Jenna and Sarah

Hawaii is my favorite place in the whole world. It’s my “happy place.” We’re going there in less than 3 weeks. In the past, before a big trip, I count down the days with excitement and anticipation of the trip. While I’m super excited about this trip, I am counting down the days with I-can’t-believe-we’re-leaving-Jenna-for-a-week anxiety.

When I think about yesterday, it makes me want to just take her with us! She was awesome! She was my little pal. Tuesday I had to pick her up early from daycare because she had diarrhea all day. So, I made her an appointment with a doctor yesterday morning. I figured she had another ear infection, though she had no fever, no runny nose, and yesterday she didn’t even have diarrhea. The doctor confirmed–there’s nothing wrong with her. But I had to keep her home with me because the daycare has a policy about that. She was the sweetest little sugar pie. It was a bit challenging trying to get any work done, but she played, she gave me lots of hugs and kisses, and when we went to run errands, she never cried. Just sat in the cart like a good little girl and didn’t scream (except playfully).

So, when we’re in Hawaii, I can’t think about that. I have to think about the times she DOES scream in the grocery store, and when she whines all evening when I’m trying to get dinner ready. Or when she runs away from me and won’t listen when I tell her to come back. I have to think about that because what good would it be to spend a week in Hawaii if all I wanted to do was come home?

I have been a bad poster lately. Too much to do, not enough time.

My girl is 17 months old today. That’s not a milestone or anything, but every month seems worth mentioning. I love to watch her. I am amazed when I look back at pictures or videos at how much she has changed. She’s such a KID (as opposed to a BABY) and I love to see how her little mind works. The thought process that goes into everything fascinates me. Her favorite thing is still to be outside. Doesn’t really matter what she’s doing, as long as she’s outside. We spend a lot of time on our driveway lately. She loves to pick up acorns. She doesn’t do anything with them, except hand them to me and maybe put them in her mouth, but she just has to make sure she picks up every last one of them off the ground. She also can’t stand it when one of us is outside and she’s inside. She HAS to go out! She can definitely open doors now, so we have to make sure we keep them latched closed. She likes to be wherever we are. I don’t know when kids start playing by themsleves for a while, but she’s not quite there yet. She does sometimes entertain herself lately by playing with dish towels or her high chair, but always in the kitchen when we’re in there also. It’s OK, I have no complaints. I like her hanging around! I am thankful she can entertain herself long enough for us to clean up after dinner, but I’m also glad she wants to be around us when she does it. I know her time to NOT want to be around us is looming right around the corner. OK, maybe not just around the corner, but close enough.

She has also been more vocal lately. I don’t understand much of what she says, but in her mind she is speaking in complete sentences, I think. She says “mommy” and “daddy” very clearly now, and seems to enjoy saying it. She likes our reaction every time she says it. And her newest word is “yummy” when she’s eating. How cute is that? I love it. I love all the new things she says & does. I don’t love the screaming fits, but fortunately they don’t occur as often as the cute stuff.

17 months is not a milestone, but I kind of consider 18 months to be. And I am so sad that we will miss her 18 month mark! The good news is that we’ll be in Hawaii though. We are going in less than a month–hard to believe. As excited as I am, I am also terrified at the thought of being away from her that long. Not terrified that something bad will happen to her, but terrified that I’ll miss her so much that I will be miserable the entire time we’re there! Maybe she’ll develop a horrible temper habit in the next few weeks and I’ll just think about that while we’re gone.