The Linda Family

Me: Bekah, do you need to go poopy?
Bekah: (shaking head yes) mmm…hhmm….
Me: Do you want to go sit on the potty?
Bekah: (shaking head no) nuh, uh.

Oh the joys!

I purposely waited a few days, then got distracted. Now we have even bigger news…

Bekah,

You are the biggest ball of “I’d like to move now, please” that I have ever seen. Cruising is your new favorite activity. Once you figure out that you don’t need the couch to walk, I am in some serious trouble! Just yesterday you cruised from one end of the couch to the other, across the gap and down the next. You were quite upset that you couldn’t reach the entertainment center to keep going. I offered you my hand and you made it to Ashleigh’s rocking chair. You never did get up the nerve to move from the moving chair, but you stood there for quite some time.

Speaking of standing….You can stand for a good 10 – 15 second on your own now, or until you realize no one is holding on to you. Then you start to shake and you sit down. The only thing keeping you from walking is your own fear at this point. I hope that fear stays in you for a little longer. I’m not sure I’m ready for a walker yet!

The other skill you’ve mastered is clapping. You love to sit and clap your hands. It is adorable! You say “Muh, Muh, Muh” and “Dah-Dah-Dah” but I don’t think you understand the meaning behind the words. Your face still lights up when Ashleigh or Daddy come home from being at school or work all day. You giggle and squeal with glee. It makes me so happy.

You went to your first concert this month. We went to hear Chris Sligh’s Back to School Tour featuring Aaron Shust, Chris Sligh, Andrew Witt, & Lanae Hale. It was a great concert. You snuggled in the Bjorn with Daddy for a good chunk of it, and enjoyed a nap during the worship set at the end. It was a good time for all of us.

On the size front, you are about 18.5lbs according to our scale, and you were 26″ (I think) when I measured you last week. You? You’re SUCH a big kid. Funny thing is people tell me all the time how tiny you are and you can easily wear 3-6 months clothes still. Though the fall weather has me dragging out the 6-9 months. Im finding that we probably will need to move you to 12 month pants to accomodate your behind and the cloth diaper.

Speaking of diapers…Yesterday I was changing your diaper, and as I often do i let you run around without a diaper for a few minutes to let your butt air out. Really, who wants to sit in wetness 24/7? Not me! Since we do this fairly often I noticed the look on your face change. I knew this look, it means get a diaper on me now before I pee on you. But, I had a different idea. I took you to the bathroom. That’s right. The bathroom. When I put you on the potty you looked at me like I had three heads and you continued to sit there. I was trying to figure out how to communicate to you what it was that you were supposed to be doing. So, I decided to turn on the water. That did the trick. You immediately peed in the toilet, I wiped you off, and off we went! Score!

In other exciting news, today you learned how to CRAWL! Yup. Crawl. Finally. You were interested in my glass and Ms. Hillary’s power cord, so off you went! You crawled around for a good 5 – 10 minutes before you decided you were ready for a nap.

What a fun month it has been! Crusing, Clapping, Potty, Growing, Crawling!

You continue to grow and learn each day. Don’t ever stop, it keeps life interesting!

Love you kid,

Mommy

Over the course of the past few weeks Ashleigh has decided that she wants to be a “hair cutter” when she grows up.  She is of course, very cute about it.  We are being careful not to discourage her with this “dream”.  We usually respond with an “ok great” type resonse as opposed to the “Oh no, you should have a more intellectual job!  How about a Marine Biologist?”.  I’m sure whatever career path she chooses she will be great.  And besides, if she does decide to become a “hair cutter”, just think about all the money I will save on hair cuts and highlights!

The hilarious part of this conversation has been going on for the past 2 days.  Sunday evening we dropped Wes off at a hotel for the night and the girls and I came home (after Church).  Wes needed the quiet time to focus on work and relaxing a bit, and he wasn’t able to get that with 2 kids in the house.  So, he got a pass for the night and I took the girls home.  As we were leaving the hotel Ashleigh piped up from the back seat, the conversation went like this -

Ash: Mommy, can we live in Ocean City?

Me: Lving at the beach would be wonderful, unfortunately Daddy’s job is in Baltimore.

Ash: Well, do they have hair cutters in Ocean City?

Me: Yes, there are hair salons all over the place

Ash: Ok.

Now if you have a 4 year old or have had a 4 year old you know this conversation is not truly over, it’s just on hold for a bit.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon.  The girls and I met Wes downtown for a quick trip to Port Discovery followed by some fun at the Aquarium.  While we were walking from Port Discovery to the Aquarium Ashleigh has a similar conversation with Wes.  Only in this conversation she told Wes that she wants to move to Ocean City when she is older and she will be a hair cutter so she can pay her bills.  She also will have a home big enough for Bekah, Mommy , and Daddy to come visit, and we can stay with her whenever we want.  It was SO sweet, and so funny.  I know that whatever dream she ends up with she can accomplish it.

Last week Bekah went in for her 6 month check-up. We’re a few weeks late, but life is busy!

Bekah scored excellently on the 6 month assessment. She is physically doing everything she should be, aside from beginning to crawl. I discussed my slight concern with this fact and the pediatrician took a look at her. His statement was something along the lines of, ‘well no wonder she doesn’t want to crawl, look at her! She’s ready to walk!’. Yikes! She is following in big sister’s foot steps. We also discussed Bekah’s milk issues and he doesn’t think any further testing is necessary. We have ‘tested’ by eliminating dairy from my diet and re-introducing it when I cave and need some cheese or something. We will give it 6 months before we re-introduce it. We also need to be cautious with the introduction of solid foods as kids with intolerances for one food are more likely to have other allergies as well.  We’lll follow her lead with solids, and as she becomes more interested we’ll offer her more options.  As of right now, she much prefers the spoon to the food on the spoon and that is perfectly fine.

I know you’re itching for her stats– My big girl weighed in at 16lbs 11 0z and measured 26 inches tall.  This is a gain of 1 lb and 1 1/2 inches in the past 2 months.  This puts her just above the 50th percentile curve for both height and weight, which is where she started.  Her head circumference puts her in the 75th percentile, but she comes by that one honestly!  LOL

I’ll hold off on her “new tricks” until next week’s 7 month update.  This kid is growing up way too fast!

We’re on our way to PA to visit my family and as we got on the Northeast Extension of the turnpike we had the following conversation -

Ash: Daddy, I think we’re speeding.
Wes: I’m pretty sure of it kid.
Ash: Daddy, we can’t speed. It’s not safe.
Wes: Well, I like to live on the edge & I don’t need a backseat driver.
Ash: If I had a steering wheel back here I could help you drive!

The conversation continued for the next few minutes and included some comments about her MarioKart abilities (or lack there of) and concluded with Ashleigh commenting on the fact that we were no longer speeding. The whole time I was trying to keep my composure. It was hard not to laugh out loud. Those two crack me up!