Back in the Saddle

I have been thinking about getting back into the swing of updating Darci's blog. I see that you all still check in, thanks for that! I promise to put more things here and keep you up-to-date with all of Darci's doings.

As of today, Darci Lynne is 2 years, 2 months, 2 weeks and 5 days old. Wow. It's hard to remember what life was like without this little ray of sunshine running around and talking nonstop. Darci has adjusted very well since our move to Oregon. She loves the fact that our house has stairs and she gets up and down them now with ease, and mostly without even holding the railing or wall. We live right next to a brand new, large sports park with soccer fields, a football field, and baseball fields. All of them have cushy astroturf with rubber backing, a perfect surface for a toddler to run on. We call it the "numbers park" because Darci's favorite thing is to run from one number on the football field to another, loudly proclaiming which number she's headed for next. Doug takes her either to the numbers park or another park every day, she absolutely loves getting outside.

Darci narrates life constantly. She wants to name everything she sees and tell you about its attributes - "A car! It's red. It's fast. It's cool. Bye car!" or "It's Mama! Your shirt. My shirt. It's pink. My shirt has tinkerbelle. It's pretty. Mine!" That last word, Mine, has become increasingly frequent. She talks very well, strangers don't always have an easy time understanding her, but Doug or I can usually translate. She uses sentences, has the right inflection for questions and statements, and understands possession and plurality.

We are constantly amazed at how quickly she learns. She loves the iPhone my new job came with, and I have a bunch of games for her on it. One is photos of instruments, and if you tap the instrument it plays a little tune. She quickly learned bassoon, accordion, and all the rest of the names, castanets is her favorite. Another is flashcards of animal photos with their associated sounds and names. She loves the cicada and bison.

Darci loves to sing! She can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on her own, and recently started singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider. That was a relief for us, she was a one hit wonder for the last month. I sing nursery tunes with her all the time. She knows Are You Sleeping, Baa Baa Black Sheep and all the rest, it's amazing how many little tunes like that I know. She will always sing along, and asks you to repeat a new song over and over so she can learn to sing with you.

Darci knows her numbers up to at least 20, although counting in order is still a challenge sometimes. She'll start 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8... but if you start at 10 she seems able to go to 20 no problem. She recently got her colors figured out, that took longer than numbers or letters. Purple is without a doubt her favorite right now. She recognizes letters and even does things like bite her sandwich into a V shape and then tell you about how it's a V. She loves books and I read with her every day. Introducing a new book isn't easy, she prefers familiar stories over new. Right now we are reading Green Eggs and Ham, I Love You So, and the 3 Little Pigs. I'll have to capture a recording of her huffing and puffing, she loves that part!

At 33 pounds she is still a big girl. we haven't measured her height lately but she is taller than other kids her age still. She is wearing size 3T clothes and toddler size 6 shoes. She loves to play with costumes, and recently started wanting to look in the mirror after putting on costumes, hats, or glasses. She has been asking us to put pretty barrettes in her hair but still won't leave them there for any length of time.

Darci is very affectionate and when she's not too busy she loves to snuggle. She understands feelings and is very concerned when anyone has a boo boo, I recently burned my arm on the oven rack, just a little burn, and Darci checks on it multiple times a day to see if it's better yet, and recommends that I put on a bandage. On the rare occasion that she hurts herself she runs up to request kisses, then "all better!"

Darci is a hearty little kid, no longer any trace of baby left. She is strong willed and outgoing, never unsure of herself and never scared. She's so much fun to be around but boy, is it tiring! :-) Thankfully she also prefers a nice early bedtime between 6-7 and generally sleeps all night until 7 AM. Wish you could all visit and see her right now, our door is open and our guest room is awesome!