Finally!

Playin dress up in the pics! Sorry, its been so long. I’ve got a million little stories that I jot down. I’ll try to do short version of each, then after this, I swear, I’ll try to do like one short blog, once a week!

I was cutting onions the other day, preparing for dinner. She asked for a bite, so I let her try… she likes em! Ah! She said “Mmm!” and even asked for another one! (lil tiny bites, but still)… and funny thing is, she wont eat cooked onions, ha!

All the time now, when Diella asks a question, and then you answer, she goes “Oooooh” hehe, its funny every time.

She’s starting to use different tenses of words and different usages of words correctly, like “I am” and “I do” and “I can” … and “where is IT?” and “where are THEY?” I think its so neat, that she catches on & corrects herself for these things!

Some things she says a lot lately… “where ya goin?” or “Wha happened?”… when we talk about something she’d like to do, she always goes “that’d be fun!” ... I LOVE that one!... oh, she says “Some’m” (ya know, how adults condense the word Something…. Like that). Hehe

She has been making Ethan laugh lately, I LOVE to watch that! Usually she spins in circles, then laughs, and that makes him laugh. These are such priceless moments!

Whenever I’m on the phone, be it at the house or on my cell in the car, whenever I say bye & hang up, Diella will say something about whoever I was talking to. Like I’m on the phone with Jake & she’ll say “where’s daddy at?” … how does she know I’m talking to him!!?? It’s so weird, and its like every time, she gets it right! Spooky.

Oh another weird thing, the other day we were driving on the highway, and Diella goes “turn left” …. My mouth dropped open & I asked her Did you jus say turn left!!?? She smiled & nodded… I still wasn’t sure if that’s really what she meant to say or not… but then she goes “Right and left” !!! When did she learn those words!? Musta been TV or something. Crazy!

One day, like after a bath or something, she comes runnin out & says “momma look! I’m naked!” … I dunno why this was so funny, but it was!

I saw her by herself one day, touching her toes goin “this lil piggy all way home” … hehe, aw! I think her daddy played the ‘this little piggy’ game with her on her toes, cute!

She’s been trying harder & harder to get her own clothes on & off. She DID get a tank top on 100% by herself the other day! (well, it was backwards, but that’s one’a those things you don’t correct, cuz it was by herself!) And sometimes she can get her own shirt off. We’ve been working on pulling her own pants down to sit on the potty, its hard for her, but we’re getting there. And then the other day I handed her her ‘big girl panties’ to put on by herself, and when I came back in the room, she had em all the way up! Lol, only two legs in one hole, all the way up to her waist, it was hilarious!

Certain words that she mispronounces, mostly ones that start with an F or an S, I will help her sound them out better, and she usually can get it when she tries…. She says swimmin, like Fimmin…. I said, ‘no Diella, with an S… Sssswimmin” … she goes, “Ssss fimmin!” hehe… and then one day I don’t remember what the word was, but I know it started with a C sound, some simple word… and she was saying it wrong, so I corrected her & tried to help her through it, and she totally made it harder than it was (lets say the word was carrot, cuz I don’t member) … she goes “Ssss, fffff, carrot!” haha! She can say C words, I dunno why she had trouble with this one… but I thought it was funny that she added and S & an F, outta nowhere!

She asked Ahna what this one fruit was, it was a nectarine, and she said it like “Macarene”, ha! So cute!... oh, and she has always called Aunt Alethea, just “Aunt” cuz its easier… well we finally tried to teach her to say Aunt Alethea, and she does it like “Aunt Alethela” (uh-lee-th-la)… love it!

Sometimes I hate how she catches on to things that I say… like when she’s in trouble… cuz sometimes she’ll say those things to me! Like she has said “Say no! Spanka butt!” (which is “don’t say no” and “I’ll spank your butt”) sigh*

Ok, a story like that one when Aria was told that the rules are different, so she took that how She Wanted to take it! … Colton was over, I think playing with her rocket, and I think one of them had just gotten over bein sick. And Diella was walkin around, eatin something, and she goes to give some to Colton, and Ahna goes “no, don’t share with Colton!” … and so she takes the rocket away from him… haha!

Diella sings SO many songs now!!! Her favorite I think is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star… cuz if she’s not singin the actual words to it, then she’s either humming it, or singing like little ‘doot doots’ to it!... oh, and its Tinkle, not twinkle, hehe. The other ones she does are Old MacDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABCs of course, Patty Cake, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, Veggie Tales theme…. And my favorite… she mixed two songs together and sings it like this… “and on that farm he had a dog, and Bingo was his name-o” lol… love it!!! Oh, and Itsy Bitsy Spider goes like this… “bitsy bitsy pider, washa pida wout” over & over…. Oh I Love it, love it, love it!!

K, a few other things with her lil brother… he was sleeping in my arms & I took out my phone, scrolled to a pic of Diella as a baby, sleeping… and held it up to him… oh my gosh, TWINS! … since then I’ve showed the picture to mom, dad, alethea, whoever, and ask them who the pic is, they all say Ethan…. But it’s D! …. She loves him… the other day she was wearing Ahna’s high heels, and she came in the room & goes “Ethan, look, I’m cool” LOL!!! … sometimes when he’s talkin to the tv, she goes “good talkin Ethan!” aww, cute!.... oh, and … oh geez, she hasn’t done this in a while, but a few weeks ago, she would take Ethan’s binkies and put em in her mouth. At first it was like a “haha-this-is-funny-cuz-I-know-I’m-not-supposed-to-do-this” thing… cuz ya know, I’d take it out & tell her those were not for big girls, they are for babies… Then it got the point where when I would take it, she’d whine & say “my binkies!” … sigh* luckily, she’s stopped doing that now. Whew!

One thing she does that drives me bonkers…. When she’s doin one thing, but tryin to get my attention at the same time… she softly, but repeatedly goes “ma, ma, ma, ma, ma” … like stuttering almost, and its like she’s saying my name to pay attention, but she’s not ready to show or tell me whatever it is she’s trying to communicate… and I’m like “what!?” hehe, cuz I’ve been ready & attentive, and she’s still distracted, goin ‘ma, ma, ma, ma, ma”… lol

Last week she asked to get in the shower while I was taking one, every once in a while I let her do this if she asks… and so she asked me if she could see the soap (the bar of soap), so I hand it to her & continue washing my hair… after a minute or two, I hear a scream unlike any other I’ve ever heard… she somehow got the soap in her eyes… then as I’m trying to rinse her eyes, her lil hands are all lathered in it too, and as I turn to get more clean water, she rubs her eyes & makes it worse… aww, it was so sad. But of course she was ok.

Diella loves to pick up any toy phone & have little conversations with people! Sometimes it’s Uncle Chris, sometimes it’s Emily, sometimes it’s Uncle Nate, different people. And she’ll just say little things like “hi, yea, oh, ok bye” things like that… but the conversation she had with her cousin Aria today, was priceless! She calls and says “Hi Aria! Wha chu doin? Cleanin up Diella’s room? Ok, I’ll be right there!” HAHAHAHA!!! That. Was. Awesome!

This girl picks up stuff from tv, without help, all the time, its crazy! Like, during Dora, she’s starting to answer the questions they ask… like they name 3 places, and then they say the first two & ask which is the third one, and she’ll answer them! Cool!... and we watch Full House every day during lunch, and one day it was on, and she goes “look mommy! There’s Uncle Jesse, and Michelle, and Joey!” oh my gosh, hilarious! She knows all their names, ha!!

One day she just started naming things, talking to herself…. Like… “a boat, aaaaand a chair, aaaaand a doggy, aaaaand a tree…” and the list went on and on, hehe! … and then the other day, she was watching me eat lunch, and jus named everything I was eating, one by one… hehe, maybe she’ll be a list-maker like her mommy!

I’ve been tryin to teach Diella that sometimes, when the answer is No, you just say “yes ma’am” … well she says it, but is usually crying by that time, cuz we’ve already sad no & then reminded her, what do you say when the answer is no? and she says it through the cry “yes maaaaa’aaaam” hehe… and other times she says it when it doesn’t apply… but still, I like that we’re trying.

We were walkin up to the house to go in the other day, and she looks at the ground & says “I see shadows” … she saw our shadows, so we waved at them!

There has been endless rain here is Erie, and so now Diella is old enough to hear & react to all the thunder. She’s actually doing well with it! Especially considering she doesn’t like anything loud, like the vacuum, or cars that are closeby, or the tractor, or fireworks. Sometimes out of nowhere she’ll even say “I like a thunder”. Hehe

When Diella is being nice, I tell her how happy it makes me (since quite often these days, she can be quite…. Not nice)… and then when she misbehaves, and we talk to her about her poor behavior, I tell her it makes me so sad. Well, she’s said this a few times, “makes me so sad” … sometimes it fits, sometimes not, but I think its cute, I think she understands the concept.

Diella was watching The Wiggles a few days ago, and she was showing daddy who “Wags” was… he’s the dog on the show… but she actually made the W sound kinda like an R… so he was like “who’s Rags?” and she’d go “Wwwwaaaaaaags” … and he’d tease her further, and say “Rags?” … and she’d again slowly try to pronounce, “Wwwwaaaaags” so that she wasn’t misunderstood… and he kept goin on & on, to bug her…. But it was hilarious to hear her try to convince him of how to say it, even tho he would jus keep messin around….. “Wwwwwaaaaags” hehehe

Lately, like if she gets a snack or whatever, I’ve seen her rub her two little hands together in anticipation… ya know, like you’re anxious to eat something yummy… she does that… I dunno where she picked it up from, but its adorable!

Every night, right before I go to bed, I always look in on the kids sleeping. Just because I love to look at their little peaceful, angelic faces. And when I went in to look at Diella, she tossed in bed and smacked her lips together and said “gum” … LOL! Talked in her sleep! I never heard her to that before! Hahah!

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And she does this thing lately, thats so funny, we all do it, like every night! ... it started outta nowhere, one day during lunch she looks at me with her head tilted down, looking out the top of her eyes, and her eyebrows down, so very angry looking, and took her arms and made them go in little circles, almost like she's swimming... so i did back to her, and we both started cracking up! She's doing it just to be funny! and now we do it all the time, for no reason, but its hilarious! and when there are other people in the room, she tells them to do it too, like "Papa, do dat", until we're all doing it! hehe... and its just funny how she knows how to make her face look so angry, and puts those eyesbrows down, and the arm circles go really slow... oh, its just funny!

Ok, and the two big things! … Her naptimes & bedtimes are officially back to normal! Where she goes down without a fuss, and just right to sleep with no problems! Praise the Lord!!! And even, for I have no idea what reason, for the past few days, in between waking up in the morning & going down for nap in afternoon, she’ll say ‘take a nap’ and just go sit quietly in her bed for like 15 minutes, awake, but just quiet. Its weird, but Lovely!!! Like her own little personal time her something, hehe, great!

And potty time. We sit every day, after lunch, before nap, and in the past 8 days, she’s gone pee on the potty 7 times, and poop twice! Only one time did she sit & try & not go. And one of those times was the first time she did both #1 and #2 in the same turn! Yay! I guess if I put her on more often, she would go more often? Cuz she still goes in her diaper, but also on potty when we try. Emily asked me if Diella ASKS to go… actually no, but she did once! And it was actually in Target! So I took her word for it (that she really did hafta go) and took her to try on the potty, in the public bathroom! (she went once before in public bathroom!)… but I think she was too distracted to go.. I think she really Did Need to go, but couldn’t. But anyway, I was still proud that she asked to!

Apology

She wanted to put these sneaker skates on, but just Could Not stand up without falling, wanted to do it so badly without help, but it was just too hard (and pretty funny!) ...Anyone who actually reads these or follows these, I just want to apologize for taking so long between posts. I need to do it more often, so they are shorter. Thing is, lately, all my computer time is spent editing pictures (I've been getting lots of gigs!), so I just jot down my ideas to eventually blog... but the list is getting WAY Too long! So for the moment, I will just post some pictures for your enjoyment... and I will soon let you know all the little happenings around here!

4th of July!

This is a pic I forgot to post. Took one of each of the grandkids, who live in PA. Put them in a baseball album to give to my dad for Father's Day! Will add pix of the TX grandkids when we get them! :)

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Ok, so last year Diella liked the fireworks, just watched em & smiled, thats about it. This year, a month or so ago, a friend of ours did a few at a party at his house when we were there, she Did NOT like them! "fireworks scary" she would say, and even "go inside!" she demanded. So since then, we try to explain how they're not scary, they're just loud. And that they're pretty! So, we'd been telling her all day that we would see fireworks tonight & she would say "ok!" So it was another long day with no nap.... and by the time we got to the fireworks at night, she had fallen asleep about 10 minutes before they started. And loud as they were, she slept through It ALL! I'm kinda bummed too, I wanted to see how she'd react this time.

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So last night, the Stickels were over & we did some sparklers. She was not a fan, but didnt make a big deal about not liking them, just kinda, 'no like em' she'd say. But my sis also bought 3 lil spinner firecracker things that spun on the ground & then they did lots of crackling & sparkling! When they crackled, they were pretty loud. My mom was holding Diella, and she said Diella Freaked out when they went off! Like, she was shaking! She bawled & again, said Go Inside! I dunno why she doesnt like em & why she gets so scared. (she's never liked the vacuum either... doesnt cry or anything, just has cautious look on her face & usually will watch the vacuum from the other side of the room & just not go near it)... but, aww, poor girl.... I want her to like the fireworks!

Picnic & Stuff

I did her hair in all little funky ponytails again! Hehe. And all those other pix are from her Birthday party/Chris is home/going-away party for Stickels, which by the way was So fun! Even with yukky weather. We put up a huge slip n slide & had a ball! That first one is actually at the end of the day, she never got a nap, and was SO tired!

So the Terrible Two’s got better for about a week, but unfortunately have come back a little bit. During that week, she would go down for bed a little easier, she was behaving a little better, it was looking bright. But then this week, for a few days, she would be nice to me during the day, then get that way for Ahna (it used to be, she would act that way just for me), and she’s almost always nice with daddy. I know that’s normal, for them to do it most with mom, but its just tough.

On the brighter side, she’s still goin on the potty on & off! Just yesterday, she went pee on her little potty, AND THEN went into the big bathroom, on the big toilet, and went poop!!!! So exciting! She gets yummy rewards when she goes! So we’re still on this track toward being trained. Long way to go, but doing well!

Diella is singing All the time! I love it!!! She (sorta) sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She sings Old MacDonald. But she does that one her own version, lol… like “Had a dog, moo moo there, E-I-E-I-Yo-Yo-Yo” hehe, I love it! She made up her own song the other day, jus sweetly singin random words, sounded something like “boy yay yow ya” it was cute! She also likes to sing the Veggie Tales theme songs, she sings “Broccoli, celery, veggie tales” perfectly! … and then, oh my gosh, the other day, I took her through the other part “Cauliflower, sweet n sour, half an hour, veggie tales”…. And not only did she mix that with the first part… but she put her own lil twist in it… she used Gotta Be (from that one part) and I think she added this cuz it sounds like cauliflower…. She goes… “Gotta be, Ritenour” LOL!!!!!

Few quick funny things she’s done lately. Two nights ago, we were all eating dinner at the table together (having homemade mac n cheese, Mmm!)… well Diella has never liked any kind of mac n cheese, dunno why…. I mean, what kind of American kid are you?! … anyway, my mom taps me & points to Diella so that I’ll look at her… she’s quietly putting her food UNDER her plate! We’re of course trying not to laugh, but still watching with curiosity… she finally catches us watching her & she says “hiding it” … we cracked up! Then we asked her why n stuff… I don’t member the answer, but it was funny & so not funny, at the same time.

K, the other day, I went in to wake her up from nap, and she was sleepin like a rock. Usually, I jus lightly touch her hair or softly say ‘diella, time to wake up’ and her eyes open right up & she’s awake. But this day, I continued to touch her & gently talk to her for a while before she showed any signs of getting up… so for some reason it started to make me giggle,… so then when I would giggle, she would smile, but still with her eyes closed…. So then I wonder, is she playing a game? Pretending to be asleep?... or is she really asleep & smiling in her sleep cuz she hears me giggling? So I see her smile with her eyes closed & I laugh a little harder. Then her smile gets even bigger (eyes Still closed)… then I start crackin up! Her eyes open & she giggles too. I still don’t know if she was faking it, or not, but it was funny either way!

We got weighed & measured the other day. Well Diella is normal & healthy, and for weight, she’s in the 26 percentile, not too bad I guess…. But for height, she’s in the 9th percentile! lol, shortay! hehe

So its just neat how well she’s talking now. Practically to the point where we’re having a conversation. Here are some of the things she’s been saying…. The other day, Ethan was laying on the floor, Diella & I were kneeling near him & I gently patted his lil belly. Then Diella does the same and says “like a drum” … lol, hilarious! …. She’s been saying ‘oh my gosh’ more & more often, hehe! sigh* …. The other day she was playing with Ahna, and I don’t even remember why, but she looks at me and says “you’re cool” ! Ahna & I both giggle, and I say thank you & then she looks at Ahna & says it to her too, how funny! …. One day we both got our fingers pricked at the doctor for something, and I thought she might fuss about it a bit, so I went outta my way to keep her attention on lighter hearted things, so then when we got our bandaids on our fingers, I told her ‘we match!’ … (the prick didn’t bother her at all actually)… but now she says ‘we match’ all the time, hehe… like even at the little things. Like yesterday she & Ethan & I all had on pants… just pants, not the same color or anything, we were just all wearing pants & as she points this out to me, she excitedly says We Match! Hehe…. Oh, she says Banana, like Balana, cute! (one of those ones you hate to correct, cuz its so cute)… and now she always tells me who got her what… (I think we often remind her, when she’s playing with something, like “so-and-so got you that!”… so now she tells US who got her what. Like her new flip flops that she loves (her 2nd pair now), she says “Ahna got me those” , and her guitar, she says “Dave & Marijke got me that” … and so on with everything, I like it!

Yesterday Diella was running in the living room & Ethan was laughing at her. It was no big deal, really, but I just loved that it was like they were finally a part of EACH OTHERS’ worlds! Like she loves him, but now he’s more aware of her & interested in her, yay!

A while back, Jake & I kissed in the kitchen (like not a little hello peck, but like a romantic kiss) and Diella goes “Oooo, BIG kiss!” LOL, that was SO Hilarious!

Yesterday I was trying to get this toy of hers to light up & it wouldn’t and Diella says “Actually, maybe broken”… oh my gosh, that was so funny!... I told my dad that & he goes, where do you think she learned that word?... I said, well the other day I said it & I saw the curiosity in her eyes, so I said it again, “Actually…” She didn’t repeat it & that was it, we didn’t continue with it then, that was just it, I said it twice. Then yesterday she uses the word! How cool!

Sometimes lately I ask her the question ‘why?’ … and I don’t think she knows what that means yet, but I still ask, cuz I know she’ll catch on one’a these times. Then yesterday I told her something & she goes “why?” … I’m still not sure if she knew what she was asking, but we’re gonna keep plugging away at this one, so she can learn the why & because of things.

Today she comes in and says “get the key, be riiight back, oooone minute” (with one lil finger up, holding it out to me) I asked ‘how you gonna get there?’ she said “car” … and then she said “shoes, flip flops, and hat. I cant open doors” … lol I have no clue what this lil chica was up to, or what she was after, but she was just in her own lil world & ready to take it on, head first! It was adorable! I think she wanted to go next door to the Stickels, cuz eventually she said “she Jasmine, see Jeff, see Caeden, see Aunt” (but she had on her flip flops & a batting helmet! Haha!) … so we called over there to see if she could come, yes, and so I take her to the front door & say bye honey, gimmie kiss, and she does (it was like I was sending her off to school or something, hehe)… (oh, cuz I stand at my door & my sis stands at hers, so she’s being watched the whole walk over there)… and not only am I giggling because she’s still in this batting helmet & saying things like “bye mommy, see ya little bit mommy, have fun!” … but its like every two steps, turning back to me & saying these things…. And also “be back, oooone minute” … oh my gosh, I laughed harder & harder & harder… turning around every 2 steps, saying the Cutest things, in a batting helmet… It Was Priceless!