Meritt update

So I thought I would update on what's been going on with Meritt lately. Her speech therapy has really been paying off. Her speech therapist, Nancy, is so wonderful & good with her. I'm so glad we asked for an actual speech therapist because it has made all the difference in just a couple months. Nancy gives us so much great feedback & things to work on, so it helps us know what to do. It's unbelievable how much more she is saying in actual words now, instead of just gibberish or sounds that we can't understand. Every week Meritt says new things and Nancy is very impressed by her all the time. Also, Meritt is learing new things all the time anyway and surprises us constantly. She is so much fun & super silly, too! We really can't believe how much she has changed & grown up over the last few months. I just got our blog book for Meritt's 2nd year (from 1st bday to 2nd bday) and it's crazy how much she has changed. She definitely doesn't have any of that "baby" look to her anymore and is such a big girl.

This picture was just from 6 months ago....she still had the chubby, baby face a little.

Now this is from last weekend....she's such a big girl, her hair has grown so much and she's starting to get longer & thinner.

I'm so glad that I have this blog book to look back on because I could never remember all of the wonderful, beautiful memories we have made together. We absolutely love being together as much as we can & Meritt brings us so much joy every day. She is the perfect package....cuddly & loving (gives us hugs & kisses all the time and likes to snuggle & sit in our lap a lot)....and so fun & playful (very imaginative - loves to be chased & tickled, plays games with us & we can just give her a playful look and she will get so tickled). Meritt really is such a good girl & people are always complimenting her. Now, lets hope this little boy on the way has his own, perfectly wonderful qualities and isn't too much of a handful/terror that will wear this Mommy out! :)

Here is a quick picture of Meritt & Nancy looking at a book.

We made a list of all the words/phrases she can say well & says regularly. There's quite a few & we didn't realize how many there were. It's still not where she should be, but I have no doubt that she headed in the right direction and will be up to speed in no time.

I got it, I hold (and recently I hold+object "I hold cup"), Nose, Eyes, Shoes, Ears, Teeth, Where is it?/Where is she/he or Where is (object)?, Cup, ball, Head, Car, Sky, Sun, Surprise (just says Prize and throws her arms up), Pool ("cool"), Home, Tv ("T"), Grapes ("eyes")-not sure why, but can't really say "gr" yet, Hi, Bye, Home, I did it!, Apple, Flip, Baby, Cheese, Cold, Kite, Fly, Blue (favorite color-only one she knows :)), 2, 9, 6 (every time she counts, she repeats 9,6,9,6,etc....must be her favorite #'s), Nite-nite, See ya (usually every time she says Bye to someone, it's immediately followed by See ya), Daddy ("da-ee"), Mama ("mom-ba" like the dance), Hi Daddy/Hi Mama, Shoo & waves her hand side to side (for when she poops/pees or something is stinky - because we say "shooey" a lot)

Occasionally says, but not well:
Nana, Gramie, Papa, Bed, Phone, book, Slide, swing, Bless you (something to that affect...after we sneeze)

*I'm sure I've forgotten several, but this is the majority of them.*

A few new things she is doing:

turn light switch on (but not off because she can barely reach to flip it up and it's too far up to flip down), fake cries/coughs/laughs sometimes being silly (definitely comes & fake cries when she hears another kid crying. She is very compassionate & does not like other kids crying, or when one of her cousins gets in trouble & has to stand in the corner, she gets upset & wants to go stand with them. :)), knows the color blue for sure - will point to anything blue & say it...and she doesn't just say that every color is blue, if there's music playing...she's dancing...anywhere we are, JUMPs all.the.time! - it's her most favorite thing to do lately...she used to only know how to jump on the bed & would land on her booty...and if anyone ever said jump, she would do it & land on her booty on the floor (which isn't good)...so now she has finally learned how to jump the normal way :), will sometimes talk on the phone & actually say something, can blow a whistle & her nose sometimes, will get her juice out of the fridge (with a little help opening the door), pats on my belly & says baby sometimes....but then will also pat on her belly or Daddy's belly, too :).

I guess that's about all I can think of for now.....but we are so proud of our little girl and can't wait for more new, exciting things to come!