Take 2,465

Hello again. I know it’s been a long time since I have stopped by. Things have been a bit busy around here lately. We all managed to be sick for every single holiday, first with the never ending cold and then with a nice round of bronchitis. I tried to blog everything that was going on, but nothing I wrote went anywhere. There was a beginning and a middle, but no end in sight. The highlight of these last few months has been watching Lina’s talents multiply.


She has never had a shortage of words, but she has refused to use them to communicate. One day I can ask her if she wants chicken or apple for her next bite, and she will respond “chikn” or “appa.” The very next day she will refuse to use those same words and instead point and whine until I figure out what she wants. “No” and “thank you” were the only words she used consistently and in context. In the last couple of days she has really amped up her communication. “More” while holding her cup or standing at the fridge has replaced throwing herself at the fridge in the middle of a temper tantrum. Holding her plate and saying “All done?” has replaced picking up her food and dropping it on the floor. The puppies are sad about this one. She even has a 3 word sentence that she uses when she talks to her new cousin, “Hi sweet baby.” It sounds more like “Hi swee bebe” but it totally counts.

I think it helps that she spends so much time with Miss O, who is now 3. She has learned so much from her. Miss O always says “Hi sweet baby” to her little sister and Lina did not hesitate to repeat her. Miss O has also taught her about the great world of gymnastics. Most of the time gymnastics consists of jumping on the tiny trampoline, climbing over the arm rest of the chair, and landing face first into the chair cushions. Sometimes they walk along the balance beam (which is really a strip of masking tape on the floor), do handstands and forward rolls. Lina’s handstands tend to look more like the downward dog yoga position. Recently she has started putting her head on the floor as well. Two weekends ago she lifted her hands off the floor, so only her head and feet were touching. After I cheered for her efforts she decided that while her hands were lifted from the floor, she would go ahead and clap for herself.

This handstand quickly evolved into an attempted forward roll after watching Miss O. Her first couple attempts went towards the side and became diagonal rolls. After just a few diagonal rolls she rolled forward. She actually did a real forward roll without anyone coaching her. Needless to say I was quite impressed and couldn’t wait to get home to tell her Daddy.

Lina’s jumps on the trampoline have gotten higher and more like a jump instead of a gallop. But her newest trick, she is quite proud of. She places her arms over the safety bar and lifts up her feet straight out in front of her so she is dangling by her arm pits. Sometimes she swings, sometimes she just hangs there. When she gets tired or when she feels like it, she allows herself to fall and plop down on the trampoline. Then she’ll hop up and do it all over again.

She is definitely ready for Gymnastics class.