Oops! 6 months later

Well, I haven’t blogged in 6 months, and you know how much growing a developing a child does between the ages of 16 months to 22 months!  So since I haven’t kept track of exactly when she said these words, I’ll copy the list here of many of the words that were spilling out of Sayda, back when she first starting saying lots more words.  Baby, night night, elephant, mama, Elmo, banana, water. Ahna, einstein. Ow, wow, thank u. Diego. Woah, more, ball, apple. Shh. Hippo. Puppy. Gentle. More. Please. There tis. Hey. Boom. Good girl. Quack. Amen. Potty.  Around the time she was starting to say these words, she would also mimic after the big kids, “aaahh choo!”  So cute!

Just to note, at 16.5 months, her weight was in the 75^th percentile, and her height was in the 60^th percentile.  Of course I didn’t write down her ACTUAL height and weight.  I’ve always been bad at that, and I truly don’t know why!  Grr!!

Also many months ago, we first starting noticing the things that she would to on command, and how it is always neat to see them understanding things and responding.  These things include folding hands to pray, sing, dance, funny face, get a diaper, get shoes, sit down, let's go, gimmie a hug, and blow on your food.  I also remember around this time when she was pointing out the body & face parts when you asked her to- eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, head, hands, belly, feet.

Now that she’s 22 months old, she’s also saying all of those body parts as well, and even today was the first time she began to dress herself.  She did really well!  She got her pants all the way one, except they were backwards, and she got her head through the shirt!  Getting your arms in without help is tricky at that age!

Sayda’s speech isn’t anywhere near where Diella and Ethan’s were at this age, but we she has always been very comprehensive!  She’s now saying things like  I also think her articulation is going to become as crystal clear as Ethan’s was, and early on like Ethan as well.  Some words she will only pronounce two letters of it, like “potty” she says like “paw-Ee.”  But other words, that I would consider to be difficult to pronounce, she says perfectly, like “bounce.”  It’s interesting!  One cute one is that she says oops like, “oats!”

One word she says wrong, that I think is so cute, is cookie.  She sort of says it backwards, like “kee koo.” 

 I must mention how incredibly well-behaved Sayda is when we take trips to the store, and also when we take walks.  Both Diella and Ethan are generally pretty rambunctious, and when we’re at the store, Sayda always sits in the cart so calmly, and just observes.  During walks, she simply holds my hand and enjoys it, without trying to run ahead with her older brother and sister.  Since Sayda has always gone in these crazy spurts of screaming being her form of communication, it is VERY nice to be in her calm presence during these times!

I hate to blog something that isn’t a good memory, but I must document about Sayda’s screaming phases.  It was her way of communicating, since she wasn’t saying a whole lot of words yet.  Plus, of course, the big kids pick on her, or leave her out at times, and of course that is frustrating!  It wasn’t always just an upset or angry scream.  Sometimes it was a joyful or hyper scream too, but regardless, our ears had just about had it with the screaming.  We finally were able to break her of that!  But it returned a few times.  One of those things that she’ll do better at for a while, and not scream, but then it will surface again at times.  Girl is LOUD.

Before Sayda was 18 months old, she would hum along a few notes to the lullabies that her little Glow Worm plays while she’s in bed.  Now she’s singing along with the songs that her big brother & sister sing quite well!

She was jumping with two feet at 20 months.  I’ve seen her use both her right hand, and her left, so we’ll see which one becomes more prominent. 

I’ve had nicknames for every kid.  For some reason I used to call Sayda, Molly.  Like every day.  I don’t know why, but I always called her Molly, HAHA! …. I’ve since stopped calling her that, but also for who knows what reason, I started calling her Noona.  Just a little nickname.  I still do, but not nearly as often.  Noona.  

Sayda Loves Silas!  But she’s STILL not too gentle with him.  Well, she is at times, but she just really invades his space, haha!  I’ve even heard her say, “gentle” when she’s gently touching his head.  But I’ve also seen her try to open his eye when he was asleep, haha, oh my!  She does love him though!  She used to say to him, every time she would see him, “Hi Sayda!” hehehee…. Now she says “Hi Silas!”

I hadn’t gone over colors with Sayda yet, as of a few weeks ago.  I was still working with her on her ABC’s.  But a few weeks ago, I was walking her down the stairs, and she pointed to a color chart I have on the wall, and she said, “orange!”  My eyes widened, and I took her close to it, and I asked her, “which one is orange?”  She pointed to the right one!  I still dunno if that was a fluke or not.  I still praised her and cheered her on!  She didn’t know any of the other colors, but now I go over them with her much more often!

So watching movies, and reciting movie lines is a very common thing in this house.  I must say how proud I am of Sayda, that she is only just starting to form sentences, but I heard her quote a movie line the other day.  Not during a movie, just one day while she was sitting and playing alone.  It was a line from Shrek 2.  Sitting all alone, I heard her say, “far… FAR…. (whisper) away.”  HA!!!  Loved hearing that!  Her favorite movie is Tangled.  She usually doesn’t move a muscle or blink an eye for the whole thing.  I’m gonna have that be the theme for her 2^nd birthday!

Another thing Sayda has gotten very much into…. Sharpies!  Ahhhh!!!!  One day she got a hold of one, and she was wearing shorts.  So her legs were ALL drawn on!  Then later, mommy didn’t put that thing away high enough, so she did it a Second time that day!  Then I remember once we were at Grammie O.’s house, and sure enough, somehow she sniffed out a marker and went to it!  I had been much more careful about hiding those things since then, and we haven’t come across it for a long time, but just yesterday I left one out, and her tummy was covered!!!  SIGH!!!!

She’s really a cool girl.  She’s Very sweet, she has the most gorgeous smile, and she has always done pretty well obeying.  I really think she might be a singer!  We’ll see! 

Two of my favorite things about her, though they may seem small, just mean so much to me.  When we take a walk (which is quite often), she is SO well behaved!  She rarely wants to take off running, or goofing off with the big kids, and instead she just holds my hand the entire way, quiet and just enjoying the time together.  My other favorite thing is when she often comes up to me, and just ever so gently touches my face.  Usually there’s not even a reason, she’ll just smile, and look at me, and run her hand down my cheek.  It’s the sweetest thing, and I love it!

Sayda Lady

Sayda sings on command! It's like, "ya ya ya," 3 notes (well one note, down, and then back to the same note... technically 2, hehe)... but it. Is. Adorable!

She also does the exact same funny face (Big, cheesy smile) that Diella used to do... on command! (picture above)

now at 16 months, her words include : hot, dada, up, down, all done, hi, Diella, Sayda, uh oh, (she tries words like..) night night, bye, shoes. I think I'm missing a few? Still does NOT say mama! Ha! (I'm sure she CAN, but just won't).

I looked at the signs & the animals sounds that she was doing when I last posted... and it's the same as now, so no update there. But she DOES know 4 more body parts than last time! She has had down belly, and mouth... and the other 4 came All of a Sudden! She now also knows hands, feet, head, and nose. And after she points to her nose, she then also touches the nose of whoever is asking her to find hers. So cute!

Signs, Words, Animal Sounds

Sayda, when you grow up, and you're reading this, I apologize that so far I have no blogged as much about you as I have with the other kids. Everyone always says that you do so much more with your first born, and it decreases with each kid, and I always said I'd never let that happen! Well, I've been doing my best, and it just must be one of the laws of physics. But I will continue to try harder to write more often!

Back when Sayda was only crawling and not even walking, there's one thing I've noticed she does then, that she still does now. She is definitely a quality time girl. Even when the big kids are playing & laughing in the basement, Sayda would rather sit at my feet while I do dishes, or play by herself while I work on the computer. She DOES play with them too, but more often than not, she just wants to be where I am. She's my little shadow. I wouldnt even say its necessarily a "Mama's girl" thing, but just that she likes to be in the presence of others, even if they're not playing with her. Its sweet.

Sayda used to cringe every time Ethan came near her… just because for a long time, he really didn't know how to be gently with her. But it was neat to see the transition from her almost fear of him, to her affection for him. She definitely LOVES her big sister! But when I first saw her taking to Ethan at all, was a fun time for me! Now they all play together so well, and I don't see any of them really pairing up and leaving the other as a third wheel. Its great!

Another silly thing I like to watch Sayda do is when she lays on her back to play, or to watch tv. I dunno why its so funny to me. I guess because it seems more normal to sit up while she plays? But I cant help but to smile when I watch her walk over, sit herself down, and then lower herself even more, until she's on her back, even when she's not sleepy. She also does this, leaning up against things. Whether its the alligator cushion, or a pillow, or most often jake or myself, she backs herself up until she feels you, then plops herself down and leans her back up against us. Its adorable! It seems so comforting to her…. I love it!

Sayda's first birthday party was so much fun! We decided to go with a different theme, and prepare breakfast for dinner as our meal, and invite everyone to come in their jammies! We even made up menu's, so that everyone could personalize their order when they arrived! We had some family over, and the usual friends we see come to these things, and it was great!

So as far as her development… now that she's 14 months old!!!! We just took down the baby gates, because she is going down the stairs alone! I'm also recording now as the mile-marker to when she started running! She's a little quick one! She just popped her 11th tooth through as well! Wow! She had 7 teeth for so long, and just popped 3 molars and her last front tooth all within the past two weeks! Whew!

This girl will eat almost anything you put in front of her! Haha! Not only the choices of food, will she pretty much eat anything, but also the quantity! We keep it under control, but man can she eat!

Its also pretty funny when after nap (and she's only allowed to have her binky during nap & bedtime), I say, "ok, gimmie your binky." she happily plucks it right out & hands it to me, Haha! Other times I don't say a word. I just hold my hand in front of her, and sometimes she'll hand it to me, but other times she cracks me up when she just bends over & lets it fall our of her mouth, into my hand. Haha!

I think she's going to be our "dry humor" kid. She IS a happy baby, don't get me wrong… but she's just not as easily amused as the other kids always were. You cant just make her laugh by doing silly faces or silly sounds or anything. Yesterday, I was running over to Gma's house from my parents house, holding Sayda, and while she's bouncing in my arms, and I was giggling because I was trying to make it fun for her, she never cracked a smile! Haha!!! A while later, on the way back to the house, I tried again, and she laughed, so we got one there!

The other day, the big kids were taking a bath, and they were extremely hyper and truly driving me a little coo coo. So as I was dressing Sayda, I whispered in her ear, "you are by far my best one today." and she very distinctively nodded her head yes. Haha!!!

Though I never marked down WHEN these things happened (shame on me!), I do remember how adorable it was when she started doing things like, nodding her head yes, pointing with one finger, giving kisses when we ask for them, and changing her wave from moving the fingers, to rotating the wrist. Another one is when she started dancing! She moves side to side, like most babies, so cute! But I loved it even more when I first caught her dancing, slowly spinning in a circle, with her arms in the air! I cant NEVER catch a video of it on my phone, but I will! I Love these little special times!

The signs she does include, all done, more, eat, please, and milk!

I would expect her, just as a female, to be saying a lot more words than she is at this point, hehe! But nonetheless, they consist of… dada, hi, up, all done, wow, and uh oh! She occasionally says (her version of) Diella, which is kinda like "Diedda" … and I think she also tries to say her name (like when we look in the mirror and I ask her "who's that baby?")… she says, "Dayda." So that's cool! I'm sorry, but I cannot believe she still doesn't say Mama!! Haha!

She knows a few of her body parts, like when we ask, "where's your belly?" and she pulls up her shirt! Hehe, which by the way, she finds pretty hysterical. She also knows where her mouth is. One time when I asked her where my nose was (or maybe I asked where hers is, I don't remember)… she got it right. So I know she's learning, just not talking. She DOES, however, do LOTS of babbling! I love it especially when she looks RIGHT at you, and all these little Sayda words come out! She's trying to communicate!

She LOVES to do animal sounds! The ones she knows on command include, doggie, monkey, elephant, and cow. The ones she SOMEtimes gets correct are horse and tiger (or the same sound for dinosaur). There are a few she does, but only after you do them for her first, like duck and kitty.

She is still a wonderful sleeper! About 11 hours at night, and her daytime nap is as short as 1.5 hours, and as long as 3 hours. So we're pleased with that!

I really am excited for the next few months as I watch her grow, and develop into her personality even more!

Oops, Forgot

so it looks like I wrote this a few months ago, and somehow never posted it! ... so here goes

Again, its been way too long since I’ve blogged! Sayda will be 1 in three weeks! She has been walking for 3 weeks, and is getting pretty fast now! She never crawls ever, and she’s looking like she just wants to take off running! She’s been climbing the stairs for well over a month now! And now she’s even starting to climb ONTO things, like her blue chair, etc. She started clapping her hands (to copy us) on October 10th!

She still takes 2 naps, and sleeps all night just greatly! She dances to music, and it is SO adorable! She finally signs! She has been doing, “all done” for a few weeks, and today, Nov. 18th, was the first time she signed “more” !!!

She used to say “all done” too, but not so much anymore. She still pretty much only says “dada.” Oh no wait, she also says Hi! (but its kinda without the H). We’ve been done nursing for about 2 weeks, and she’s doing great!

Sayda is in the stage where she screams when she’s trying to communicate something. Its usually during mealtimes. We cannot wait until this stage is done, lol.

One thing about Sayda that I love, is that she’d rather sit at my feet in the kitchen while I do the dishes, playing with a pot, than play in the basement with the other kids, with all the toys. She’s a quality time girl!

She’s developing wonderfully, and she’s just awesome!

Nice Quick One

I would say that Sayda is officially cruising! Its not often, and its not a lot, but she will hang onto the couch and take a few slow steps over now!

She's also been waving for AT LEAST a few weeks, and I just forgot to mention it.

Her naps have been consistent throughout each day! She takes a morning nap, and a longer afternoon nap! She's awake all evening, and has ALWAYS slept all night. She doesn't nap AS much as the other two kids did her age, but I still wont complain!

I think she's starting to do little things like dance to music a tiny bit, and it looks like sometimes she's trying to clap her hands! She's also starting to get to the stage of bruises! With all her crawling & standing, she's getting lots of little bonks left & right! Yesterday, she went from sitting to starting her crawl so quickly, that she wiped out… so I'm sure once she gets an even better hang of all this movement, she'll be unstoppable, hahaha!!!

So Mobile!

Um, not posting in 2 months, when a baby is only 8 months old, is a very bad thing! And the thing is, I only write down the things she does onto a list, without dating them (lesson learned, will fix this for met time), but so I only have estimations for WHEN each of these things took place!!! Ugh!… but here it goes…

She got her first tooth right around Diella's birthday, I believe, when she was about 6 months old. Then she got her second one only about 2 weeks after that!!! AND THEN A THIRD one about a week later! Neither of the other two kids got their first tooth until 8 months old! So now Sayda is 8 months old with 3 teeth, and hasn't gotten any since that third one. But, wow!

It was at about 7 and a half months that Sayda began to crawl! It of course started off with her getting up onto her hands & knees, and eventually she would do that, and then as she began to go forward, she'd flop to her belly. Then soon after that was when she could go from laying down, to sitting up all by herself! And then in no time was she going from sitting, to hands & knees, and then crawling! NOW, she's a little over 8 months old, and she's been pulling herself to standing for over 2 weeks now! She does it very often, and quite quickly! So she is VERY mobile! Crawls fast now, pulls herself up now, and you can see it in her eyes, she really wants to walk! The other day she was standing at the couch, with the couch to her back! ready to take off… and of course she dropped to her hands & knees… but it wont be long now!

Sayda's official first word was Dada! And yes, she says it when she sees Dada! Yay! ok, so she also sometimes says it when she sees me too, but still, haha! She basically says Mama too, but its when she's eating food, LOL! She doesn't say it TO me really, just when she's eating, haha! She also had this short little phase where she says, "doodoodoo" its SOOOO cute! I have a video of it that I will try to post! Her little lips get all puckered, in an "o" shape… and it seems she does it most when she's watching someone eat, haha!

So, speaking of eating, Sayda went to baby food at 5 months, instead of 6, like the other two kids. I just don't think nursing was enough for her, she wanted more. So by now, she's had all of the fruits, all of the vegetables, and has had some bread as well, and of course lots of rice cereal. She LOOOOVES food!!!! She just gets so excited when its time to eat! And you can just see her light up when she's snacking, and how satisfied she is after she's eaten, hehehe!

She still sleeps wonderfully at night! About 11 hours or so! Her naps during the day, at this point, are as follows: she takes about a one hour nap in the morning, after she's been awake for over two hours. And then when Diella goes down at 2 o'clock, so does Sayda, for the longer nap, 2-3 hours! She's doing great!

Sayda must love music, because if she's crying in the car, then jake will put on the Veggie Tales songs and she usually gets quiet right away! Also, she smiles SO big when mommy sings to her!!!

She has discovered the fact that she can scream. She doesn't do this when she's crying or upset, but just as means of communication. sigh* its humorous, but its SOOO loud!!!! She does it a lot when she and Diella are playing together!

Its a rare occasion, at this age, that the kids to something thats truly amusing, but a few weeks ago, in the car, she cracked me up! We were driving down to Virginia, so we were currently eating in the car. Diella and Ethan were sharing their ham. Sayda sits in between them. As Ethan went to pass a piece of ham to Diella, Sayda then, faster than you can say, "please pass the ham," reached up her little hand and snagged that thing away like it was her job! I think we ALL laughed at that!

She is growing both physically, and within her personality as well, so fast! Cant wait to see who this little angel becomes!

Sittin Up!

So it looks as though Sayda may be even more of a Mama's girl, than Ethan is a Mama's boy! Uh oh!!! The past few weeks, whether my mom is watching the kids on a Thursday night, or if I have to run out for any errands in the evening, and she is with daddy…. it seems that once the evening hours hit, Sayda JUST Wants Mommy!!!… poor Jake & Ahna! We're trying to figure out all the little things that make her the most happy & the most calm, to hold her over until mommy gets home… but wow, she just BEGS for me till she sees me! In fact, once last week, I had a FULL day… teaching class, and then a wedding afterwards… she didn't see me for about, hmm, 8 hours! And when she finally did, she SHRILLED!!

I've been trying to remember and teach mom & Jake some of the things that help out when she's fussy. One of them we call the 'magic trick.' Put her on our bed, lights out, a Baby Einstein on, and if she's fussy, lay your hand on her belly for a minute. She's settles down almost instantly! This also works when she's very tired… puts her to sleep every time, (after she's watched half the video at least). I'm hoping its just a phase though.

She also does NOT like to be PUT to sleep, but only to FALL asleep. If you lay her down in your arms, she gets Angry!!! She doesn't want to feel like you're trying to help her go to sleep, she'd rather just fall asleep sitting up… and its happened many, MANY times!

Sayda's been on rice cereal for almost a month now I think! She has been blowing raspberries for a few weeks too… one of the ways she likes to talk to us. Well, indeed she has combined the two. Blowing raspberries while being fed her rice cereal. And man, I gotta say, I just LOVE getting splattered in the face each day! lol!

She has been rolling over for a few weeks now! She goes both ways- front to back, and back to front. And also over each shoulder, not just one direction, yay! Of course now we have to be extra careful if she's on a couch or bed, cuz she is really becoming mobile! Now, when she plays on her belly, she'll even turn herself (like either direction, still on her belly, to face a different way)… so that she can reach toys, or watch the big kids, etc.

I'm even gonna count today as though she's officially sitting up! She's been so close lately, and today she sat for probably almost a minute!!! Yay Sayda!!!!