Growing Up

My little baby is getting to be such a big girl. I know this is a good thing especially since we're rapidly approaching the arrival of our son, but a part of me is sad that my little girl is growing up so quickly.

Just a few weeks ago Vienna started freaking out when I put her in her carseat. It took me several moments to figure out why she was so instantly upset...she wanted to try to get into the carseat by herself. So I obliged and took her out of the explorer and watched as she crawled backed in, up her carseat and turned around and plopped down. The biggest smile was stretched across her face like she wanted to say, "Look what I did, Mom!" She's been doing it ever since.

Vienna has always liked dolls. She isn't obsessed with them, but they're definitely one her most commonly played with toys. She's been very into babies though for the past couple months...probably because we talk about baby boy a lot and point to my belly. The other day she discovered that her baby wears a diaper and wanted to take it off and bring it to the potty. I watched as she trotted over to her potty chair, threw the doll on it, waited all of 2 seconds before picking it back up again, and then proceeded to wipe its butt. She could spend the better part of an hour trying to put the diaper back on the baby, taking it off, and wiping the baby's bum...with a box of tissues. One day I walked into her room and there was literally an entire box of tissues on the floor....and a cute little girl who looked up at me as if to say "Check out what I can do, Mom!" Perfect. :) Who cares if it was a waste and a mess. She was so proud of what she figured out. Though since then I have showed her that we really only need a couple of tissues to clean the baby. :) She also loves to carry the baby around and talk to it, pat it's back and try and get the baby dressed...I love to see how she acts towards the baby in the same way that we do to her. The first time I helped her get a little shirt over the dolls head and began feeding the arms through, she looked the baby in the face playfully and said, "Hand! Where'd go?" She was playing the game daddy always plays with her when he gets her dressed. 

I think she is really going to like having a real live little baby in the house. Miss big sister.

Her vocabulary is constantly changing--which, with every new word or phrase she seems to grow bigger that much more. Literally the week after she turned two her talking changed drastically. She started saying more, communicating more, and was much clearer. Ever since then it just constantly turns less baby-jabber and more big-girl chatter. Its fun to watch her put words together, and sometimes she shocks me by knowing the names of certain things that I didn't think she knew. Just the other day she told me "I want my daddy," clear as day. A few of her constant phrases are "Oh no!" (which is especially cute because she puts her hands to her face as if it is the biggest deal in the world.) "I did it!" and "I get it!" But it is amazing to see how much she observes and what she wants to tell me, it's fun and puts a whole new adventure in the day. Despite her growing vocabulary she still does that Vienna lingo--the one where she'll tell you a whole stream of things with a soft little serious voice...and you can't understand any of it. She's entirely serious, and moves her hands and body in a way that makes you believe she thinks that you can understand everything she is saying. But she is entirely satisfied that you don't. I like to think that she's sharing a thought she has...and we all know that sometimes you just want to share a thought--you don't always need to be understood. I look forward to the day when I find out what she jabbers about.

Just this morning she was lying in bed with me and jabbering away, whispering, looking intently into my face. She kept putting her hand on my cheek and rubbing it--cutest thing ever. Then she pointed to a picture on the wall and said "baby" and I realized she was referring to a picture of when I was pregnant with her. I told her she was right and that was her when she was baby in my belly. She smiled so big and nodded her head and put her hand back on my cheek. Then pulled the covers off my belly and patted my tummy and kissed it. Seriously. The cutest thing ever.

She understands so much and is getting so big. I just can't believe how quickly she is growing up.