Ivy at 22 months

I haven't written anything on here in months....just been busy. Being a single mom is exhausting, and I feel like I have slacked off on a lot of things lately. However, we are all doing well, and I am happy. The kids are happy!
Zayden is Zayden. He is still quirky and funny and sweet and smart! I love him to pieces.

I wanted to come on here to write about Ivy, because she has evolved into a little person, and a wonderful little person! She will be 2 in 2 months! Wow....I can't believe how big my baby has gotten.

She is now talking soooo much now!! She started off a little slower than Zayden with the talking, but at this point she is talking as much as he was at this age. She is now able to speak in long sentences. She speaks conversationally. She still will sometimes give a one or 2 word answer or will see a dog and just yell "doggy" rather than "There is a dog", but more and more she just talks to me like a 2 or 3 year old would. For example, last night during dinner, she turned to me and said, "Mommy this cottage cheese is good. I love it!" ;) She also asks many questions now, which I find very cute....for now. Our next door neighbors have a son who is 6 weeks older than Zayden. His name is Ethan. Zayden and Ethan are great friends. Most evenings when the weather is nice Zivy plays with Ethan while us mom's chat. Last week Ethan's mom told me, "I think Ivy speaks as well as Ethan." I told her "no way....yes Ivy speaks well, but not like an almost 4 year old." She continued with, "She doesn't speak as clearly as Ethan, but her sentence structure is about the same as his." I felt proud to hear this grade school teacher compliment Ivy....even if it isn't completely true.
Ivy also has taken on an obsession similar to Z's obsession with guys. She loves BABIES. Real and fake. I guess it's a girl thing. Since, I haven't had a girl before, I didn't know. I didn't encourage it, but my goodness Ivy could play with babies all day long!! She mostly just likes to put them to bed and cover them with blankets and then pick them back up and repeat. She also likes to push them in strollers.....each baby has to have it's own blanket though! It is so fun to watch her rock and "sing" to the babies as well. Our other next door neighbor has a 4 month old baby named Riley, and a dog named Abby. Ivy can't get enough of either of them. All day long I hear, "I see Dabby and Riley!!" (I think Dabby is Doggy and Abby combined...Ivy coined the nickname and now all the kids call her that...and so do I). Dabby and Riley come out to play in the evenings too with their mommy to Ivy's ultimate joy! Ivy also will ask over and over to hold Riley which I'll help Ivy do briefly. Ivy's greatest love after babies is probably dogs! So after holding Riley she loves to play with Dabby. And I swear she is probably going to be talking me into getting another dog someday soon. ugh!
Ivy also totally loves her brother. She wants to do whatever he is doing, and repeats what he says ALL the time!! She is like his little parrot. They play well together now....when they aren't trying to kill each other. ;) ha!
She also is just so wild. I hear so many people say that boys are always the wild ones....um not at this house!! Zayden is much more cautious than Ivy. Ivy will climb up anything, will run out into the street, run from me, go flying down the street or driveway at full speed on a ride toy, will run non-stop for 10 minutes around our neighborhood. Z never was that crazy at 1. Oh, and her fits.....HUGE. Much bigger and much more dramatic than Zayden's ever were. She does the whole stomping of the feet and throwing herself on the ground. Sometimes it's hard not to laugh.
However, when she isn't being crazy or throwing fits (which aren't that common) she is the sweetest girl with this smile that just melts me. Often when I hold her, she rubs my back. She gives the best hugs. One day when I picked her up from school, she hugged both teachers and then every kid in the class (there were about 6 or 7) good-bye.
It's fun to look at her now and try to get a glimpse of what she will be like as a teenager or an adult. I think she will be a challenging girl, but also an amazing and wonderful person. I feel so grateful to have her in my life. (I could write about her (and Zayden) all day if I had the time...right now Ivy has woken up from her nap and is yelling, "Mommy and Zayden!" I hope to update more often in this blog).