Ivy right now...

Changing at the speed of light, this little girl.

 Except for sleep. She still clings stubbornly to the sleep habits of a 6 month old. Sigh.

 But other than that! Oh what fun she is becoming!

 Here are some new developments from our youngest child:

 * New words! Among them-- Sticky, Stinky, and Baby. All utterly adorable to listen to. She LOVES the word "sticky" and will say it over and over and repeat it, if she hears us say it in conversation. 

*Dolls! She has suddenly gone all girly on us, and is now officially obsessed with the dolls she received last week from Grandpa and Vovo. She likes to take them along on walks, in the car, into the store or restaurant. Today at Chic-Fil-A she ate her dinner with her "bee-bee" tucked under one arm. She gives them kisses ("mah!!) and snuggles and walks them in her doll stroller and oh is she cute. To her credit she also takes Hotwheels and shoes for walks in her stroller.

 * TV! She now watches television and has gotten into the routine of settling in to the small Poang chair, placed right next to Jack's TV chair, where the two of them will happily watch up to 30 minutes of video. She doesn't stay seated for that whole time but even as she wanders the living room or stands in her chair, she's pretty engaged in the shows, to the point that she repeats words said by characters in the show. So far she's pretty open-minded and will even watch Jack's new favorites-- animal documentaries-- but her favorites seem to be anything with music, and Bert and Ernie.  I really shouldn't be happy that my barely 16 month old baby likes TV but I have to say-- both of them sitting and being entertained for a few moments, at the same time?  It rocks.

 *"Shyness"-She continues to be a friendly girl who loves to say "Hieee!" and charm everyone she meets but recently she'll follow that up with a cling to our legs or a shy head turn. She gets over it pretty quickly so at the moment its mostly endearing.

 * Trying to run. You should see her do this little quasi-march, legs extending out straight in front, tromping about at a great rate... she's almost there with the running.

 * Dancing. She does the twist, arms swinging and rotating her torso like mad, anytime music starts up. Interestingly she uses a similar motion to indicate "No way in H***" rather than just shaking her head no to things.


 Well, my ramblings about my daughter must end now, as she is starting up her nightly "its about time for mom to go to bed so I'd better wake up and scream" routine.

 Before I go I just have to share that she and Jack climbed all the way up the play structure at Chic-Fil-A tonight, the boy holding her hand and following her attentively the whole way. It was wonderful to see, one of those "OK, it might be worth it" moments. Especially when Jack happily exclaimed, "I just LOVE Ivy" when I asked him if they were having fun. Good stuff.

 Now, off to have my nightly chat with my daughter about the whole "nighttime is for sleeping" thing. If she ever figures this out, she and I may actually get along pretty well....