21.8

Pounds, that is. I weighed her on our scale today. Although she is still in the same sized diapers we brought to China, she is definitely growing. We estimated her weight a year ago at about 15 lbs.

She is still easy to carry but I am starting to think twice before letting other people pick her up.

Tonight some little girls in our neighborhood were remarking on her size ("So little, so cute.") They asked if they could pick up the "baby." In the past, I might have said yes. Now, however, I am starting to wonder if Grace really wants to be carted around (by other than her mom and dad, that is -- she clearly still wants that). So I told the girls to ask Grace if she wanted them to pick her up. The girls looked surprised. It's hard to see such a comparatively small child and imagine that her personality has advanced to the stage of having opinions about how she is to be treated. But then I reflect on the crib episode (see previous post) and I realize she's farther along than any of us fully appreciate.

In the end, they "jumped" with her by lifting her up and putting her back down (Grace likes to "Jum-pah!"). That satisfied their need to hold her and Grace retained some independence.

She then stunned them all by doing somersaults on the lawn.

Love and Lights' Out

Grace's vocabulary is exploding. There isn't a word she won't try to say. She's also very busy, watering the plants with a spray bottle and putting on her own socks, shoes and shorts. It's exciting to see her try so many new things.

Today, prompted, she said she loved me and daddy. Very sweet and rewarding. She also tried flossing: Hooray! Recently, she started calling me "Mom" instead of Mommy or Mama. It's cute and funny, coming from a 20 month old child.

But when it comes to bedtime, well....

She is rejecting the crib but won't stay in the twin bed. Since she is nearly completely potty trained, the crib represents an impediment to her ability to go without our help. But for whatever reason, the bed is not where she wants to sleep. She tricks us into taking her out of the crib by saying she has to potty. This little ritual went through three cycles tonight until I wised up. Tired of squatting alongside the toilet while she sang and grinned and made funny faces and tried to get me to give her bandaids or lotion or extra toilet paper, I turned out the light in the bathroom, left the door open and went down the hall, telling her to let me know when she was done. A few minutes later I heard "Ah Done!"

Maybe it was the lights' out technique, the tough love, or the fact that it was 9:30, but it worked well enough. We re-diapered her (pull ups still don't fit and neither does underwear), dropped her into her crib and left. She yelled for us for a few minutes and then fell asleep. Tune in tomorrow to see if she stayed there or awakened at 5:50 AM as she did this morning, conning daddy into putting her in her parents' bed.....

Amazing Grace...or just ambidextrous?

Tonight before bed, she did a little drawing. I noticed that she is equally skilled with either hand. I'll try to post some video soon to show you her mad drawing skills.

[Please ignore the wall paper. That was one project we never managed to tackle before we left for China....]

More Pics

Pictures, continued!!!

Pictures!!!

I still need to write Part II: Happy Gracie Day, however, with all the travel I've been doing lately I am not feeling very creative and my only time is late, late, late at night. So, hopefully a few photos from July, August and early September will hold you until I can get back to the very important job of retelling the Day We Met.
Thanks to everyone who has made our first year with Grace so special.
The following include farm animal and carousel pics from the local fair, and some other self-explanatory shots. Enjoy.