casey update.......

so i don't think i've posted an update on casey in a bit........she's doing so many new things every day lately that it's hard to keep up!........

she's such a little mini person now.........definitely not a baby anymore........which is sad in some ways, but is so great in so many others.........it's so neat to see her come into her own and grow up.........she's learning so many new things and she's such a happy kid (for the most part) that it's hard to get sad about her getting "older"........it's great to watch her learn to say new words, learn to say and recognize letters (she knows A, B, D, E, F, L, M, N, and O so far), jump (which is currently her new favorite thing to do all the time), dance (which she does to most any kind of music), follow along with "itsy bitsy spider" and "wheels on the bus", climb up and down stairs (still very much assisted), run (very much un-assisted), and do all kinds of other things.........she plays hide and seek, gives out kisses and hugs upon request, colors without eating the crayons (well most times), and loves to wave to strangers........her favorite foods are chicken nuggets, grapes, special k, lucky charms, french fries, and coffee milkshakes.........her least favorite things are probably the sun being in her eyes and being carried.......and now that she's getting taller it's hard to keep things out of her reach, so she also really dislikes being told no, you can't have that ______ (insert pretty much anything here - from cell phone to remote control to pair of scissors)..........

we go to a water-tot swim class at the YMCA on wednesday mornings and she loves that..........she's becoming quite the swimmer.......she kicks and knows how to "reach and pull" in the water........and she loves jumping in from the side........not quite sure why they teach them to jump in, but hey they all seem to love that part.........

we go to a playgroup (called "totgym") on friday mornings.........basically it's a church gym with a TON of toys in it........mostly "outdoor" toys (slides, ride-on toys, etc) with mats under them.........ranges in age from about 18 months to 3 years old.......casey LOVES it there........she loves seeing the other kids and loves playing with all the toys........the last 15 min or so of the hour they pull out a parachute which she's not scared at all to sit on or get under (although going under she's a little weary about at first) and they do bubbles which she goes nuts over.........there's a line in a movie i saw the other night that's very appropriate for casey - "i wish i liked anything as much as my kid likes bubbles"...........

we're down to 1 nap a day now for the majority of the time.........and it's getting closer to mid-day - it's around 11:30ish........although we're still all over the place on how long that one nap is.......i'd love it to be 2-3 hours, but we're not there yet..........oftentimes we get to 2 hours, but it could be 45 minutes........which makes the end of the day a little trying, especially when we're used to her staying up until 8:30.........most nights now we put her down for the night closer to 8 than 8:30.......she's just so tired it's not worth keeping her up any longer at that point.......

and lastly, she's been doing really well eating lately........or maybe we've just learned to go with the flow on the whole eating thing........some days we're lucky if she eats anything, but then 2 days later she'll be pounding down food all day long........can definitely tell when a growth spurt is approaching!........we're lucky that she pretty much will drink anything all the time, so on the days she's not eating as much, we can off-set by giving her full-strength juice or another cup of milk.........or a coffee milkshake which she has yet to turn her nose up at........

she's a ball of fun.........it's definitely tiring chasing her around all day, especially at 8 months pregnant, but she's such a great kid.........she's happy and doing so well........i'm so proud of her........she's already a great big sister - she points to my belly and says "baby" all the time and will oftentimes put her head on my belly and kind of give it a hug.........i hope she likes the baby as much when he or she comes out in a couple weeks!........fingers crossed!!!.......