes to medical issues, I gotta say that our kid is pretty darn awesome.  At 20 months, she's definitely not a baby anymore.   There are so many moments now that I look at her and I see the little toddler staring back at me.  She knows what she wants and asks for it, though often imperfectly.  It's kind of amazing to watch the transformation, although I have a feeling that I'll always miss our baby.  

This morning, she got up at 5:30 (fun times) looking for her doggie blanket.  Usually, she'll do this periodically through the night.  She loves her blankie but loses it constantly. If she wakes up and it's not there, she'll kind of cry a little, crawl around for it and then eventually find it or not, but still go back to sleep.  But this morning, there was no crying.  Instead, there was this, "Doggie??!?  Doggie!  Doggie!"  I glanced at the monitor and saw her sitting up and reaching around and finally sent G in to find it for her.  The half sleeping cries are much easier to ignore than the demands we heard this morning.  But then once he was in there, she decided that she also wanted "Mi"  (milk) so it was all a done deal.  I think we both resigned ourselves to not sleeping the rest of the morning.  When I peed and made my way to the kitchen, G was already warming the milk, and the little D was smiling happily, like it wasn't 5:30 in the morning. 

When I went to pick her up from daycare yesterday, she was riding a little bike around in circles outside.  A little boy bumped past her on his own vehicle, and she looked at him and said, "OW" although I know it didn't hurt.  She saw me and scuttled over but didn't want to leave.  It was windy and there was a tree above us with pretty little flowers that kept blowing off.  "Flower,"  she said, pointing to the petals.  Or something like that, it probably sounded more like "owwa."  I reached up and plucked a few off the tree to hand to her, and before I knew it, a bunch of the other kids wanted one too.  So I grabbed a few more and started distributing.  And my kid clutched her own flowers a little more tightly while simultaneously pointing to the other kids and said, "mine."  

At home, too, she has several bike-type toys, and they've quickly become her favorite.  She'll push along through the whole house, sitting on her trike or ladybug.  Choo-choo, she'll say from her train, or beep beep from the other ones.  Beep, beep, she'll tell the dogs if they're in her way, or the wall if she happens to hit it.  Or sometimes, she'll use them to get closer to the dogs. Yesterday, she went towards Tucker wanting to give him a kiss.  "To-tor" she kept saying, while smacking her lips and wheeling towards him.  Totor just got nervous and left.  Probably because he knows that her love is fickle.  One minute she might be trying to kiss the dogs, the next she'll be pushing them off their beds to take their place.  Or, "go" she'll say, pointing her fingers, a new one she learned from my mom last week.  "Go" she'll tell me too, if I'm getting a little too close.   

Last week, my mom was here and watching her during the day.  One morning, I had her with me while I was grabbing some socks from my dresser, and she happened to see a hat in the drawer.  "Hat?" she said, reaching for it.  I took it out and tried to put it on her head.  No, she said, mama?"  So I put it on and grabbed one of hers from her room.  A cute little green one.  Tried to put it on her head and she said no.  But later, that morning, my mom said she reached for it again and tried to put it on, saying all the while, "Mama hat."  

She throws tantrums like you wouldn't believe.  Last week, she wanted to vacuum, and I let her crawl around for a while, pushing the vacuum along.  If she'd been more effective at it, I'd have let her go at it all day.  But instead, I tried to finally put a stop to it and she wailed and screamed and yelled.  But just as often, her tantrums are of the stubborn type, the refusal to do something she doesn't want to do, quiet but determined.  

No thanks, I don't want to get up just yet, please.  One more "boop?" 

She loves her "boops" and can sit around for long stretches, just looking at the pictures.   She also loves music and dance, and will often ask for music in the background while we're playing or eating.  "eh" she'll say, swaying back and forth.  G started playing her hip hop and rap, and our kid can get jiggy with it with the best of them.  Once, we saw her in the back seat, her blankie in her hand, her thumb in her mouth, dancing to Eminem.  Clearly, only the best for our girl.  And I have no idea where she gets it from, seeing as how G and I both have 2 left feet. 

Diya and Dada, listening to some tunes

The other day, I was doing something in the kitchen while she was hanging out in the family room.  Peep a boo, she said, peering from around the side of the couch.  Or, "horse" she'll say and point to our heads, meaning she wants to ride around the house on our shoulders.  Everyday seems more fun than the one before.  She still doesn't walk, but her legs have gotten closer and closer together.  She seems to need less and less assistance to stand and takes every opportunity to do so.  And aside from the slowed mobility, she's right on track.  Everyday, she learns a new word and starts to use it.  Everyday, she'll decide something else is fun and just can't get enough of it.  And she'll laugh and laugh and laugh while doing it, especially if it scares the crap out of us, like her new habit of riding the ends of the couch.  This week, it's coming out with me to feed the dogs.  Down, she'll tell them sternly as I'm getting the food, and then, "stay."   And when finally, they're "ready" she'll look at me, smiling, so proud of her accomplishment.  At her last well-child visit at 18 months, our ped said anywhere from 6-20 words were normal at that age.  I tried to make a list and came up with more than 50.  And I'm guessing that's doubled since then. 

Serving tea -- When you're finished with your cup, she'll ask, "Meore?" and give you more.  Sometimes, she'll drink straight from the kettle.  You know, when she's especially thirsty. 

She wants to do everything on her own, but suddenly, doesn't mind asking for "help."  I gave her coffee once while in India (like a teaspoon of it), and now she's hooked.  "Offee?"  she'll ask if she sees me with a mug.  Or grinding the beans.  Or, the other day, when G walked in with Starbucks.  How the heck does she know, we wonder?  And if she's lucky enough to get a sip, "mmm" she'll say, and then "Meore?"  (more). 

It's crazy to me how much fun this is.  And this is coming from some one who's been up from 5:30 this morning.   And spent the wee hours being jumped on and poked and prodded while the kid  basically made sure everyone in the household was wide awake.  Think of how much more I must love her on a full night of sleep.  But even with all the doctor's visits and hospital stays, our kid's pretty darn good at being a regular kid.  And is just about the smartest, most cheerful, adorable, and perfect thing there is.  

So check out how close her legs are here . . . even a few months ago, she'd have been standing with her legs wide apart like a gymnast.  Clearly we've come a long way.  BTW, we LOVE it when she decides to climb on the couch like this.  Totally awesome, and not at all unsafe.