So here’s Paige’s update.  It boggles my mind that probably six or seven months ago Paige was not sleeping, full of tantrums, and generally miserable.  Now she’s sleeping, soooo pleasant and just a happy happy little girl.  She is definitely the first child.  She takes care of her brothers and me.  If we leave the house she makes sure I have everything.  She thrives on “helping” me with everything and sometimes she really is such a help I feel lucky to have her.  I can always count on her helping me carry things to the car.  She loves to carry bags and most times I give her the Milk bag to carry and she loves distributing the milk to her bros.  She is so independent and I can’t remember the last time I was able to get her into a stroller.  She loves to walk next to me when we’re out and gets upset if I don’t hold her hand.  (Which just a few months ago she would throw a fit if I made her hold my hand).  It’s very cute that sometimes we go places and I need her to hold Cole’s hand so we can safely cross a street.  She will use her size and wrestle Cole to hold her hand.

Paige is also in a polite phase.  She thanks everyone and everything.  Sometimes it’s “Thank you table” for holding her milk and a lot of “Thank you Cole or Drew” for toys.  Speaking of toys, by far right now her favorite toy/s is her kitchen set with plates and food.  She puts food in the microwave pushes the button and says beep then takes it out.  She opens the oven door and yells “get back”.  Her plates are always hot and she carries all her food all over the house and sets up picnics in various spots.  And God forbid if either of her brothers tries to cook food at her kitchen.  She loses her mind if anyone touches her stuff.

What else?  She’s still deathly afraid of animals big or small.  She doesn’t like puppets.  She loves to dance, sing, and jump around the house.  She loves massages from Daddy.  She’s obsessed with the Happy Birthday song and unfortunately we don’t have any birthdays coming up for a long time.  She will have me sing that song over and over again and each time I finish she thinks of someone else in her life for me to sing to.  She loves swimming and is such a fish.  She’s been swimming at my mom’s pool and she’s almost dangerous because we put arm floaties on her and she doesn’t want to be held in the water.  She gets on the top step and says 1,2,3 and jumps in.  It’s awesome.

A lot of our battles are thankfully long in the past.  Toothbrushing was agony a couple of months ago.  Now I ask her if she wants me to brush with her pink or purple toothbrush and I distract her with various thoughts as I brush away.  Hand holding was difficult, now mandatory.  Sleeping through the night, still not regular but bearable.  She used to not let me brush her hair, now she tells me what clips she wants in her hair.  She loves her ponytails and her ideal hairdo is ponytails with butterfly clips in her bangs.  So cute!  Life is good.

Paige is speaking in four or five word sentences now.  Probably the best phrase she says and that I can’t get enough of is “I love you”.  Those are powerful words.