We have a smart 26 month old.  We’ve known this for awhile, due to Pediatrician appointments where they tell us that she’s advanced and way ahead, but it’s still shocking to watch her comprehend and remember things so easily.  We’re learning that not much is outside of her reach.

A few months ago, we taught her to know the difference between her left and right.  She gets it correct 100% of the time now.  She’s been able to count to 20, say her ABCs, know all her colors, know shapes, quote entire books, say the NT books of the bible, and communicate in paragraph form with us since well before she turned two years old.

What’s the newest thing on the list of her knowledge . . .

Spelling!

When we don’t want Abi to get too excited or disappointed about something, if we decide to not to it (like go to the P-A-R-K  or to take a B-A-T-H), we spell it out to each other.  Sometimes, if I’m spelling, Jonathan doesn’t even know the word, and vice versa.  So, it completely shocked us when the other day . . .

I asked Jonathan: “You want some D-E-S-S-E-R-T?”
Abi: “Oh, I want some.”
Me: “You want some what?”
Abi: “Dessert!  Please may I have dessert?”

Wow, I’m pretty sure we had never spelled out dessert before.  How did she do that!?

I was thinking about that at lunch today and thought it might’ve been a fluke, so I tested her.

Me: “Abi, what does D-O-G spell?
Abi: “Dog!”
Me: “Okay.  What does D-U-C-K spell?”
Abi: “Ummm, umm, Duck.”

I tried B-U-G next, but she said Pig.

She just catches on to things so quickly.  Hopefully her love of learning will turn out to be a good thing.  Sometimes I feel like it’s a blessing . . . and a curse (as Monk would say).

Any neat stories about how your kids wowed you?

I was going to write about this prior to Vday to give y’all a free gift idea, but I didn’t want to spoil the surprise to Jonathan.  Sorry, I guess I love him more.

Anyway, here’s a gift you can do at any time, not just Vday:

I covered some canisters with paper and stickers.

Here are the rules:

His & Hers Requests

-Write 46 things (since there are 46 weeks left in the year) that we want the other spouse to do with us or with us.

-Put those sheets of paper in your canister, and then we will swap canisters.

-On Sundays, we will each pull a strip of paper out of each other’s jar, and we’ll have to do whatever the spouse asked for.
-We will have the whole week to do the request.

-We will put the papers (with the writing hidden) on our bathroom mirror as a reminder.

On Sunday, Jonathan and I each drew one strip of paper (his were blue; mine were pink).

I don’t know what he’ll be doing for me or when, but I’m pretty nervous about what I’m supposed to do for him.  I’ll update you after I do his request.

I got this idea from an article I read, and I was happy that Jonathan was super excited about this project.  Yea for a good, free gift!  This way, we can work on showing love in the ways we want to receive it.

Do you have any good, cheap ideas for gifts??

I’m thinking of starting a page on the blog of cute/funny things that Abigail has said.  I want to remember them, and with this pregnancy brain, that’s getting hard to do.

So, I’ll just leave you with a funny conversation Abigail had with our dog Sabra this morning.

Abi: Sissah, go potty.  Hurry up, Sissah.  Come in near.  Do you see the snow?  It’s white.

[I call Sabra inside from the snow.]

Abi: Sissah has snow on her hair.  You wanna clean it?

Me: No, it’s okay, it’ll just melt.

Abi: But Sissah’s wet.  Sissah, you want me dry you?  [She opens the hutch door to get out a kitchen hand towel.]

Me: It’s okay; the wet will go away.  Thank you, though.

Abi: Okay.  It’s okay, Sissah.  It’s alright.  Snow will go away.

~~~~

Later on, I saw a boogie in Abigail’s nose, so I asked her if she wanted to blow her nose.

Abi: Noooo, Abi keep the booger in the nose.

~~~~

And last night, Jonathan was brushing Abigail’s teeth when she started clicking her tongue,

Abi: :Lah nah lah nah lah.  I’m singing a song about Abi’s tongue.

Pretty sure she’s the cutest 23 month old EVER!

Better late than never, right? Here’s my post Halloween post (well, one of them; I’ll post another one of Jonathan and my costumes) . . .

Abi was too young to participate in carving a pumpkin last year, but we decided she could help this year.  We tried looking for a cookie monster design but couldn’t find one, so Abi decided she wanted to make a pumpkin face of her favorite shapes.

She liked watching Daddy drill the holes.  And she loved playing with the pumpkin seeds and helping Momma separate the seeds from the gooey stuff.

When she’d wake up in the morning and after nap time, she’d say “go see pumpkins.”

This is her cute costume that her Daddy picked out: She’s a little lamb.

We did Trunk or Treat at our church, and Abi learned at the first car that saying, “Trick or Treat” would get her a prize/candy.  So cute!

When people would ask her what she was, she’d say, “Baaaaaaaa.”

She also would tell the candy givers, “Thank you” and “Happy Halloween”

What a joy she is to us!

What were your kid(s) for Halloween this year?  Or previous years?  I’m already thinking about what she should be for next year.

Ever since I stopped nursing Abigail, Jonathan and I have had a night time routine with Abigail:

• Give bath
• Brush teeth
• Sing a few songs
• Read “Goodnight Moon”
• Pray
• Sing “Goodnight [Abi]“
• Say “I love you,” give kisses, and put her in her crib.

For the past 5 nights or so, we started having her “repeat” a prayer, which is so totally cute to hear her.  Due to her MeMe’s suggestion, we recorded this video of her repeating a prayer.  Notice this sentence,” Thank you [BURP] for today.”  What a cutie.

So tonight, when I said, “Are you ready to say an Abi prayer?”  She jumped right in and said (not repeating) . . .

Dear God  [Jonathan and I both looked at each other like, "WHOA"],

Thank you for Sissa (what she calls Sabra).

Thank you for Sissa.

Thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for PapaBon.

Thank you for GramB.

Thank you for Pa Pa.

Jesus Name, Amen.

Jonathan and I were dumbfounded.  We didn’t know she had it in her.  It was so precious to hear her!

[I know I have tons to update on: like Halloween, Abi reading books, pregnancy, etc, and I will try to get around to those posts soon.  Maybe tomorrow while she's napping?  Stay tuned.]

Happy Monday:

I’ve never seen any dog do this before:

Tonight, I had a fairly discouraging night at church.  Abigail was not being too pleasant: wanting to move around, talking, fussing, even starting to cry a few times.  Halfway through church, I looked to the elderly lady down the row, who I didn’t know, and gave her “the my daughter is a troublesome, cutie smile,” and the lady glared at me.  Can you say, “ouch!”

But I kept thinking, I’m not going to take her out because that’ll just teach her to act up, and she’ll get her way, and she needs to learn how to sit still in church (she does amazingly well on Sunday mornings, but for some reason, she’s not so great on Sunday nights).

So, fast forward a few minutes, and I glanced in another section where another old woman, who I know somewhat, gave me the stink eye, too, TWICE!  Is this not rude, people?!  I wanted to cry right there.

After church, Jonathan and I left without really talking to anyone, and I told him about the meanies who made me feel like a bad mother.  I talked about writing an email to our ministers, saying that they need to give a little “talk” to people who make parents of young children NOT want to go to church.  I mean, seriously, if I didn’t have strong ties to the church . . . if I were visiting or faltering in my faith, I would NOT be going back.

Anyway, then when we got home, Abigail would not eat her dinner.  Needless to say, I was not feeling very good vibes with her, rather I was feeling like a terrible parent.  Kind of in a downer mood.

So, we went on our walk, gave the bath, read the book, and said the prayers with Abigail.  After I said my prayer, Abigail said, “Aaa-nan” (for the first time).

“What?  Amen?  Did you say, ‘Amen’ Abigail?”

“Aaa-nan.  A-nan.  A-men.”

She made her Mommy smile and turned her night right-side up.  Praise God for giving us blessings from our children when we feel down.

“People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them.  When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them.  But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” — Luke 18:15-17