August 11, 2014 ~ I've Learned a Few Things About My Daughter Lately

In the past few days, I've learned a few things about my daughter, particularly since I've had much more one on one time with her because my son has spent two of the past three nights at his Dad's house. It has been bittersweet. I have enjoyed the time with my daughter oh so much. I have always felt badly that she didn't get even a fraction of the quality time that my son did as a baby almost all the way up to his second birthday. I guess that's a fact of life for all younger siblings. But the bitter part is that I miss my son dearly and don't feel like I ever get quality time with him anymore. The connection that I'm building stronger with my daughter is making me miss the one that I feel used to be stronger with my son.

Here are a few things that I've noticed or learned about my sweet 16 month old baby girl.

-She makes this cute, breathy "K" sound as I tell her that I love her and that it's time to go "nigh nigh" when I'm rocking with her before she goes to sleep. I hadn't had a chance to notice it previously because I'm almost always thinking about what my son is doing and wondering if he will be barging into my daughter's room. (He's usually watching Curious George or playing on his "puter" for a few minutes while I put her to sleep.)

-She really does love to snuggle. Sometimes. She loves it much more than I ever imagined. I used to joke that she never wanted to be touched because, from birth, she would kick me if I tried rocking her to sleep. She was like, "Get your hands off of me and let me fall asleep on my own!" She's still like that most of the time. She has a difficult time falling asleep in my arms unless she's exhausted. I know because I've been trying to rock her to sleep more during the past few days because I love having her sleep in my arms. She usually pushes away a bit still and is much happier being put into her crib to fall asleep. But when the house is quiet and we are winding down after dinner, she wants to be in my lap or laying on me in some way. And now that I think about it, she was always wanting to sit on me or in my lap or she laid her head on my leg when we went to a few concerts in the park this summer. She knows what she wants, when she wants it, and she has probably since conception.

-She loves to laugh. I feel so sad that I don't have more time on a day to day basis to just play and laugh with her. But in the past three days, I've had more time. And her laugh is awesome! She is such a happy kid and it's incredibly easy to make her laugh.

She has been noticing that her brother isn't around as much. Soon enough, she'll be spending these nights at her Dad's house, also, and I won't have this one on one time with her anymore. So I'm going to eat up every moment that I can!