The Sweetness

Without the month to month "birthdays", I haven't done a Gracie update in forever.  But here is how the Sweetness is doing. 

She has many names: the Sweetness, the Princess, the Pumpkin, the big baby, Gracezilla, Chubby McChubberkins, Graciekins, the bag lady.   Where as Henry's nickname of the Pickle stuck, she responds to any and all of them, however, she is called the Sweetness most frequently.

She is a chatterbox.  Henry delights in trying to teach her new words.  Say "Momma,"  say "Gwacie,"  say "Cat in the Hat."  It is quite sweet.  So far she can say Momma, Dada, and Budda (for brother).  Henry has also taught her to make monkey noises when she is hungry.  Or whenever she sees a banana.  Or whenever he makes monkey noises, she'll follow suit.  Awesome.  She will not, however, perform monkey noises per her Mommy's request, say on the phone for her Gigi or Aunt Sonya.  Apparently, she is more Gibbon than circus monkey and I'm left playing the fool on the phone, squawking my monkey noises over the line.

She also likes to wake up in the middle of the night just to chat.  I did this as well as a child and did not sleep through the night until I was two.  Our response to her middle of the night chatfest?  We shut the door and turn up the ceiling fan so that we cannot hear her.  We stocked her crib with some buddies and books.  Also, for Christmas, Henry got her this pelican ball thingy that will attach to her crib.

She loves to be near Mommy.  Unlike her wondering brother, I can put this toddler down and she will stay near me.  She particularly enjoys emptying the dishwasher of dirty silverware as I fill it.  Second to that game is the game I call the "Fill and Dump."  She finds an empty bag and fills it with things she finds around the house--Little People characters, Legos, my car keys, sippy cups--and then dumps them in the Tupperware drawer.  At my parents' house last week, she played for 45 minutes with a paper grocery bag and an empty CD case.  We may have over thought her Christmas present (which is awesome, even if I did paint it myself).    She will also toddle off after Henry while we are at home.  If you can swing it, I highly recommend having a boy who plays well by himself prior to having a needy girl.  He really does a great job of parenting her, monkey noises notwithstanding.  Except for when she goes all "Gracezilla" and destroys the track on the train table, they play well together.  Henry has gotten the hang of preemptively giving her toys to play with so he can be free to play with Thomas.  Yes, she is stuck with Lego Salty and a random freight car, but she doesn't seem to mind the B-list trains. 

We've begun the process of taking away her pacifier.  My hope is to be passie free by next Fall.  She no longer receives it during the day unless we are at the doctor and they are going to be giving her shots.  There is also one in her diaper bag should the folks in nursery need it.  She seems to be fine with this.  She now looks forward to nap time.  As soon as I set her in her crib for a nap, she eagerly crawls up to the passie, plops it in her mouth, and then sets about trying to attach the clip to her collar.  The plan is to take it away from her during naps this Spring, and then at night in the Fall to be passie free by age 2.  (That's the plan, anywho...)

Her hair.

Her hair has a mind of its own.  I had expected this to a degree when we adopted her.  I had visions of braiding parties and learning to do fancy fingerweaves and the like.  But Gracie's hair, while super curly, also shows off her Japanese heritage by being super fine and silky.  I really am at a loss.  I know how to deal with curly hair as I have it as well, but my hair is really more wavy and poofy to Grace's tight curls.  But what we've come to is that we wash it once a week with Johnson's baby shampoo specifically formulated for curly hair (it has Glycerin in it).  Then I slather it with Pink's Oil Conditioner and comb it with a wide tooth comb.  For day to day maintenance, if it needs combing, I spray the heck out of it with detangling spray.  She is adorable whenever she sees this come out as she immediately throws her hands up over her eyes and face.  (She also mimicks me lubing her up with Grapeseed Oil by rubbing her hands together and then patting her belly.  Geesh, I love that girl!)  But mostly, I just use my fingers to comb it, carefully dividing the curls one by one.  If, for example, Daddy just decides to comb it out without spray, it ends up looking like a big brown football helmet.  (See photo above.) 

Alright, it is now 8:30 am.  And from the sounds I hear from upstairs, I either have a monkey infestation, or Henry has gone into Gracie's room to "wake her up" by climbing into her crib. 

Merry Monkey Christmas!