January 27th marked two and three-quarters years since Alethea arrived in the world. Happy birthday, my Sweet Girl!
It’s been a while since I wrote an Alethea update. The last one was actually in June (oops), so needless to say, some things have changed in the past seven months! Let’s see, where to begin…
One of the things that people notice right away when they meet Alethea is how many words she uses and how clearly she says them. She’s a super verbal girl. Having conversations with non-family adults doesn’t intimidate her at all and she also loves to talk on the phone, although it must be admitted that I still have to get on the line after she’s done and ‘translate’ much of the conversation.
Of course she says super funny things on an almost daily basis, but beyond keeping us amused, her verbal skills also come in handy for keeping tabs on Lydia. You can be quite sure that if Lydia is breaking a rule and Alethea sees her getting into something, that information will be promptly handed on to the adult in charge. She’s my little informant!
Physically she continues to grow and develop, adding new things to her repertoire on a regular basis. She walks, runs, jumps, somersaults (with a little help), spins, and climbs with the best of them! Her favorite thing to do though is still dancing, aka swaying back and forth to music, often with her eyes closed. She really gets into it!
She continues to love helping around the house and is thrilled any time she discovers something that she can do herself. Little by little she is mastering the art of getting dressed and can generally get on anything that doesn’t involve snaps, buttons or zippers. Besides socks that is, she has trouble with socks, but we’re working on it! In addition to getting dressed her daily tasks include helping pick up her room, fetching things for Lydia and Mommy and brushing her teeth. We also try to have her participate in other tasks periodically and have found that she enjoys setting the table and shoveling the drive way.
Her very most favorite activity of all time is playing pretend with her stuffed animals, specifically Dee, Lullaby and Clifford. She spends hours feeding them, changing them, reading to them, taking them for walks in the stroller and even disciplining them on occasion. Besides organizing her ‘friends’, she also spends time nearly every day reading books, playing the piano and dancing to music. I also try to get out some sort of craft/activity several times a week. Playdough and anything with stickers tops her list on that front. Oh, and she also loves the dollhouse we gave her for Christmas. I wondered how long it would take for the novelty to wear off, but she plays with it nearly every day, so I’d say it was a good Craigslist purchase.
Other developmental milestones include counting to 20, knowing her basic colors and shapes, recognizing letters and naming their sounds. Something else that I’ve been working on is her music listening comprehension, things like identifying instruments playing on the radio and learning the distinction between high and low sounds. I was so proud the other day when a song came on and she voluntarily said, “Mommy, those are high notes!” I said, “Very good, Alethea! What instrument is making those high sounds?” Without missing a beat, Alethea exclaimed, “A piano!”
The thing I have been most happy to see in Alethea recently is the beginnings of interest in playing interactively with other children. It’s especially nice when she plays with Lydia, because her little sister adores her for it and my goodness is it ever great to have some time to get things done without constantly breaking up squabbles. Not that their relationship is even close to conflict-free, but I feel that I am starting to get some glimpses into what kind of friendship the future might hold for my girls, and I like it, a lot!
We continue to seek ways assist Alethea’s spiritual development, including helping her learn to pray. Mostly she likes for us to pray at meals and bedtime, but I love it when she is willing to do the talking. The first thing she always does is to ask Jesus to help [insert anyone she knows is sick] to feel better. Then she generally thanks God for Mommy and Daddy and Gramma/Grandma, and if she’s in a particularly good mood, even for Lydia. It’s incredibly sweet to hear her very earnest voice lifting others up, and can even be a little convicting as she recalls people that I haven’t prayed for in a while.
And now to close, just a few random tidbits: Alethea is no longer scared of garbage trucks, her favorite color is yellow, she wears underwear whenever she is awake, she loves to eat chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, most fruits, and virtually all sweets, she will never eat mashed or cubed potatoes, her favorite TV show is Clifford the Big Red Dog (and can sing the whole theme song), she pronounces the word fabulous ‘fab-we-us’, which cracks me up every time, she has most of her story books memorized, she adores having company over. She is a sweet, funny, smart little girl and we love her so very, very much!
Alethea, we’re so glad you’re our little girl and we can’t imagine a better first born daughter!
Hugs and kisses,
Mommy and Daddy
