My House

I thought I'd get a quick update in on Tuks, because I won't be posting much during the upcoming week for it will be busy.

I haven't updated in along time about how Tuks is doing. No head lice since last reported and I do shampoo and condition her hair in Tea Tree Oil as a preventative. The last few weeks she has had real bad reactions to mosquitoes bites again, same as last year. Actually her eyes have swelled up 3 times already this year. The difference is that I don't panic, and know how to treat it. Within the last few days the reactions have died down, even though she still gets bitten, even though I have her loaded down with bug spray. Yes, the skeeters are that hungry and that many!! The only thing I am doing differently is I am adding 2 drops of Citronella oil to her bath water every time I bathe her. So I don't know if it is helping in reducing the reaction, OR her body is acclimating to the mosquito venom.

She can also say her numbers up to 16, but can only count items up to 3. She is starting to recognize her colors. The other morning, just shortly after she woke up, she started listing off colors and I asked her where these colors were and she pointed to my shirt. Guess what, she was correct!!! Pink is definitely her favorite color, with I believe green a close second. It's funny it does not look like blue is a favorite of hers, and she has not specified any preference either way for any color of clothes I put on her. She can say her alphabet, but so far can only recognize "A", but I am confident she will get there within the year. She can also point to Guatemala and our state when looking at the globe. Her sense of directions and ability to point put landmarks just astounds me. She is amazing. It is hard to explain. She points out buildings and roads that we haven't been on since last year, summer to be exact, and she can explain what we did and who we went to see while there. This ability is growing exponentially too. Age appropriate, I don't know, you tell me...

Her potty training is still slowly become more frequent, and I predict she will will be out of diapers by the end of the summer.

She has also entered a, I'd call a yucky stage. She wants what she wants, when she wants it and don't tell her otherwise or she will have a FIT. She claims everything as hers. "My house", "My stairs", "My car", also the words "I want....", you fill it in comes out quite frequently. I thought we were in the terrible twos months and months ago, but I think not, because we are for certain in them now. How do I handle it?, well it depends on my energy level, and quite frankly my patience which ebbs and flows with my monthly cycle. I hate to admit that, but it is true. Oh yeah, the "whys" are coming in full force now too.

I thought I would post pictures of our nightly routine.


Brushing her teeth in my bathroom


Then she "puckers", actually she is putting chap stick on. She does this every night.


Getting ready to settle in for reading and tucking in of covers. I say to her
"Te amo me cielo", "I love you my sky" just before I tuck her in ever since she came home.


Just a few of the hundreds of books we read at night and throughout the day. She has started to sit down and "read" the books as well. I love it!!