Monkey Cheese da Weasel

Things that are now "normal" parts of my life:
Having a tiny human shout "YAY MOMMY!" with subsequent hand clapping when a toilet flushes.
Sticking my hand out to catch the half-chewed mush that my toddler spits out while eating.
Singing "Yo Gabba Gabba, Yo Gabba Gabba, Yo Gabba Gabba, YOOOOOOOO" under my breath at random.
Using the phrases "ketchup sauce" and "whoa bite"
The automatic zombie-like response of hunting for a stinky Elmo when the words "find Elmo!" are uttered from my kiddo's mouth.
Taking orders from a less-than-two-year-old that sounds like a squeaky, angry Arnold Schwarzenegger ("MO SAWSE," "SEET DOOOOOWN")
Doing some incredible contortionist moves in the car at a red light because the monster in the back seat dropped her Elmo, prompting a chorus of "drop Elmo! Mommy! Mommy get Elmo! Oh nooooo!" And Elmo almost always falls between the car seat and the car door. And I'm really short.


I vividly remember my husband stating, about one year ago, that our sweet little muffin would never be that cute ever again. I told him to wait until she's two and, I was right. My god this little thing is adorable. And the most adorable part about her? Her little mouth.

Yes, it's probably karmic retribution that I have a strong-willed, sassy, intelligent child who is far too smart for her own good. But dare I say it- I'm enjoying that little bundle of energetic sass. Her verbal skills are still progressing at a steady pace- she's on to full sentences now. When we came home the other night and Daddy wasn't home, she started looking around the house for him and proclaimed (unprompted) "He's not here." When we were at the pool the other day, she shouted "Get the beetle out!" when she saw a beetle floating nearby. That child gets incredibly upset if there's anything floating in the pool or her bath for some reason (maybe she's more traumatized than I am by her bath-poop days). Anyways, she shocks me on a daily basis with the words and phrases she says out of nowhere and in perfect context. She knows the difference between a horse and a zebra, a bear and a panda, etc. She can use the words "this" "that" "other" "different" and "too" appropriately. And now she's working on pronouncing her words better... our dog's name is Riley, and she started pronouncing it "Ridey" recently. I told her to look at my face, and then clearly pronounced the 'L' sound, and since then she's been saying "Riley" with that little tongue sticking out to ensure that 'L' sound is there. Just too cute. But my favorite phrase, by far, is "love you, mommy."

My little jabber-mouth loves to sing now... of note:
"Round and round the whoa bush. Monkey cheese da weasel. Monkey thought all fun. Pop goes da weasel!"
"Kwinkle kwinkle little star. How I wonder what you aaaaarrrrrrre"
"Old McDonald. Farm. E I E I O. Moo here. Moo here."
"Baa baa bwap sheep. Have a wool. Yessir, Yessir. Free bag. Fuuuuuuuuullllll" (she likes a dramatic ending)

She can count to 10 like it's no big deal, and understands that counting is quantifying- she'll point at things and count them for you. So it's not that she's memorized a sequence of words, this kid can actually count. It blows my mind. Although sometimes she thinks it's "one, two, three, jump!"

Motor skills-wise, she's doing really well. She can almost jump and get both feet off the ground, she can throw a ball, kick a ball, run, go up and down stairs, slide, and is getting great at scribbling with crayons. And she does all of those things back-to-back in a span of about three seconds.

And suddenly, out of nowhere, she's trying new foods without turning them away instantly. We can get almost any food into her mouth at least once, without all of the fussing and crying that we endured previously. Last night, I made some black bean and corn salsa and she asked for a bean when she saw them in the can. She ate one, then another, then another... I sat her down with a small dish of black beans and corn and she ate a decent amount. Internal happy dance! She scarfed down some meatloaf one night (and it was reasonably spicy, too because it had Rotel in it. Mmmmmm...) and has started eating meat here and there. She's a typical toddler- she loves mac n cheese, chicken nuggets with BBQ sauce, yogurt, and goldfish crackers.

Oh, yes... and that whole sleeping thing. My great sleeper disappeared for a bit and spiraled into a ball of overtired hyperness. She started waking up between 6:15 and 6:45 compared to her previous 7:30 wakeup time. Then she'd sleep for 1.5 or 2 hours, then be running circles around the house and screaming at the top of her lungs by dinner time. Oy. She's still not completely back to her previous schedule, but she's getting closer. The good thing is that she stays in bed in the morning until I come and get her, so at least I still have time to shower and get ready for work without worrying about her trying to climb her dresser.

I can't believe she'll be 2 in a few weeks! Geez. And she's a little peanut too- she's 24 pounds and about 32.5" tall. She's been in the same size clothes for about a year now (hooray!) and aside from her pants being too short, they still fit just fine and are even a little too big around the waist still.

Have I ever mentioned that I just LOVE being her mommy? She's the best, most adorable little kid ever. And I've been getting some cuddles out of her lately, too, which makes it even sweeter. I could hug and kiss on her forever and never get tired of it. Parenting doesn't feel like a job or a chore at all- I thoroughly love seeing her sweet little smile and chubby cheeks every day.

So tomorrow is my surgery... I'm the first patient, so I get the pleasure of having to be down at the hospital at 5:15am. Ugh. But at least I'll get a nice, 2-3 hour long anesthesia-induced nap :) I'm on a liquid diet today so I'm hungry and miserable. All I want is to stuff my face with Cheetos. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and kind words... I'm looking forward to being healthy again and putting this all behind me. I'll update everyone when I'm coherent enough to put together a complete thought.