1. She's a climber. Yesterday she spent the better part of a half an hour trying to climb up on the couch. If she had another inch and a half on her or could have arranged the pillows just right on the floor underneath her she could have made it. Let's just say I'm glad she didn't. She also tried to climb onto a little ottoman I have and she was nearly successful.
2. She loves to say Mama. Over and over and over. While it can get a little monotonous when she's repeated it for an hour straight in the car (no exaggeration), I just love to hear it and the cute little way she says it.
3. She will now come over to where I am sitting and try to tickle me. She holds up her hands and wiggles her fingers and says ticka ticka ticka. Most of the time she doesn't even make contact with my skin but she thinks it's hilarious and quite frankly, it is.
4. She shushes me. Last week we were at a restaurant and she was being really loud. I tried the quiet voice, inside voice, yada yada yada. Finally I looked at her and put my finger over my lips and said Gracie, Shhhhh. She looked at me and said Mama. Shhhh and repeated the action and copied the low voice. She has shushed me several times since then. Usually when I say something she doesn't like such as don't put that in your mouth.
5. She adores music of every kind. Seriously, if she hears a commercial she is dancing to it. And she does this little shoulder and head move that reminds me of Janet Jackson from her control video. If I sing a song we have to sing it over and over and over. So much so that I would like to shuffle the itsy bitsy spider off to buffalo. And she sings along too.
6. She has a temper. Everyone tells me how mellow she is and for the most part that's true but take something away from her and girlfriend can throw a fit. The throw your head back, stiff body, screaming to the heavens fit. Yeah, me no likie. We're working on it but she is so strong spirited and stubborn that it's a real challenge.
7. She loves to take all the pictures off the shelves in the living room and she has conversations with the people in the pictures. Last night she had a lively conversation with a picture of my mother who passed away 8 years ago. She must have been catching her up on all that's been happening. She also likes to chew on the picture frames. I keep telling her it's rude to eat your relatives but she still tries anyway.
8. We have so much fun together. Yesterday we spent most of the day inside enjoying the air conditioning and playing and yet we had so much fun. We built towers and played with baby dolls and puzzles and she sat on my lap and we had tickle games and peek-a-boo and it was so much fun,
9. If it's open, we should close it. If it's closed we should open it. The second I open the dishwasher, she is behind me trying to close it. If the drawer is closed, we need to open. That keeps us very busy.
10. She is obsessed with the toilet. Twice I have forgotten to shut the bathroom door fast enough and both times I have found her with her arms splashing in the toilet. And I'm not talking about leaving her unattended. I'm talking about walking from her room to the living room which is perhaps a 10 second walk and thinking she is crawling right behind me. Then I turn around to find she made a pit stop to go swimming in the toilet. And both times we were about to head out the door. Gotta love those last minute unplanned for baths.
This was Grace in November 2009 at Horizon House in Ethiopia, shortly before I arrived. She was on a feeding tube because she wasn't eating enough.
