All Things Ng: 19 Months Old

Holy cow - another month older?!?! I say this every month, but I still can't believe how big Abigail has gotten over the last month, and how much she has changed and developed. She is such a joy to Carey and I, and we thank God for her every single day. This being a mommy thing - it's pretty awesome. :-)

Over the past month, we've seen Abigail become much more vocal. She's still not quite putting sentences together, but she's saying so many words that I don't think sentences are too far around the corner. She still loves making animal noises: I have to get some video of Abby making her monkey sound - it includes arm motions and sound effects! Abby also enjoys watching some of the shows on Nick Jr. While we do try to limit the amount of television that she watches, we don't mind allowing the occasional Yo Gabba Gabba or Dora the Explorer.

Abigail loves pointing to things around her - some of her new favorites include: flower (which she pronounces "fla-wa"), waffle (which she pronounces "wav-wa") and bus. She's also started saying colors, but her favorite color to say is definitely yellow. Everything is yellow if we ask Abby what color it is. Thankfully, most things in her room, including her blankies and her ducks, actually are yellow, as well as the flowers in our yard and the buses that drive around our neighborhood. Everyone is always so impressed when they hear Abby tell us that the flowers are yellow - we don't tell them that she doesn't say many other colors!

Abigail still loves reading her books, but we have to be careful because she is also starting to enjoy ripping pages and tearing the covers. (Somehow, the little munchkin even finds ways to tear the covers of her board books!) Whenever Abby does this, I take the book away from her and she gets pretty upset, but I think she's beginning to understand that if she does not take good care of her toys and books, then mommy will take them away.

Abby absolutely loves the playground! She still enjoys the swings, but she loves running around after the other kids and going down the slides. Carey and I have even taken her on the big kid slides, and Abby loves going down the slide with mommy or daddy! Luckily, the park near our house was recently renovated, so the ground is covered with soft rubber-like material, so even if Abby falls, she usually gets right back up, no worse for the wear. Now that the weather is getting nicer, we're trying to take her on more walks around the neighborhood and more trips to the park. I'm hoping that we'll get around to cleaning up our backyard this weekend (removing fallen branches, cleaning up leaves and other debris, etc.), that way we can start taking Abby into the backyard as well.

Probably one of my very favorite developments over the past month is that Abigail has started calling me "mommy." Before, she always called me "ma-ma" and, while I loved it, the first time she pointed at me and called me "mommy," I started to cry. I can't explain why, but it just melted my heart to hear my little girl call me "mommy." (She's been calling Carey "da-dee" for months now...)

Thankfully, Abby is doing much better with regards to the coxsackievirus. The blisters on her hands and feet are almost completely gone and, while the few blisters in her mouth still look pretty bad, she is eating much better, drooling much less, and has been sleeping great without needing any Motrin or Tylenol, so I'm assuming that those aren't bothering her nearly as much. Yay! I think we've finally turned the corner on this whole awful illness, and I'll be very glad to put this behind us. (I'm sure poor Abby will be, too!)

Finally, a few photos of our little munchkin from the last month. I say this every month, but Carey and I are so blessed to have this little girl in our lives. We love her more every day and thank God constantly for entrusting her to our care. Abigail, mommy and daddy love you, baby girl! *smooch*