40 Weeks and 4 Days

One of these girls became a big sister a few weeks ago. The other one is still waiting. . .

Marykate and Ella were born 5 weeks apart and it is likely the next set of Suter cousins will be almost exactly that (give or take a week). The relationship these two girls share is fun to watch grow. This time they interacted more, while still engaging mostly in parallel play. Of the time they played together, they were often trying to get the same toy or making loud obnoxious noises. The above picture absolutely warms my heart. Ella loves nothing more than to be chased, and Marykate kept coming after her to tickle her. Both girls laughed and laughed. (I thought I was taking a video only to realize when I meant to turn it off, I was actually turning it on. At least Grandpa got this picture!)

40 Weeks and 1 Day

Another thing about Ella that brings me joy is her love for water. With the crazy heat this summer we hit up many kiddy pools and splash parks. Newton, in my opinion, has the best splash park I've seen, and every town with summer heat should get one. I am in love. The splash park has lots of different apparatuses and holes in the ground that spray water. What I love about Newton, is that they don't all run all the time. So. . . you can be standing in a particular spot that is not being sprayed and then, boom, you get hammered. There of course is a predictable order they run in, but for the mother of a child that doesn't mind being surprised (or maybe even likes it), it provided me with good entertainment. (Another thing I love about a splash park is that this pregnant body didn't have to get in a swimsuit and I could still enjoy the spray.)

40 Weeks Today

I'm going to take my mind off today being our 2nd little girl's due date thinking about some of the things I really love about the little girl that is no longer inside me.

For today: Language
Ella's language has really exploded recently. There are so many things I could say about it. I'll just name a few or this will never get posted. She'll use words for things I had no idea she knew. Like "hang" when she was pointing to where I should put her jacket. Or "band-aid" which was nearly indecipherable except she pointed to her knee and said "ouch" - although there was nothing there, and then ran to the bathroom and pointed to the drawer where we keep the band-aids. Thank you for the clues, Ella. There are certainly things you say that I don't yet understand. Keep trying.

 She puts words together, not always in a sentence but as a complete thought. Here are some recent examples:

*As she pat my belly last night, "come. . . come. . . play. . . me."
*As I was tucking her in for her nap, "Mama. . . go. . . away." (Sigh. Little Miss Independent. Isn't she too young for that? I was sure she wasn't going to sleep right away, but she did!)
*If she wants to be chased, "Get you!"
*When she sees our neighbor's cat run out of our backyard, "Meow. . . Millie's. . . house. . . go." (and, yes, she does use the possessive form of words sometimes. I don't know how these little people absorb and apply so much.)

For a month or so at the beginning of the summer, if she was ever asked to count it was "two. . . two. . two. . " Then one magical moment she counted to ten. Jon and I both were blown away. Ever since that day,  it has been "One. . . three. . . one. One. . . three. . . one. . ." Huh.

Not the Cheapest Find at the Grocery Store

I'm glad we didn't have to pay for her again. 

After Ella helped unload the bags, she got super excited about getting IN the bag. Daddy got super excited about lifting her up. (Mama may have done a little bit of scolding in there somewhere for endangering our daughters life. All survived.)