Julia...

...continues to amaze me everyday with her progress, especially in regard to speech/language. She has been saying "I want_____" and "I need_____"(most of the time the I need is finished by adding the word "help" but she has occasionally inserted something else, like the name of a toy).

Her newest and favorite word combination is "No, why?" which she says basically every time we ask her to either do or stop doing something. She also says "I love you too" which used to just be "love you", which she would say in response to someone saying it to her.

My favorite though? Last night when she was up at 10:30(sleeping has been a difficult thing lately...we are going through the "I really, really need a nap but I am not gonna take one" stage which either leads to falling asleep at dinner and waking up in the later hours of the evening or EXTREME crankiness before normal bedtime), Ryun was going to try and bring her in to bed with him(I was up watching ER). She was not happy about this and told him as much by saying, "I want Mama now Daddy."

The absolute funniest thing she ever said was when Ryun and I were being all silly and cute and he threw a pillow at my leg and Julia said clear as day, "Nice shot, Daddy."

That was funny.

We are still working on offering her choices in an attempt to develop her language a bit more. As Vida from EI said, "She has the speech but the language is still developing." Usually, she just repeats the last thing you say which was evident yesterday when Vida was here and she asked Julia (in this order) "Do you want to blow the bubbles or eat the bubbles?" Julia said, "Eat bubbles." I am guessing the object of that was to get her to make the right choice (blowing bubbles) but then I was curious as to whether or not she even knew that it was wrong to eat bubbles. Either way though, she does the same thing when we offer her juice or milk, cookies or crackers etc. She just repeats the last thing you said, everytime. So, we will keep introducing choices and as she always does, she will catch on.

There's another thing that has been concerning me with her but I still am not sure if I am being paranoid or if it is an actual issue. I have noticed this type of thing on many occasions but the most recent time is still fresh in my mind so I will share that.

The other day we went to a MOMS Club event at the library (actually it was our monthly meeting). There were toys all around, crafts to make, cookies to eat and many, many kids to play with. No matter what I did, I couldn't get her to join in on all the fun. She was at my leg the entire time and the only time she would even consider going over was when all of the other kids went over to listen to one of the MOMS read a Halloween story. All of the other kids were over in the corner and the toys were across the other side of the room so she went to the toys then, when no one else was around. I don't think I would be as concerned if she was just over playing while the other kids were there, even if she wasn't neccesarily playing with the kids, just you know, near them. This is not the first time this type of thing has happened (there was the time we were at the Girl Scouts office and she was in the little play area and another little kid came over to play and Julia back away in to the corner and shortly after started crying fearfully). There have been other times too. I know she is on the shy side but this just seems extreme.

I have a gut feeling about this of course, because I always do but we will see what happens.