One of the purposes of this blog is to keep a record of Abby's development/accomplishments, but trying to keep up with the accomplishments of an almost two year old is exhausting and I have not been able to do a good job, so I'm giving up and am reporting that Abigail is doing just fine. The problem with trying to identify accomplishments is knowing what the "norm" is. That requires a lot of time researching what "the experts" claim. The most reliable answer I have been able to find regarding child development is that everything depends on the individual, so that's not really useful.

I tried a couple of months back to keep a spreadsheet of all the words Abby knew at that point. I updated the list several weeks ago and she was at 750 English (Chinese not counted) words before I stopped. I know I've missed a lot and she recently has been blurting out fairly complex stories and sentences we have never heard her utter, but I may have double-counted a few things as well. I know it's a flag if she doesn't speak more than 40-50 words by age two, so I think she's doing great.

We watched the movie "Bolt" six times in the past seven days. This is a HUGE accomplishment in my opinion. All of a sudden she's now developed the ability to focus for 90+ minutes at a time, which is shocking. Over the weekend, she was QUOTING the movie and acting out (limited) scenes, so she's absorbing.

This past Saturday, she used the potty for the very first time! We have not started potty training officially because I'm not ready, but this was a big step. It means she's not afraid and she knows what needs to be done.

Abby overcame the fear of sand, waves, muddy shoes, ants, and dogs (more or less) recently.

Finally, today she begins her transition from the Older Toddler class to the Early Preschool 1 class at Daycare. Abby is ecstatic because she has several friends in EPS1. In EPS1 they also begin working on potty training with her (with parental consent), so I guess Paul and I are forced to be ready for this next challenge sooner rather than later because I'm too embarrassed to admit to her teachers that I'm really not ready!

I guess that's about it for now.

Following are some words Abby still struggles with, but are so cute when she says them. Can you guess what they are? Answers below.

• ~> Cerear
• ~> Squiller
• ~> Goggy
• ~> Stradibilly
• ~> Yaps

Photo: On the playground at Daycare

Answers:

• ~> Cerear : Cereal
• ~> Squiller : Squirrel
• ~> Goggy : Doggy
• ~> Stradibilly : Strawberry
• ~> Yaps : Wipes

A lot of things started coming together last weekend. We have been forcing ourselves to slow down and allow things to happen sequentially, but it all came to a head less than 10 days ago. Paul had a smashing 5 minute program interview for a position and was given an offer about 24 hours later. The company is Solidyn Solutions, a small defense contractor with a superior reputation. Salary and benefits were excellent, so he accepted.

At the same time - the exact same time - our realtor called us up with a strange offer to ponder. Oakwood Builders in Castle Rock knew that Paul and I liked their homes - we loved them, actually - but they were also aware that we were not going to make a move on a house until Paul had a job. Well, unlike other builders we have dealt with in our 7 years of homebuying experience, Oakwood has been unbelievably respectful and have not tried to push anything on us, which is another reason we really love them However, they approached our realtor because they were in a bind as they have not been able to move inventory homes well at all in this economy due to the price point of the houses in this collection they build. So, as a marketing ploy - at least that's how we're interpreting it - they wanted to know if we would consider making an offer on one of their houses and they would allow a contingency of the contract on Paul's employment within a flexible amount of time (2-3 weeks, potentially more). We took this as an open door to negotiate some ridiculous prices. There was little risk to us to sign this contract, thanks to the contingency allowed, but we had a feeling a job offer was on the horizon and we really liked the house.

As of Friday, we are under contract for a lovely house (ok, potentially lovely, as it's got some color issues - the interior, for one, makes me think I'm James in his Giant Peach) at an amazing price.

Paul is waiting for his clearances to cross-over, which will take a week or two, but his start date is tentatively June 8th. Oakwood has no idea that Paul has already accepted the offer and we will not divulge this information until we get a definitive start date and know that the clearance cross-over is complete. We are currently scheduled to close on June 12th.

All in all, an exciting, eventful week!

Look what we came across during our evening walk today - goats "mowing" the hills at our park! I grew up across the street from this park and have never seen this method of field maintenance before, so it was a real treat to see the pack of goats munching away.

From Cecilia Newell on Vimeo.