Bean has also grown a lot since then. She is starting to lose her baby face and look more like a toddler. It is crazy when I look at her pictures from this time last year and compare them to pictures taken this summer. She is talking so much and every day she is starting to speak more English and less baby talk. Some of her words are "Pease" (Please), "Tutle" (turtle), "Nigh Nigh" (good night), "Boo" (blue - every time you ask her a color it is blue), "Boci" (broccoli - loves her broccoli), "Petty" (Pretty), "Hat", "Moe" (More), "Ice Ceam" (Ice cream) and the list goes on. She is still signing for please but says the word please when she signs, and she always does the sign for milk. That little girl sure loves her milk and ice cream.
For someone who used to eat everything she has started to get pickier with food. We are lucky that she loves her fruits and veggies and she eats anything that daycare gives her. I think she sees what the kids at school are eating so she figures she should eat it to so she can be like them.
It is so much fun to watch Bean explore. She loves going for walks on the path by our house and she really liked going to the beach and playing in the sand. The lake itself was not a hit, but she does great in the pool. In June we started swim lessons at the YMCA (thanks to Grandma Gassner who paid for Bean to take the classes). Bean has learned a lot at swim class and really likes to blow bubbles in the pool and now the bath tub.
I was really looking forward to having 4 day work weeks this summer so I could spend and extra day with Bean, but due to Mike's lack of work since February I have not been able to do that. One nice thing is Mike has had a lot of days with just him and Bean. Mike is a wonderful father and is so good at giving her his undivided attention. I can tell she really loves her daddy. They don't do anything exciting, but going to the park and playing at home is enough to make the Bean happy!
Over the last week we have had to deal with having a biter. Bean used to just bite me but that habit has moved to daycare. She has bitten someone at daycare 4 out of the last 8 days at daycare, so we have been trying to nip that in the bud. We went to the library and checked out "Teeth are Not for Biting". Bean's daycare cannot tell us who she is biting, but whenever we get to the page in the book with a little girl crying b/c she got bit Bean yells out "Abby" so I'm guessing that is who she is biting. If so, I feel bad for Abby. Bean has been getting better at not biting at home and she only bit someone once this week so I'm hope full things will get better. Plus we have started giving Bean "Time Outs." I got some great advice from my friend Mandy that seems to be working. Hopefully, we are coming to the end of this phase. It is hard to discipline Bean b/c after working all day I just want our time together to be happy, but I've come to the realization that she is a toddler and that just isn't going to happen.
It has also been fun watching Bean play. Last month we made a trip to Toys R Us to get birthday presents for her two cousins and I picked up a doll for Bean. She loves her doll and watching her act like a little mommy is just priceless. She brings her baby to me so I can swaddle it and she tries to give her "Nu Nu" (nuk) to her baby. She puts her baby in her little stroller grabs her purse and says "bye bye" and walks around the house. It truly is one of the cutest things I have ever seen.
Overall it has been a great summer and I look forward to all the fun things we will do before it gets cold outside.
This picture was taken last year at State Fair. It is one of my favorite pictures. It made me laugh so hard I
had to make it our 2009 Christmas card.
This was taken last Saturday at State Fair. You can see just how much Bean has changed in the last year.
She has grown so much in such a few short months! And she is adorable too! I love NINA!
ReplyDelete