Abby Update

Abby loves to pray. Randomly during the day she'll fold her arms and say "pray." Sometimes she just prays to herself and sometimes she'll keep saying pray until everyone in the room prays with her. She was praying the other day while she was playing with her baby. She was saying "Please. Please. Baby. MEN!!" One day I bought a little kitty from the bank at work for her. That night when we were helping her say her prayers and we said "Thank you for my new kitty" and she squealed she was so happy. The end of prayers is Abby's favorite. She yells "MEN!" at the end of every prayer, even at church so everyone can hear her.

Abby loves water and finds a way to play with it whenever possible. She'll splash in the smallest puddles, shake tiny drops of water out of her sippy cup, splash in the sink when we're washing her hands and cries when it's time to get out of the tub. In nursery at church, they set up a water table for the kids to play with. The other kids would just move the boats, ducks and other toys through the water. Abby on the other hand, got so wet playing that they found me because she needed to be changed. She had soaked through her sweater, dress and onsie.

Abby doesn't like to get dirty. When she is climbing the stairs she won't put her hands down flat. She puts the smallest amount of her palm possible down so she won't get her hands dirty.

Abby loves having her nails painted. Anna painted them for the first time and because Abby doesn't understand that they have to dry there wasn't much paint left. There was a tiny bit on the end of one finger and for the rest of the week Abby would hold that finger up and say "pink" and smile.

Abby loves going to Coggshall Park and see the ducks. She loves ducks and quacking. I went in her room to get something after she was asleep one night. She rolled over, looked up at me, said "quack, quack" then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Abby loves playing with her Dad and copies a lot of the things he does with her when they play. Mike will wrap a blanket around his head and face and "I'm just a poor lost boy in the woods" and bats his eyelashes. I went in the get Abby one morning and she had wrapped the blanket around her face just like Mike does.

Abby loves to read. When she wants you to read her a story she gets a book, walks over to you, turns around and backs into your lap. One day she was playing with her books and organized them. Maybe she has a little of me in her after all!

Abby is the worst hider ever. After we brush her teeth we'll go to the top of the stairs and call Mike to come up for scripture and prayer, then we'll go hide. She's always laughing and making noise when she hears Mike looking for us. She usually runs to Mike by the time he's in the room with us. One day, Mike said "Abby, where are you?" and of course she jumped out from behind the door.

Abby wants to be a big kid. We were at the park and there was a group of 8 or 9 year old girls standing in a circle talking and laughing. Abby walks over to them, joins the circle and starts laughing with them. They looked at her and walked away. She followed them and tried again before the girls ran further away.

Abby loves watching Elmo. One of her favorites is "The Best of Elmo." Elmo and Telly sing a song about heavy and light. I had put a bunch of clothes I was getting rid of in a trash bag next to the door. She picked it up and was carrying it around the house saying "heavy!"

Abby loves to eat "UT-meel" (oatmeal).

Abby is defiantly a Daddy's girl. She says, "Oh Daddy" in this sad little voice that almost always gets her what she wants from Mike.

Abby can be really sensitive. She of course loves cats and the first time a cat hissed at her she stuck out her bottom lip and started crying. She looked like her heart was broken. We were driving in the car and there were some cows on the side of the road that I pointed out. She didn't see them and for the next ten minutes kept saying "oh cows" in that same sad voice she uses on Mike.

Abby says birds go "beep, beep."

We've been trying to get Abby to talk and use her words. We had friends over and they were leaving. Abby waved bye and I told her to use her words. She said "more." Apparently we tell her to use her words a lot when she wants more of something.

Abby loves her grandparents. Mike asked Abby if she wanted to go to the park. She said, "No, Vava." Mike asked her if she wanted to Vava's (my Mom) house. She said "YEA!"