More!

I had planned on using sign language to communicate with Nadia far more than I actually did. She used the sign for milk, but other than that she wasn't using any signs, and I stopped signing to her a few months ago. A few days ago she started using the sign for "more" when she wants more of something I'm feeding her. I was shocked the first time she did it as it's been months since I've shown her the sign. I had no idea she remembered it since she never used it back when I was trying to teach her "more" and "all done." I do want to teach her more sign language in the future, but for now we are just working on expanding her spoken vocabulary. The word I can get her to say on demand for other people most easily is "elbow." She now says "night night," "hi," "hello," and "bye bye" at the appropriate times such as when she's pretending to talk on the phone or when she's waving to someone. "Up" used to be her favorite word. Her new favorite word is "no" - surprise, surprise, LOL! The only name she used to say when calling for someone was "mama," but she has recently started saying "dada" when she's trying to find her Daddy.

I have gone on strike with carrying her up or down the stairs. It's enough of a workout just getting my own pregnant body up the stairs. Months ago she preferred to go up herself, but lately she's preferred to be carried. I have learned the trick to getting her to climb up quickly is to put some object she wants to hold a few steps ahead of where she is. If I keep moving the object up the stairs, she climbs them very quickly. She generally fusses when going down the stairs, but I think that will pass as long as I am consistent in insisting she do it herself. Of course yesterday at Grandma and PopPop's house she wanted to climb their stairs all the time. It's not that she can't do it. So Mommy will not be carrying her any more. She's a big girl!

Nadia was really well behaved yesterday considering she got very little sleep. She didn't get her morning nap because of Sunday School and church, and then her afternoon nap was only 40 minutes long because she took it in the car as we were driving to get together with Paul's family to celebrate his mom's birthday. Paul didn't want to leave until his football game was over. She did sleep almost the whole way home, but then she couldn't go right back to sleep so she didn't actually go to sleep in her crib until after 9pm. Thankfully Paul stayed up with her as I was exhausted. Hopefully she'll take two good naps today to make up for the sleep she lost yesterday.

She was very excited to see Sarah at church yesterday since she hadn't seen her in a week. She'll be going to Sarah's just 8 more times in 2009. Can you believe I only have 10 more classes to teach this semester including tonight's class? That doesn't include the 3 nights of final exams or one more faculty meeting. It's exciting to think I should only be making 14 trips to work in the next four months in light of the break between semesters and then my maternity leave (presuming Ian doesn't come early). The only other time I've had 3 months off of work since 1989 was the summer of 2004 when I was transitioning from an adjunct position at another university to my present position; we moved that summer so I was busy packing, unpacking, painting, etc. My maternity leave won't be a restful time as I'll be in that infamous sleep deprived stage, but still it will be nice to have lots of time to spend with Ian and Nadia. The ironic thing is that during my maternity leave, I'll actually be receiving my full salary for the first time since September 2008 even though actually I'll be at home. When I go back, my salary will drop back to 50%.

I have been doing some birthday and Christmas shopping lately. This morning I ordered the chair pictured at left for Paul's birthday. It was on sale, which is why I bought it today even though his birthday isn't until January 3rd. It cost more than I usually spend on a birthday gift for him, but since this will be the big "40" for Paul, I thought it was okay to spend a little more than usual. He's been wanting a new office chair, and this one looks like it should be comfy as well as go perfectly with the other NY Giant items I've given him for that room in the past. I hope he likes it!

I wish I had a picture that showed Nadia's full outfit that she wore yesterday. The photos above don't show the Clifford that's on the bottom corner of the dress or how cute she looked with her black patent shoes. The dress is size 18 months and it didn't quite hit her knees. Some size 18 month dresses are still long enough, but I guess in some cases she's ready for size 24 months! The top photo is of Nadia with her Grandma. The second is of Millie (Paul's sister-in-law) with her grandson, QJ (our grandnephew). Yesterday was the first day we got to meet QJ and hold him. The third photo is of Paul's mom with her first great grandchild, and the fourth photo is of Nadia playing with her cousin, Shawn (QJ's uncle). I think next year Nadia and QJ will have fun playing together, and eventually Ian will also have fun playing with Nadia and QJ.