A Growing Girl

this week our sweet, sweet Mary Etta turned 17 months!!! How are we almost to a year & a half old already??!! She is just growing & doing so many fun new things. I'm realizing in the craziness of 2 other children, moving, & just life in general I have got to record these things so I don't forget! So this may be boring for most of you....so you can skip this post unless you're a grandparent---who always loves hearing these milestones too!

• saying so many things these days (I almost don't know if I can remember them all at this exact minute) but some new ones I've noticed are: "men" (as she folds her hands for the start of the family prayer at meal time and then tries to join in the 'amen' at the end), baby--all the time! upon seeing pictures, playing with dolls (which she'll just be like her big sister as she is carrying them all over the house), of course Daddy, Mama, bye-bye, uh-oh, shoe, ball (are still heard often in the day too)---there may be more I just can't think of them all right now
• loves music!! she is into musical toys and books and will press the buttons over & over again to bob her head & shake her body to the music as she dances
• loves fingerplays too---shakes her little finger for "this little light of mine" all the time for us to sing it to her! and even tries to join in on the "mine" and "no".......as well as playing peak-a-boo (she just smiles & giggles as we say where is Mary Etta)
• chasing her brother & sister! she just thinks it's the funniest thing for her to chase them or for them to chase her---even though the loud screams seem so loud in our tiny house, it still is so sweet to see them having so much fun together
• she loves doing the Catechisms! i think awhile back i may have posted (maybe i did, maybe not??) that at 14 months she started answering the 1st question of "who made you?" and she would (and still does) say "Ga" for God; now for the next one "what else did God make?" she opens her hands out wide (as I modeled this for her for some time now) for 'all things'
• she love to be held, snuggled....such the baby of the family! and loves if you're on the floor to sit in your lap....she does the 'back up' (where she backs into our lap); she'll occasionally wake up in the late evening or even the middle of the night---nothing on a consistent basis, but just sometimes....and after cuddled will go on back to bed & sleep fine; she does tend to be our light sleeper, so when we move in a few weeks she will continue to have her own room for now until she is a little older
• she's such a sweet, sweet baby girl.....and we are ever so thankful for her---our little "surprise" of a blessing, that i found out about just a little over 2 years ago.....i didn't know how i would do it with 3 children under the age of 3, but somehow the Lord has sustained us all---some days harder than others, but only by His grace indeed!!!

I have more pics to upload from some fun things this week, but was too tired to do it. This post is mainly for me to record about Mary Etta. Be back soon!