Besides praying for a healthy baby when I was pregnant, Heavenly Father knew that it was important to me for my children to "get it". I seem to always say to myself that Reina "get's it". I've heard that if you have difficult infants or toddlers then they will be easy teenagers and vice versa. Oh I hope that this won't come to pass. We got blessed with a daughter with an AMAZING personality. She is so funny, quick, witty, and teachable.
Remember, this is our family blog so if you are already disgusted at my complete PRIDE (not the bad kind of pride that we just discussed at church on Sunday) for my daughter then do not read further :)
I have just been amazed at what Reina can do for just being a couple months past her 2nd birthday! I give credit to many people in her life who have helped mold her into her best self. I pray daily that she will be the very best that she can and that as as parents we will learn how to help her be her best self. We are being blessed so much already as she amazes me every day!
Reina has always been very advanced for her age in her ability to learn things quickly and remember them. She has really taken off in her vocabulary since her 2nd birthday since she not only says nearly complete sentences every time, but has so much personality with what she says. She will "read" a book and have lots of phrasing and inflection in her dialogue. Reina will go down for nap with piles and piles of books. Mummi reminds her everyday that "a girl can never have too many books." Now when she goes down for nap she will tell Mummi "a girl can never have two books". Of course she doesn't realize that she has changed the meaning of the sentence into something quite funny!
Mummi and I always comment on how she never "misses a beat". When she sings a song, even if she doesn't pronounce all of the words correctly she will give each syllable a beat. Even her songs are nearly in-tune! That's pretty amazing for such a young age. She never misses a beat in her rhythm either. Sometimes she'll be singing a song or dancing to a song and she'll tap her foot, or swing her arms, or move any body part to the rhythm of the song. I am hoping she will enjoy music as much as her parents do...whether it be band, singing, dancing, or all of the above. She never misses a beat with something going under her radar. She seems to know if you quickly snatched a sweet treat, hid something from her, or are trying to change the subject.
We have also noticed her ability to memorize things extremely quickly and to RETAIN the information. I think she got the latter from her daddy. She remembers stories, songs, words, memories, names, pretty much anything that has come into contact with her...osmosis right? Our kids will do what we do, act how we act, be what they see which is why a good example is something I not only WANT to be better at each day, but because I HAVE TO if I want to keep Reina as undamaged as possible.
A funny story I have to mention on our family blog is one I posted on facebook. A week or so ago I was picking out an outfit for her to wear that morning. It happened to be one of her favorite t-shirts with a kitty on it. When she saw the shirt that awaited her she kept repeating, "Kitty shirt! Kitty shirt! Kitty shirt!" As most of you know, a 2-year old doesn't pronounce everything correctly so it sounded like she was saying "kitty sh**!" Kids say the darndest!
Recently during our family prayers Reina has finally decided it is HER turn to say prayer. Usually mommy or daddy will say it and she will remind us of EVERYONE we have to include in the prayer...yes mommy, daddy, relatives, all of her friends...sometimes repeating extra-special friends. Our family prayers end up being really long. So she decided it is her turn and we are not allowed to help her with it whatsoever! She will even pause and say "hmmmmmm" when she is stuck with someone she forgot to pray for. How could Heavenly Father resist not blessing each and every one of those people that a sweet, little girl prays for? Sometimes I will even try to get Reina to pray for something that I really want so that maybe He will listen to her innocent prayer and bless.
