Amazing

Before Daph was born, we were told that occasionally when children are born with the type of lower leg issues she has, a decision is made to just amputate their legs and start fresh instead with prosthetics.


















I didn't want to amputate my baby's legs. Can you even imagine?


















We didn't tell Daphne she was supposed to struggle with walking. We've just waited for her to decide she was ready.

Well, she's decided.


















And she amazes me.

Just in Case You Were Wondering

Just in case you were wondering what Daphne looked like today, she looked like this while playing at Fairview Park:














Then we got in the car, the sun was bright in her eyes, so she looked like this:














The sun when away, and she looked like this:













Just in case you were wondering.

A Farewell to Summer

When I think back to last summer, Daphne's first summer, my most vivid memories are of how poorly she was sleeping. We were all tired and cranky and thinking Daphne would definitely be our only child ever if all kids are as 'excellent' of sleepers as she is.

This summer could be the Summer of the Temper Tantrums (did I mention she now holds her breath and turns a lovely shade of blue when she's mad? because she does) but there are too many good things about this summer that I would rather remember.

For instance, it is the summer Daphne discovered berries. Any berry in any stage of ripeness is her favorite food ever. We have a blackberry bush in our very back yard that David lets grow so that we can have the berries. One afternoon Daphne and I were on the back patio when I looked up to see her crawling as fast as she could all the way to the back corner of the yard. I made it back there in time to see her stretching as high as she could, trying to reach her favorite treat.


















It is the summer of many trip to YoCream, because it seems like frozen yogurt is a better dessert than ice cream, plus it's easy to cover the yogurt with berries for the little person who loves to steal food. Especially when the food is berries.


















It is also the summer she realized playgrounds are one of the greatest inventions of all time. Every day Daphne will ask me "stroller, walk, play?" meaning, "please can we get the stroller and walk to the playground so I can play?"



























It is the summer Daphne learned to sing. David always sings How Great Thou Art to her when he puts her down for the night, so tonight I sang it for her. It is so sweet to hear her sing along with you as she tries to follow the tune and sing as many words as she can.

So yes, it was the summer of the temper tantrums. But it was also the summer of new discoveries and growth, sweetness and joy. The summer of new toddler hairstyles and (more about this later) first steps.

Miracles, really. And those are the memories I will hold on to.

A New Fall Activity

This morning Daphne and I started Bible Study Fellowship at Montavilla Baptist. I'm so thrilled to be involved in this study, but I am even more thrilled that Daphne gets to come along. She has her own little class where she is learning the same lessons I am, just at an age appropriate level for an almost 2 year old.

As we drove home afterward she was in her car seat singing something about the Bible, so apparently she was listening and learning. I guess it is never to early to start training children in the way they should go.

I tried to get a nice of photo of her this morning, all dressed for her first day of 'school.'




















































It didn't go so well.

Dropping her off, on the other hand, went perfectly. I didn't expect her to cause a fuss, since she's usually good with being left anywhere where there are toys/fun people.


















The report when I picked her up was that she's very polite and says 'thank you' a lot, she's very active and never sits still, and that she didn't seem to be sad or miss me at all. Thanks, Daph.

I know she had a good time since tonight we had to say 'night night' to Bible Study. You know you're good when you're in the 'night night' routine.

Fruits of our Labor

Hey guys,

So I have this garden, and it's growing pretty good.













I love digging in it, especially right where my mom just planted lettuce seeds. Don't worry, she doesn't get mad at me.













I'm enjoying eating the stuff from my garden.

Like corn straight from the stalk.































It's super good. I eat the cob, too. My mom hopes it won't make me sick.


















I told her I won't get sick because I have guts of steel. That's what happens when you eat things like raw corn and its cob.














Good stuff.

P.S. Tomorrow I am going to school! I can't wait to tell you all about it.

Another Great Memory

It's one of those things you always hear about. You kind of expect it to happen to you, but you hope dearly that it won't.

And then it does.

That's right folks, tonight Daphne went #2 in the tub, and then she tried to eat it.

Her face was saying "wow, where did this new toy come from?"

My face was saying "why do these things always happen when David is at work?"
---
In other more-fun-to-read-about developments, in the past week or two Daph has started spouting out 2 and 3 word sentences like she's preparing to give a speech or something. I think watching her learn to talk has been one of my favorite parts of watching her grow.

Daphne is also really big into singing and loves singing along with you or with the radio. She loves dictating what she wants you to sing about: random songs about her pets and toys and loved ones and Daddy at work. And she is memorizing all her favorite books, which she likes to 'read' along with me. So cute and fun.

Well, Daphne is all tucked in for the night and I have many, many pounds of peaches that need to get canned tonight. I will leave you with this video of Daphne putting on a performance just for you, her beloved viewers.

**Never mind, I've been checking the video on and off for the past 3 hours and for some reason Blogger doesn't want me to share it with you. Sorry. This photo of her shutting herself in her closet this morning will have to do. I heard her saying "bye bye" and looked over to see her disappearing inside the closet. She thought it was hilarious.

Baby to Toddler Transition #28

We finally turned Daphne's car seat around to face forward.

She's pretty happy with the change.












It's nice to know what she's been up to all these months that we couldn't see her. It's seems that she's been having a pretty good time.

Memories

Tonight as I was in the nursery with Daphne, rocking her before bed, she put her hands on my cheeks, her forehead on my forehead, and whispered my name.

"Mama. Mama."

Such words to help me forget some of her screaming and remember that she really is the sweetest little thing I ever could have hoped for.

A Case of the Fits

You know when you're at a store and you hear a kid screaming bloody murder? You think, 'why won't those parents get control over their kid?!'

Well, let's all try to hold our judgment next time, since that poor parent is probably me and the screaming child is The Daphinator. Dun dun dun.

This morning was a particularly trying visit to Target as I received quite a few glares from mothers pushing their perfectly angelic children passed my screaming one. Screaming as in arching her back, bright red face, screaming as loud as she can. It truly is a sight to behold.

At home when she throws a fit like that (usually 3-4 an hour) I let her scream and ignore her. The good thing about this is she knows her fits will get her no where, so they don't usually last too long. But I guess she thinks a fit is still always worth a try since the frequency of fits do not seem to lessen.

In a public place it's harder. I obviously can't leave her to scream and disrupt the shoppers who would like some peace and quiet. Plus I hate it when people glare at me. I usually just have to leave the store but then I feel like Daphne is getting what she wants, you know? My first inclination is to throw a fit right alongside her, but I'm thinking that would not be the best option.

We have to find the paper thin balance of letting her know it's OK to be upset sometimes, but that these out of control fits are not the acceptable way to express our frustrations.

I love Daphne's strong spirit, so hopefully we will be able to help her learn how to use it in the right ways.

David thinks we could harness her temper tantrum energy to power a small town.

It could work.

Yes, I Do Claim Her As My Own

Sometimes I would love to know what is going on in her head.

And please note that these photos were all snapped within about a 30 second time frame.






































































































Thoughts? Interpretations? An insight to the toddler mind?