Her speech is still really delayed, which can be exhausting sometimes, but I usually can figure out what she wants using a combination of careful listening, context clues, and a little baby sign language. It's been about a year since she stopped having chronic ear infections. (Even after getting her tubes in December, she still had ear infections for a few months.) I know eventually she will catch up on her speech, and it will happen really fast. We are starting speech therapy (she finally qualified after the third assessment!), and I'm excited about where that will go.
She loves to repeat everyone (but usually what she says is still totally incomprehensible.) Recently at dinner Ike pointed to a part of his neck and said, "My throat hurts a lot right here, and I keep coughing." Trixie (also sick with a cold) then pointed to her throat and said, "Oh. Ah," which I'm pretty sure was, "Throat, cough." Once when Eric tried to distract the boys so he could sneak a cookie, he shouted, "What in the world can that be?" Trixie spent the next few minutes pointing and shouting, "aah eeee?" (Vowel sounds are her strong point. Consonant sounds rarely happen.)
There are usually no fewer than three stuffed animals in her bed. Her favorite three are a giraffe, an elephant, and a bunny that she got her first Christmas. Other animals that also make it to her bed: another giraffe, her giraffe costume (see below), her big yellow duck, her pony, a bear she got for Christmas this year, and a bear that actually belongs to her brother which she has claimed as her own.
Trixie doesn't really care about babies, except for our baby. She has a couple of baby dolls, and they rarely get touched.
She spends a good deal of time putting her bears to bed, in the baby swing, and in her doll stroller, and in her sister's car seat. I was the same way. I always preferred my stuffed animals to my few dolls.
She also loves real-life animals, and it has been fun taking her to the aquarium since we renewed our pass this year. And of course, the farm is still a big hit. She loves to choose a pony to ride, and she's always sad when it's time to go.
Whenever I go get Trixie from her crib, I often pretend that I can't find her. I say, "Where is Trixie? Is she under the bed? Is she in the drawer?" etc. I love listening to her laugh hysterically and tell me, "nooooooo" until I finally ask if she is in her bed, and she shouts, "YEAH!"
We do a similar game with animal sounds. She makes the animal sound, and I play dumb trying to guess what it is. She knows: cow, horse, snake, owl, cat, dog, pig, baby (wah), mama (sh), Trixie (hello!), cougar (Ra, ra, Gooooooo 'ers!), rabbit (scrunches up her nose), and giraffe (hangs her tongue out of her mouth).
Trixie also loves to sing and listen to people sing to her. We go to the library for a music and movement class for toddlers and she just loves it. She usually indicates to me with hand motions what song she wants me to sing to her.
As a rule, Trixie is the quickest of my children to reply to a request like, "Go wash your hands" or "Get your shoes on." But then she is the slowest to actually complete said task.
She loves to be included, and she is very aware of people's feelings. When she notices that a member of the family is sad, she will offer cuddles and speak gibberish to them in soothing, empathetic tones.
Trixie is incredibly affectionate. She loves to give hugs, even to people she barely knows. She has a great uncle, in particular, whom she adores. I love to see the two of them together. He gave her this adorable Minnie Mouse for Christmas, and we snapped a photo of them together.
Later he presented us with this painting of Trixie and her Minnie Mouse, which was just so thoughtful of him:
Other things that Trixie loves right now:
- Baths
- Showers
- Lotion
- Putting on makeup (I just pretend to put it on her, and she thinks that is awesome.)
- Pretending to put contacts in her eyes
- Dressing herself
- Playing tag and other chase games with her brothers
- Slides
- All the food
- Brushing her teeth
- Jackets and coats
- Video chatting (usually with Eric, but sometimes with my mom)
- Ice
- Pony rides
- Books
- Talking on the phone (It's super fun to be interrupted while trying to talk to a non-family member and ask them if my toddler can say hello to them really fast.)
- Drawing and coloring
- Helping
- Having her picture taken, taking pictures, and insisting on being in pictures that were not originally intended for her
One of the things that was most terrifying to me about having a girl was having to do girl hair. I'm growing out Trixie's bangs now (or, rather, she's growing out her bangs, my role is simply to stop trimming them), and I've even tried to do a little braid. The first time was okay, the second time was better, the third time was a total bust and I ended up just doing pigtails, and since then I've managed to do it a few more times with moderate success. Usually if I put on a YouTube video for her to watch, she'll be sit contentedly while I do her hair. (And then beg me the rest of the day to watch the videos, so it's not necessarily a win-win.)
I seriously love this little girl. She is the best cuddler and the most good-natured little girl. I'm really lucky to have her.
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