Smiles, Stars, and Suprises

Well, Johnny hit a developmental milestone this week. No, he did not sleep through the night. I know that is what you all were hoping for ;-) He smiled on Tuesday for the first time! And I’ve seen him smile at least once a day since then. I think he’s going to be a smiley guy––and social too. At this age Miranda started to prefer lying on the floor to being held. Johnny definitely prefers to be held, even if he is fed and clean.

He’s on a three-hour schedule at night, like clockwork. He usually wakes me up at 6am and is ready to eat and then start his day. Miranda wakes up around seven, so Johnny and I have a little one on one time in the mornings. Here are some of our activities this morning: aired out his bottom to help clear up a little diaper rash, peed into a “pee-pee teepee” while airing out bottom (those things are WONDERFUL!), smiled at the black and white frame on the wall, danced to “I’ll be Home for Christmas” Kenny G style (we leave on our 20 hour drive tomorrow!), got a booger with the booger sucker, gazed at the fan on the ceiling, sang “This is the Day,” and counted hiccups…still counting. It was a very exciting morning for an almost 5 week old.

Miranda has bloomed lately. With her vocabulary explosion about a week before Johnny was born, she parrots most of what I say. There is nothing like a toddler to let you know what words you overuse. It seems my personal favorites are “sheesh,” “whoa,” and “alright.” Miranda’s favorite word right now, actually bordering on obsession is “STARS.” She finds them everywhere. When we are out it’s like, “Where’s Waldo.” Miranda says, “star” and we all try to find the star she is talking about. One time it was on a bulldozer. Yesterday it was on the Wal-Mart sign between “Wal” and “Mart.” I never noticed that before. (Our trip to Wal-Mart is a whole different story.)

She also loves to sing! Whenever we are singing, in the car or before bed or nap, she says, “More songs, more songs.” She’s got the CD’s in the van almost memorized. It’s so amazing hearing her sing along to the tunes. She also loves to sing Jesus Loves Me.

And before I leave this post with no pictures , but actual paragraphs for once (sorry Grandparents), here is a Miranda story: The other day I thought Miranda had a poopy diaper, so I was talking to her about her poopy and getting ready to change her. When I opened the diaper I exclaimed, “Oh, you’re not poopy!” To which Miranda replied, “Surprise!” ☺