Uh Oh

Hannah is 20 months old and acting every bit her age. She thinks she is a big kid and therefore wants to do everything by herself. And she is very opinionated these days. And stubborn. Its quite the combo. Unfortunately most of the time she is unable to do what she wants independently and/or unable to communicate her opinions/needs effectively.

 

Like the whole potty thing. I am in no way, shape or form ready to potty train her. In fact I am determined to keep her in diapers for as long as possible (because cloth diapers rock and they are cheap...once you own them of course). She on the other hand wants to use the toilet. In fact she strips herself down and gets on the toilet daily (with some assistance from big sister)! And much to my chagrin she is successful when she tries. Darn stubborn and determined child. 

Her opinions are vast and unwavering. 

She likes to wear her polka dot shoes. 

Or her rain boots. And she must put them on herself!

And her brown jacket. Again put on by her. 

And her monkey pajamas. 

She wants her 'Number' book read to her multiple times per day but she only likes the ball and cat pages. 

She needs a napkin with every meal. 

She wants to go on multiple walks each day. 

And she wants to choose her mode of transportation - tricycle or stroller - for each walk. 

Pretty much she wants to do everything for herself.

 

 

All this to say, as of recently her screaming has made an unwelcome reappearance as her favored form of communication. To assert herself. Two steps forward. One step back. Or is it one step forward and two steps back?!? 

To quote her speech therapist, "she's smart and could talk if she wanted to but she's just too stubborn to try". That's my girl. Just like her mother. 

It seems crazy. But we are actually trying really hard to teach her the words NO. ME. And MINE. She needs these words. So far no luck. Instead she has added the words HOT. FLOWER. and DONE to her limited vocabulary. Not quite as useful. But words are words. We'll take what we can get. 

Speaking of speech. As she sloooowly becomes more verbal, she tends to overgeneralize her new words. For example when she started using the word "bye" she used it to mean goodbye, done, and finished. She said bye at the end of every page as we read stories. And she said bye to her empty plate when she finished her meal. She is constantly pointing out "balls" everywhere. Stoplights and rocks and polka dots are all balls in Hannah's world. So the other day as we were walking out to the van in the morning and Hannah was trailing behind saying "uh oh" over and over again, I didn't give it much thought. In fact I didn't look back until I was done loading the other kids in the van.  When I finally looked at her I found her trying to toddle to the van with her skirt around her ankles! Uh oh indeed. 

Sometimes her speech is completely appropriate. It's her mother that is the problem!

Sorry. I don't have a picture of the skirt incident. Instead I will end with the pictures I took this morning. This fine SPRING morning in Illinois.

 

Isaiah kept exclaiming excitedly "I have never seen snow on April 15th before!!!"

 

But looking on the bright side because when don't I? ((Ha. Don't answer that question!)) The sun is shining and the snow is already melting. A high of 36 is expected today! PLUS thanks to Charlotte's potty accident right in front of our toilet (shortly after these pictures were taken) our bathroom floors are shiny and clean. AND more importantly I discovered a dried booger on the side of our toilet bowl and cleaned it off.  Good thing too because if not for being on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor who knows how long that would have gone undiscovered!?!  Days? Weeks? Months? And due to a last minute change of plans the kids and I are NOT going out of town for Easter. My parents are coming here instead. And that booger situation could have been terribly embarrassing if it hadn't been taken care of! Now if only I could get the booger picker to stop leaving them in random locations. Now that would be a good day.