Chloe's Always Making New Friends

Yesterday we went swimming at the club to which we belong. Within minutes, Chloe had met a little girl named Kasey. They swam, ran around, played on the grass and had a blast together. While they were swimming - Chloe met Brooke. They swam and played together until they were both so cold they had to get out of the water.

Today, we stopped by a lady's house and we got to talking. Within minutes, her little girl invited Chloe into the house to play. They ended up playing outside (since we didn't know them). It is so sweet the way she befriends complete strangers in no time at all.

On a similar note...Chloe had her first playdate at our house the other night. Since my mom was here, Chloe stayed home from our Bible Study to be with Nanny. Our friends, Rich & Keri have a little girl named Lily. Lily came over to our house and the two of them jumped, ran around, went on the swings and had snacks together. A good time was had by all!!!

Lots of Progress

Chloe has been making lots of progress over the past few weeks. It's always amazing to see! She can now jump to me from across the room. She used to only jump in place. She can do a seat drop on the trampoline!!! She can walk on her tippy toes. Yesterday she swam for a few feet without her water wings. When she thought she couldn't touch, she got scared and we put the wings on but I saw her making all of the right motions and she stayed afloat!

In terms of speech - she is really doing great. My mom watched the kids last week while I was out of town for my little business. She told Chloe to go get Joe and Quinn for dinner. Chloe went upstairs and said and signed, "Ca, ea". That's come, eat! It wasn't perfect but they knew exactly what she told them to do and that's what really matters. She now says, "Nancy" and yesterday she met a new friend named "Kasey". I said, "This is Kasey" and asked Chloe if she could say Kasey and she immediately said, "Kah....see". WOW!!!

Wuh Woo

Do you remember what it sound like when your kids first said they loved you? For Quinn, it was at a pretty young age and it sounded like this, "I ud you Mommy". It sounded so sweet. Sometimes I still tell Quinn that I ud him.

For the longest time when we told Chloe that we loved her, she would respond with "Wuh". That means "Love". So, we figured she loved us too :). Most recently, she began responding with "kay". I guess it is okay with her that we love her.

Today, we practiced saying, "I love you Daddy" while she was swinging. I wanted to see if I could get her to say, "I love you Daddy" before he comes home from his "guys' weekend" of camping with Quinn and some friends/neighbors from our Bible Study group. She finally said, "Wuh Woo Dada". It wasn't altogether but it was still more than "wuh".

Maybe with a little practice - she will say, "Wah Woo Dada" to her Daddy when he gets home on Sunday night!

Used To I Didn't Like Her

During a rare moment a couple weeks ago, the kids were outside together. They were playing near each other in the pebbles under the swing set. They weren't interacting - this can be good sometimes. Nonetheless, they were next to each other playing. About the time I called them in for lunch, it started to thunder. Chloe kept playing in the rocks despite my telling her to come in for lunch. As the thunder continued, Quinn got more and more agitated by the fact that Chloe wouldn't come in. He pleaded with her, "Coco, there might be lightening coming soon." ; "Come inside now - it is thundering!" ; "Chloe, if you don't come inside you could get hurt in the storm." I wanted to see how long this would go on (does he actually care if she gets hurt?).

After a couple minutes I heard Chloe crying hysterically and saw her running to the house. Quinn came into the kitchen just before Chloe and said, "Mom, if you really want Chloe to come, you have to take her dog (a stuffed animal she was in love with for a brief period) and she will follow you. It worked.

We sat down to lunch and Quinn announced (with Chloe right across from him) - "Mommy, used to I didn't like Chloe too much but now I am getting used to her."

That's progress, right?

I got a promotion!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I received a promotion yesterday! Yep - after all of this time as a house cleaner, diaper changer, short order chef, clothing shopper, etc., Quinn gave me a promotion. He yelled for me to come & wipe his butt and pronounced me the "Queen of Wiping My Butt".
Sad but true.

She said MOMMY!!!!

Keep praying - it is working!!! Last week at my parents house, Chloe starting saying "Baboo, Baboo, Baboo". Sounded like baboon without the N. Anyway, after she did that for a couple days, I said, "Coco, say "dadoo" and she did!!! So we did "dadoo", "baboo", "mamoo", etc. We did that for a day or so and I tried "Daddy"! She said it PERFECTLY. So, we would hear her in the backseat softly saying "Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy..." She even said it to Joe over the phone. I finally went for the motherload (no pun intended). I said, "Say Mommy" and...she did! Now, Mommy & Daddy may not sound too exciting to most of you but if you waited 3 years and 3 months (exactly) to hear Mommy - you might post a blog too :).

Just so you know, this is a natural progression. From mama, dada, papa, etc. to baboo, gaga googoo, etc. to mommy, daddy, nanny (she also said nanny). I am prayerful that we keep up this great progress.

Today she said, "Amy". This is her teacher at school. How exciting.

Please keep the prayers coming and spread the word to your friends & family that are believers. Thanks to those of you praying for Chloe's speech. Feel free to throw in Quinn's name too - we still have plenty of work to do with him as well.

Just Kidding

Just a quick post to let people know that I was joking about the Blarney Stone! We have had two people (that we know of) that have taken me seriously. I was being sarcastic (hard to believe, huh?) as I know the Blarney Stone won't do anything compared to what we can do with prayer! Please pray for Chloe's speech!