Little Piece of Reese

Poor little Reese got to wake up bright and early yesterday morning only to have to be rushed out to get some of those mean shots at her 2 year doctor's appointment. (By the way, do the shots ever get easier to watch as a mother? I seriously almost cried holding her down.) It's been about 6 months since I've done a "Little Piece of Reese" post, so along with her stats here are some of the things I love and want to remember about my daughter.

1. Height: 34 inches (50th)
2. Weight: 24.4 lbs (10th)
3. Head: 18 3/4 (50th)

• I find it insanely adorable how she is so confused about what the word "sorry" actually means. I can't even count how many inanimate objects she's apologized to. Polite right? Not so sure. I think she is actually just copying what I say to her when she gets hurt. A few examples: If she runs into anything like a table or wall, she'll quickly tell the table or wall "I saw-ee." I accidentally poked her in the eye several weeks ago, and as she rubbed the hurt out she very softly whispered, "I saw-ee, mommy." When I change her diaper and she has a sore bum she tells me, "It huwts. I saw-ee."
  
  
• Her garage sale xylophone puppy is her favorite toy. She carries him around like he's a stuffed animal and would probably sleep with him if we'd let her. She probably mostly likes him because she gets to boss him around. Here she is telling puppy to "Eat!" his styrofoam. Oh, how she's going to love being a big sister!

• When she's not throwing a tantrum, she makes a great shopping buddy. When we're out shopping she grabs my hand, drags me over to some item (clothes, jewelry), pulls it off the rack and says, "Cute!" And I'm not allowed to move on to something else until I agree with her on how cute it is.
  
  
• She's a very sweet "mommy." Every night before bed I sing the same lullaby to her. (One my mom and I used to sing to Julie.)

Lullaby, lullaby, Sleep My Dear Little Reese Elizabeth.
Calm and Peaceful Be Thy Slumber, While I Sing to Thee.

I've caught her a number of times holding her babies and singing parts of "lullaby" to them as she sways back and forth and gently pats their backs. She then puts them down for nite-nite then comes up to Tom or me with her finger on her lips and whispers "shhh...sleeping." But lately nite-nite hasn't been limited to just babies.

The other night it started off with kissing just a few of her puppies nite-nite who were settled on top of a few hundred blankies.


Then slowly all of the puppies' friends were added along with random fruit and other items from her kitchen collection. And every time she'd add something she'd still be sure to hush us and tell us that they were sleeping.

• According to Reese, piggies say, "ky-ky, ky-ky." ??????? It's so random and I love it!



• She normally calls Tom daddy, but lately when she's looking for him from another room she yells "Tom!" Apparently she learned that one from me. It's so funny to hear coming from that cute little mouth. The other day she woke up from her nap and immediately asked, "Where'd Tom go?" At my mom's request, here's a little video of her looking for him.
  
  
  
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• I love when I go in her room (usually getting her up in the morning) and she immediately pops up in her crib and excitedly shouts, "Mommy!" Sometimes these popping-up-in-her-crib-moments aren't always wished for like when I go in to check on her before I go to bed (I can't help myself), but then they turn out to be some of the most tender moments I have as her mommy. I just sit there and rock her as she snuggles into me. And if I didn't think that we both needed the sleep I would seriously stay there and hold her for hours.
  
  
• She's my body-guard. Tom is not allowed to touch me. If he comes up to hug or kiss me, she immediately runs up yelling at him and pushes him away from me. And when she and I are out and about, she's sure to tell everybody we pass that I am her mommy. She'll point at me then yell, "Mommy!" You know, just in case they were going to try anything funny. I actually think it's pretty darn sweet.

These past two years have changed me completely as a person. In some ways I've definitely become more of a stress case, but in many others I know I've matured and have certainly developed a deeper love for this little person than I ever knew possible. I love my Reese Elizabeth with all my heart, and I'm so happy to be her mommy.

I can't believe I'm going to be a mother of 2 soon! (Which means that I need to change my blog title.) I'm a little nervous, but also very excited to welcome #2 and to make the room to feel this same deep motherly love again. Although I have to admit that right now that hardly seems possible.