She has had her ups and downs health wise. There is a tricky balance of what she can eat without breaking out into hives. She seems okay with eggs now, but too much dairy and it's all down hill. And odd kinds of dairy. Some cheese snacks she is okay with, but others not so much. I try to keep Benedryl on hand, but often enough, when I really need it, I don't have it. We did find out that she is rather allergic to cashews. Jerry was eating them and Grace asked for one. We have had her tested for peanuts, and she's had walnuts, pecans, and almonds. We didn't think anything would happen. She first started gagging and trying to spit the cashew out and then immediately broke out in hives. It was by far the worst break out that we have ever had and the fastest reaction we have ever seen. It was really scary. Thankfully there was no swelling. Unfortunately, we were out of Benedryl. I threw Grace in the car and raced to the drug store. Once she had the dose of meds in her, she got better. Poor little girl. Her skin was soooo hot and red and blotchy. I'm glad it wasn't worse, but now we know. No cashews.
She LOVES to make up songs and sings them while swinging. Most of them have no words, but on occasion they do. She and Elijah made up one called "we miss Laura" which are the only words, over and over again. And since neither of them can say the "L" or "R" it came out "We Mis WAUWA!" It was very cute to hear them singing in the back seat. She is very much an instigator with Elijah. If he is singing a song and she wants to join in and he doesn't want her too...she will start singing a nonsense song at the top of her lungs. This usually happens in the car and drives me nuts, but it is sort of funny.
So this summer... While we were in Black Mountain visiting my folks we spent a lot of time with my friend Laura. For Grace this was all well and good, but what fascinated her more than Laura was Laura's mom's chickens.
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I call her the chicken whisperer. She would stroke that little chickens back and it would fall asleep right in her lap. It was the darndest thing. She also LOVED Laura's dog Pucky. Pucky is a really sweet dog and even Elijah DARED to pet her tail at one point. Grace will still pick up ANYTHING and pretend it's a chicken. It's really sweet and really if we ate more eggs, I would be really tempted to have a few chickens. We also learned that Grace LOVES watermelon. And once again, is an instigator. Elijah and laura were play soccer and for a brief moment left he game, only to come back to see Grace sitting on the ball. It took me removing her from the ball for the game to be able to commence. Sigh. She's hilarious...and frustrating.
Also while we were in the mountains we did swimming lessons. The first day Grace was okay-ish, but only because I was in the water. The second day, I put her in the water and then hid in the bathroom. I listened to her scream. It was HEART BREAKING. I was totally taking pictures from the bathroom (looked a little skivy for sure) but I was also choking back tears. I wanted her out there. I wanted her to learn because she has NO fear. She would walk into water until it was over her head and then freak out. But I was really scared that I was making her hate the water. She actually did what she was asked to do and when Coach Hannah was working with her, she would cry, and then be fine for a minute and then start crying again. So after the second day we ended up pulling her out. I think she learned some good stuff out of the class and she still asks about Coach Hannah. So overall, it was good. She still likes the water and even tried boogie boarding at the beach, so I feel like it wasn't all in vain. We will try again next summer for sure!
She is such a little cuddle bug! Elijah was too, but she REALLY is. I swear the child was a cat in her past life. She really gets as close as she can to you. It's very sweet. I love it!
It's hard not to compare children to each other in terms of development, but I have to say that the differences between them are sometimes startling. Grace talked early. Well, earlier than Elijah. But early. She speaks well. Even Elijah's speech therapist commented on it. She also potty trained early. And maybe these two things put together contribute to my, sometimes, frustration with her. She acts older than she is, so there are times when I expect more from her. When she has an accident... or pees on the carpet on purpose, it's really hard to remember she's just two and a half. She sometimes just seems beyond her years. And then she'll throw a down-on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming tantrum over the fact that we are all out of granola bars. And it comes rushing back.
She's so little but can pack away the food.
She has a great laugh and a fantastic sense of humor!
She misses Elijah while he's at school. We try to get out as much as we can, but when we are home, she is obviously bored with me. Her favorite activities at home are swinging, drawing, painting, and reading books in the sun. It cracks me up that she has free reign of the toys when we are here by ourselves and she could care less, but the moment Elijah gets home they are constantly bickering over the toys. Sigh. She can also now ride a tricycle and handles herself fairly well. It won't be too long that she will be keeping up with Elijah.
Overall, she is my sweet caring, empathetic, boisterous, happy girl. She is beautiful and she know it, but I don't think that she abuses the knowledge (though she will totally try to smile and bat those long eye lashes at me when she knows she is in trouble.) She loves dresses, but also loves her super fast shoes. I think she is the perfect combination of girlie and Tomboy. She loves going to open play at the local Gymnastics Gym.
She is the perfect kiddo to complete out family.
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