A Little Light Reading

Abby often checks the mail with me. Well one day last month sometime, she checked it on a day when I got my weekly TIME magazine. She promptly grabbed the mag, ran for a lawn chair in the back yard and "read" the entire magazine. She was so engrossed that I had to grab the camera and document the moment.

(reading about the mortgage crisis)

She often chooses to listen to the news over music on the radio. And if she is trying to butter me up, she'll ask, "Wanna watch the news, Mama?" She can identify & name Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, whom she calls "Hillry Chicken." I wonder if our Secretary of State would find that as cute as I do. And for the record, I always correct her pronunciation.

Propping my Chin Up

I'm feeling a little discouraged today, but I'm really trying to not let it get me down. Abby has made such progress in so many areas and yet I've noticed a little regression in others. I may have mentioned before that she is talking so much more this Summer. It's truly amazing. Just a few minutes ago, she suggested I turn off the lamp since the overhead light was on, because "it's too very shiny in Abby's eyes." And there are times that I can't keep up with her chattering. I really do love it!


I posted a while back about how Abby would let me do some pretty intricate hair styles. I also mentioned that maybe we would go get her hair cut for her 4th birthday. Well the best ideas often do not come to pass. Sometime this summer (I've blocked out the exact month and day) as I was getting Abby dressed and doing her hair, I discovered that she had gotten some tree sap in her hair the day before. It was a HUGE glob and there was just no getting it out. (Since this time, I've re-discovered the miracle of Goo-Gone) So I was forced to cut her hair. This freaked me out, which in turn freaked Abby out. Her hair cut turned out cute, which is nothing shy of a miracle, but now I can barely brush her hair without a scream fest and much anxiety on her part. Gone are the days of pretty braids and relaxing mother-daughter hair styling sessions. I have faith that they will return, but "when?" is the question.

We also made the mistake of introducing flash lights to bedtime. We thought it would be fun, but little did we know the chaos that would ensue. Abby has never been afraid of the dark. And yet with the introduction of flashlights to the routine, suddenly she wants two lamps, two nightlights, her flashlight, her GloWorm and her Moon Light. After all that, we may as well turn on the overhead light. We obliged some of this behavior for a while. Turning off each light one-by-one over the first 20 minutes of bed-time, eventually leaving only her nightlights and flash lights. But then she'd fall asleep with her flashlight on and if we forgot to sneak in and turn it off, it would run out of batteries. Then we'd wake up at 3-4:30 AM to Abby SCREAMING her head off, because her flashlight was out of batteries. And the screaming would only stop once the batteries were replaced. Well... I've had enough of that! All flashlights have been removed from the situation. No more flashlights at bedtime. Last night was the first night without them and it went well. Fingers crossed that the quiet nights continue.

The scream-fests that Abby is famous for had really subsided. It was so nice & encouraging. Now we've had to experience quite a few this last week or so. We had one first thing this morning actually, because I wasn't ready for bright over head lighting at 7:30 AM (it's too very shiny in Mama's eyes... haha!) and only had the lamp on in the family room. She FREAKED OUT because she wanted all of the lights on. I sent her back to bed and told her she could get up when she was ready to interact with the family without screaming. What a great way to start the day. Ugh!

So I am propping my chin up and carrying on. What else can I do?

Milestone

We have reached 25 followers! Yay! A little Milestone for us at The Gentle Giant. Thank you and welcome to Gloria who rounds us out nicely. I'm so thankful to all of you who read about our adventures. This is so therapeutic for me.

Let's see... what can I share today. Abby has been reading an old book of mine from when I was a kid over and over and over again. It's a book about Donald Duck taking his nephews (Huey, Dewey & Louie) camping. So her dad mentioned that maybe we would go camping in our backyard this week. I am going camping in Washington State at the end of the month and we should probably get out our much neglected gear anyway to check things out. Well now Ab is obsessed. She can't stop talking about the "purple tent". It goes something like this...

"Abby, would you like a drink?"
"I want my Daddy... blah, blah, blah... purple tent."

The blah, blah, blah is the rambling parts that I still have a hard time deciphering. Abby's language skills have really blossomed this Summer. She is still using echolalia a lot, but more and more it is accompanied by her own original thoughts and words. If we can decipher what she is saying.

One of the great ironies in being Abby is that her volume levels are completely askew. When she is frustrated or angry, she can emit a scream that will make your blood curdle and your ear drums crawl farther into your head, begging for relief. And yet when she is blessing you with the oh-so-sweet-and-elusive conversation, she speaks so softly and quietly, that you often have to be right next to her to hear it. If only I could wiggle my nose ala Samantha on Bewitched and swap these two volume levels. While I'm sure I would eventually find myself annoyed by having to listen to her talk at blood curdling level, I would LOVE to have her screams of frustration and anger at a barely audible, newborn kitten level. If only for a week. It would be lovely.

Another topic she is talking about lately is school. She is soooo excited to go back. I'm excited for her, too. She absolutely thrived the last 6 months of the school year. I'm so excited to see the changes that will surely take place this next year.

Wearing her brother's sunglasses while taking a walk on the boardwalk. She is wearing a pair of "binoculars" around her neck that I made for her using empty toilet paper rolls, a couple of index cards, curling ribbon and tape. She uses them to go bird watching. LOL! The striped belt is one of hers that she carried around for a few days. She would twirl it and dance like a gymnast during a floor excercise with ribbons.

Geography

Quick post today due to the fact that I have a long to-do list and while it does include,
*Lay on the couch and watch a movie,
it does not include, *Blog.
But I just had to share another of Abby's milestones that
blew my mind a little bit.

We went to the post office today and the clerk gave the kids a couple of stickers. One of them happened to be of a globe with the continent of Africa emphasized. I handed the sticker to Abby without an explanation or saying anything about it at all.

Later, as I was making lunch, Abby called my attention to the sticker. I asked her what it was and she said it was "the world" then added "It's Anafrica." When I corrected her by asking, "Is it Antarctica?", because that's what I thought she was trying to say, she answered,
"No, it's Africa."

Clear as a BELL!

Wow! She can identify the continent of Africa. Without even seeing it in context with the rest of the globe. She just knows its shape. Amazing! It is days like today that give me so much hope for the future.

Abby's Room

Here is Abby's room in our new house.
She has requested purple walls, which she may get, but not for a while.
In the mean time, I think it turned out pretty cute.
The castle was a hand-me-down gift from her cousin.

She has a CASTLE in her room!

What a blessed little girl!
She does have to temporarily share her room with her brother, but I think the castle more than makes up for that.