Echo

Sweetie has become a sweet little echo in our house. I might say, "Sweetie, come get a drink." And I hear, "Drink?" Or I could say, "We're going to have grilled cheese for lunch." And she'll say, "grilled cheese?" Everything is always with a little question mark at the end. She picks up on key words and repeats them, so she is talking more and learning more words. She also likes to say some slang like, "Oh, man!" and "oh my gosh!"

If I suggest that we do something that makes her happy she'll respond with "O Kaaaay!!!" and she'll hop in the air. If I suggest something she doesn't want to do she'll cheerily say, "Um, no."

If she wants something to eat, she'll rummage through the pantry, pull it out and bring it to me and with a head cocked to the side she'll say, "Mom, eat, pease?" Or "I want some, pease?" And she'll do it with this cute grin and sparkling eyes. It's very bewitching. She KNOWS how to turn on the charm. She can charm anyone. I've gotten comments about her adorable personality. She just exudes cuteness (especially when I do her hair and she leaves it in).

When we are out and about she'll say hi to strangers and give them big smiles. I am SO not like that, I don't know where she gets it. I took her to the bouncy place while Baby Dragon was in preschool and Sweetie was trying to get other kids to play with her. It was cute to see her reaching a hand out to other little girls and say, "Come on!" But the other kids were too young to engage in play like that. And really, she just wanted a kid to run along side her and do some parallel play. Good thing she's not to the age that it hurts her feelings if they won't play with her.

The past couple of days she's been fighting her naps and will play in her room for HOURS, avoiding sleep. She'll be flipping through books or something. Once I went in to tell her to go to bed and she said, " I want bed." I told her the bed was right there and she repeated herself. I said, "You want what?" Then she looked at me and very carefully said, "brrrrread." She has a hard time with r's and l's. After I gave her a piece she fell asleep. Here she is after 3 hours of not sleeping for her nap today.

Occasionally Sweetie will request bed, but most of the time for her naps I have to suggest we go read a book or I have to give her the option of walking or being carried. I definitely know it's nap time when she's have multiple crying fits.

She's pretty sensitive. If we get upset with her and scold her she'll run off crying and say, "Daddy's MAD!" or "Mommy's MAD!" When we tell her we aren't mad then she calms down. I have been getting on her case about crying though because she cries about EVERYTHING. You know it's not real crying when they can shut it off with no problem. We keep trying to tell her to use her words instead. Once she said, "I no wike-it da words!" Since crying doesn't seem to keep Baby Dragon from bugging her, Sweetie will sometimes hit her. She also likes saying, "No, weaf awone." (leave me alone)

Sweetie is learning how to pout and be sassy from her sister. At this point it's comical and cute, all her huffing and crossing of the arms. But I'm sure the cuteness will wear off soon.

Sweetie always likes it when I am nursing Captain A in the nursery because there is a bin of books there. If she sees me in the glider she runs over and, with a little gleam in her eye, she pulls out a book and says, "Read it?" She often says, "I wanna sit in da wap" (lap) and I have to tell her no since there's no room when I'm nursing.

Handsome Husband took the girls to a ward Daddy-Daughter camp out at a ward member's house and she was chasing chickens. At one point he saw her chasing the chickens with a baseball bat in hand. Handsome Husband told her to put it down, and she meekly did. She's pretty good about being obedient. Especially if you start counting.

One day Sweetie and Baby Dragon took big clean paint brushes and started brushing random surfaces in the house. They were "cleaning." They did that for almost 20 minutes. Sometimes they play so well together. They like to pretend to be "bad witches" complete with cackles and riding on broomsticks. They like to go into the music room and bang on the piano and sing together. The other day they were taking a bath together and one of them pulled the plug. When the water ran out they climbed out and came downstairs shivering and wet. Silly girls didn't grab towels!

Sweetie has begun some food battles with us. She often goes to bed without food because she won't eat what we make for dinner. Sometimes we just ask her to take ONE bite and she pushes her plate away and says, "I no wike it." We tell her to eat or go to bed and she will sometimes choose bed. I figure she'll eat if she's hungry. And she does. She's ALWAYS eager to eat anything sugary. At least she likes fruit. She adores peanut butter and honey "sammiches."

She still loves to color. She likes to watch ME color during church, that's how I keep her entertained. She sits on my lap and helps me choose which colors to use. It's cute to hear her read books to herself. Sometimes she can summarize the books and other times she just points to the pictures and names them. For instance with "Go, Dog, Go!" she points to all the dogs and says, "A dog, a dog, a dog, a dog..." There are LOTS of dogs in that book. At bedtime she always wants to keep the book that we read to her with her in bed so she can re-read it to herself. She also loves movies and brings them to me. She says, " Ima watch a woovie?" If I say no she'll go find another one, thinking that I just don't like her selection. When I say no again she'll say, "why?"

She likes to come over and ask, "What you doooning, Mom?" When we are in the car she is always saying, "I'm go home?" Either she always wants to go home or she doesn't understand what home is like Baby Dragon didn't when she was younger. If I hit a bump in the road she'll say, "Be careful, Mom."

Last night I went in her room to change Baby Dragon's sheets (night training) and Sweetie was half asleep and Cpt. Adorable was crying in another room. Sweetie rolled over and said, "Baby Cpt. A is sad." Then she went back to sleep.

In general, I think Sweetie has adjusted well to being the middle child. I definitely enjoy her cuteness.