Aidan, as we approach your fifth birthday, you have been experimenting more and more with enhanced vocabulary techniques, and also just saying some really sweet and funny things. This is by no means an exhaustive list. But, just a few things you've been saying here and there that either crack us up, or are memorable for other reasons.
1. Your teacher, Miss Mary, called you "Honey." Straight-faced, you turned to her and said, 'Don't call me 'Honey.' I'm not a bee!"
2. Yesterday I asked you and Julia what a bee says. You said "buh." I said, "That's close...bees say 'buzz buzz buzz.'" You said, "No. The 'B' says 'buh.'".... as in "The A says 'ah', the B says 'buh,' the C says 'cuh', and the D says "duh." Duh!
3. The other night Mommy and I were in your room as per usual as you got ready for bed. Out of the blue, you said "Mommy, you are good at driving, and sleeping and painting. I am good at putting my pajamas on and getting ready for bed!"
4. Lately you've been into saying things are disgusting. We're not exactly positive you know what the word really means, but you like saying it. "That's disgusting!!!!!"
5. The other day you were mad at your Mama and you told her "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it....you fool!"
We had to cover our chuckles... how do you know what a fool is!
6. "CANNONBALL! (poopoo)"
7. You were in the bath tub, Julia climbed on your back. You balanced her and said "Steady, girls!"
8. Yesterday you told me "Take a hike!" But you didn't know what it meant. So it wasn't mean.
It's so great to witness the development of your vocabulary...and your mouth. And when it's meant to be funny, you have us in stitches.
Julia, you love to talk. Sometimes it seems that you just kind of chat throughout an entire day.
You read books to yourself outloud (emphasis on loud), you talk to and about your brother (who you sometimes call "Aidy"), you give commands ("wake up mommy, it's reading time!"), tell stories, ask questions, narrate your bowel movements ("here comes a big one!") and are, well, a pretty amazing conversationalist, even if there's no one else there.
The other day we were putting you down for a nap, and you weren't apparently ready to go nap yet. your mother and I hear you calling from upstairs, "Anyone? Hello anybody? Is anybody there? Is anybody there?" After cracking up, I went upstairs to check on you. You had pulled a chair over, stood up on it, and peered over the wall to call down to us. It was a very existential line of inquiry!
You say a lot of complex sentences, and paragraphs. But sometimes it's the simple things that stick with me. Before I left for work yesterday, you said "Daddy, wait! I have a kiss for you!" I melted into a puddle immediately.
Your favorite things to say are "Sure I can!" and "I do it myself!"
These aren't the best examples of your broad vocabulary, or your lengthy lexicon, or your full paragraphs. But they are great snapshots of just some of the things you say, and who you are. You are downright, chatty, Miss Julia. Especially in the morning.
It's hard to keep up with every advance you make, as you have grown and learned so rapidly that we hardly have time to adjust.
You are talking in full sentences and baby paragraphs routinely. "Daddy, I shut it. Please open it!" or "Aidan, no touch my tushy!"
You are mostly potty trained. When you need to go, you enter the bathroom, undress, and get business done. Including wiping. Sometimes, though, when you need to go but don't want to go, you can be quite stubborn about the whole thing, which occassionally causes some inopportune moments. You still sleep in a pull-up (only the "Mermaid" and "Doffin Stuffin" ones...NOT- god forbid- the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" (Minnie Mouse) ones."
You are funny, and love to play jokes, retell funny stories ("Aidan says blerg blergh blergh), and surprise people. You also learned that "poopoo" is funny (thanks to your brother, and your extended family for laughing that one time).
You also love to say "uh-oh daisy" in case of accidents.
You are smart and determined: you know your ABCs, you know to use the potty, you dress yourself most of the time, and try to undress yourself at night. You know "twinkle twinkle," know that you live in "Dallas." You know that Aidan is your brother. You call your Mom and me by first name sometimes...although maybe that should be under "funny," since you know you're being cute when you do it1 And are a quick study when learning new words. You also love to read to yourself, even if you don't know all the words.
You are strong: doing forward rolls in the back yard, and impressing everyone at the little gym with your hanging skills, jumping skills, and rolling.
You can tussle with the big boys and take them down a peg if needed. It seems just like yesterday you were learning to Jump and not getting off the ground...and now, a few months later, you're practically a frog or rabbit!
You are sweet: you have no problem displaying affection. You love kisses, and tickles, and hugs. You tell me, Aidan, and Mommy "I love you SO MUCH" (which never gets old). You say bye bye to inanimate objects "Bye bye TV!" And you LOVE animals, especially your dogs and other people's cats. Just yesterday you walked past Preston and told me "That's my boy! That's my boy Preston!" You, of course, had to stop and give hugs.
You love your brother like no other.
You LOVE dairy foods: yogurt, cottage cheese, chocolate milk, shredded cheddar, shredded parm, shredded mozzarella, and "pirates booty booty." Sometime you'll tolerate meat or vegetables.
You LOVE Frozen, and sing "Let it GO Let it GO Let it GO" around the house, in the car, or wherever. You also LOVE Aladdin. The other day you were saying something repeatedly and we had no clue what it was "Hoenewwhoa Hoenewwhoa!" I asked you what it was. You said "Yaddin Song!" You were singing "A Whole new World!!!" You also love "Wreck it Ralph." And Nemo. God, do you love Nemo.
Your favorite animals are Horses, Zebras, and Giraffes. We "play horsey, daddy! get up horsey!" nearly every day.
You are weigh 26 pounds and are 32 inches tall, and you're in perfect health.
You've grown from this:
To this:
To this!
And we have loved every moment of trying to keep up with you. Happy Second birthday, dear, sweet, strong, silly, stubborn, super, Julia Sekina!
Julia, as more and more words- and sentences- come out of your mouth the more apparent it becomes that you are whip-smart, super powerful, and amazingly funny too.
You know most of your body parts and don't hesitate to tell us. "Eye", "Eyebrow", "Elbow", "hair", "knee", "nose", "Behbuh" (belly button), "mouth", "eeah" (ear), "teef!" "eyelash" are among your favorites. I often have no shirt on (that's what Dads do)...so I've noticed that you - like your brother before you- seem very interested in "bibbles" (nipples). And you use these liberally: in your favorite book ("Nemo") you always have to find the "shaaa" (shark) and tell us all about his teeth.
You know when you want to play "Horsey" or "kikitty" or "dog."
When you go potty, you tell me to "sit!" So, I sit across from you on the edge of the tub.
You learn words left and right, and remember them too. Last night in the bath tub, you said "Grover Cup, Pease."
Last night while you were trying to avoid going to bed, you kept point and asking me to take you to the "chair." "Chair." "Chair."
When you are proud for going pee pee on the potty, or just looking for someone, you use your "Oh!" Such as "Oh, Mama!" "Oh, Daddy!" "Oh, Aidan!"
If you don't know someone's name, that never stops you: You called your cousin Jenny "That."
"Nah" means "yeah." "Neh" means again. "No no no no no no"- you can figure that one out.
We played "ring around the rosey" once before you fell in love with the game and request it every day a hundred times. "Robey robey robey neh!"
You sing songs too, including "clean up clean up" (often you'll make messes just for the joy of cleaning them up!)
You love to sing songs that your brother is teaching you too. "A, B, A, B, A, B, B" But once a few days ago I sang "ABCD" and you sang "EFG" unmistakably!
You also LOVE when a song from "Frozen" comes on and in a gruff voice you say "FROZEN! FROZEN! FROZEN!"
And of course, Old MacDonald remains one of your favorites.
In the car one day, Aidan was doing some improv and sang "E I E I Daddy." He thought it was hilarious! So did you...and you've been singing it ever since!
You are making sentences quite readily too. "Oolia bath" (you wanted to get back in the bath since Aidan and Kaelyn were still in there having fun).
"Ho me ho me" is of course "hold me hold me".
"Oolia go goo gleep shirt" (you were wearing your Go Goo Gleep shirt..duh!)
"Aidan shoes"
"Mine iPad! Mine iPad!"
"Aidan bite." (no, he didn't)
"Good gog"
"Aidan cry." (yes, he did)
"Mama book"
"Thank you!"
"Hi Nemo!"
"Bye bye, Nemo!"
"Bye bye, park"
"Mimi! Bop!" (Pops)
"Yaya! Baba!"
"NG NG" (it means "swing"...trust me on this)
"Asher! Asher! Asher!"
"Baby Bottle! Baby..."
"More wah wah Oolia!"
"Mama, Dada, there you are!"
Sometimes you just sit and babble stuff we haven't heard before and can't translate yet; occasionally it's over a book, so you're probably just reading. But, with the speed with which your vocabulary is growing and you're mastering language, we'll understand you soon enough. For now though, you are a little girl in a big world, and you have a lot to say about it. We're just happy to hear it!
I can't believe you've only been here for 18 months. None of us can recall life without you- nor would we want to.
You are an amazing young lady: a burst of sunshine, love, wit, strength, creativity, determination, smarts and- of course- beauty.
It is amazing being part of your life: watching you make connections, helping you grow, being so surprised when you've grown and learned without our help.
You are funny- and have a wicked sense of humor. You know when you are about to do something mischievous and get this incredible look in your eye.
You are fearless and brave, but smartly so. You hate to fall down, so you are very careful in your bravery.
You are independent: If you're hungry, you just go to the pantry, and get what you want. Luckily, it's usually raisins...or pirates booty (aka "boobee") or cereal (aka "seeral").
You talk all the time. Last night you were playing with a toy cat, just saying "meow meow meow meow." Sometimes you even pretend to be a cat. You also have adopted one of Aidan's stuffed cats, which is your beloved "kikitty."
You love your family, including your dear old dad ("Daddy"), your "Mommy", your "Aideen"/"Bruder", and your cousins, whose names you're still learning. But you definitely have words for Addison and Autumn. And you LOVE to just go through the list of all the people you know.
You're very interested in kids younger than you, including your good friend Asher. Everyone is "baby." In fact, sometimes you are "Baby." The baby next door? She's "baby" too. You spent the better part of 20 minutes one day trying to climb the fence saying "Hi Baby! Hi Baby! Bye Baby!"
You are silly:
But, you're also silly smart. When Aidan's not guiding you to color all over your face for no reason, you are usually just applying marker to your face. You started doing this after watching Mommy get ready in the morning. The foundation makeup looks awfully close to the flesh-colored marker. So, why not be like Mama?
You're super advanced too: 18 months old and already you've already started to "go" on the potty. You tell us when you need to go! About a week ago you had gone pee pee on the potty 3 times and poo poo once. Now those numbers are so high that we've lost count. There was, of course, a bit of confusion. At the beginning, you went pee pee on our deck outside and raised your hands in the air triumphantly and said "HOORAY!" But now, when you get chocolate (aka "I-doh") for going on the potty, you really are starting to get it!
Your favorite foods include Jelly Beans, which we discovered on Easter morning as you devoured all the eggs left for you!
Cereal is always in style.
Watermelon ("wamelon") is a perennial favorite.
You are focused. When you want something, you do NOT let it go: "Nemo. Nemo. nemo. Nemo. Shreh. shreh. Shreh? Shreh? Go goo gleep?"
Oh, did I mention that you speak in full sentences? Too? "Hi, Mommy!" "Aidan cry." "Daddy work." "Aidan school."
And, you're finally learning to say your own name. Right now it sounds like "ooolia", although, sometimes you still call yourself "baby," which is no longer the case.
You love to run, and swing, and go on wagon rides. You love to clean up (so much so that you'll make a mess just to immediately clean it up again). You love your best friend, your brother.
You are tall at 32.5 inches (75%) and skinny at 23.2 pounds (25.5%). But these are just numbers.
You are 18 months old and you are just plain amazing.
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