Dear Mommy,

Dear Mommy,
I love so much. I love when you read stories to me. I love when we play together. Thank you for all the times that you take me outside. Thank you for letting me play in the rocks, swing on the swing, and play in the dirt. You know me so well. I love how you sing to me before I go to bed. It comforts me and soothes excited little me. Thank you for taking me to the pool, I love to splash and play. I love it when you give extra time when you give me a bath. Sorry, that I get you all wet sometimes. Thank you for holding me so close in your arms when you're tired and trying to cook dinner for Daddy and me. You make great lunches and dinners for me.
Mommy, I love you and hope you had a great mothers day!

Love, Cosette - Translated by Daddy

Thoughts on my mother from 7-yr-old me

Cosette loves to pull books off of the shelf.  In fact, she loves it so much that we do it several times a day. 
Recently she enjoys pulling out two bound books I made when I was in second grade.  I've kept them all of these years because I think it's fun to see what I thought about the world when I was 7 (and how bad my spelling was).
So here is what 7-year-old me had to say about my mother:

On a page where I was asked to describe each family member, next to Mother I wrote She's kind, gentil, and understanding.

And on a page where I was asked to pick someone special from my family to tell about, I wrote
Her name is Mom
She helps me do these things: like clean the birds cage, set up music and pick my close
She is special to me because when I feel bad she cheers me up
I like to go to the candy stor with her
Her favorites: shoping

• Food I don't now
• Book I don't now
• Hobby none
• T.V. Show news

  Love you, mom!  Happy Mother's Day!

Growing up

I wanted to share my excitement that Cosette is starting to show an interest in climbing and pulling herself into a standing position.  It started this past week with our video rocker chair.  I would lean it up against the couch so that it was backwards (with the longer part on the floor and the short seat resting on the couch).  Cosette discovered that she could climb up on to it and rock herself back and forth.  From there, she learned to pull herself into a standing position so she could get to things on the couch.

Since then, she continues to play with the chair several times a day.  She has also pulled herself up to look into the bathtub (she LOVES bath time), to get to the sand at the playground (the sand is separated from the grass by a low wooden border), and she also pulls herself up using our ottomans.
It's fun to see her growing up.  It won't be too long now before she's walking!

This past week I've also taken Cosette to swimming class.  It was recommended to me by my babysitter, and I thought it would be a good idea to get Cosette used to the water at an early age.  The second class went better than the first, as she's getting more used to it.  We do things like blowing bubbles, splashing, kicking, laying on our backs, and ring around the rosy.  It's been fun.  I think I might actually use the swimming pool at our complex this summer for the first time since we've lived here.

Cosette also continues to jibber jabber and babble a lot.  There are times when I think she's starting to learn more words, but she's not consistent with it so it's difficult to tell.  Her favorite words are Dad and Hi, but she has also said "ba" for ball, something that sounded like tiger (one of her favorite stuffed animals is a tiger), and "dis" and "dat" for this and that.  Mostly, she likes to communicate in other ways, like pointing, whining, and pounding her hands (on the table when she wants more food, and on the door when she wants to go outside).  Her alternative methods of communication have thus far been pretty successful, so she doesn't seem too motivated to talk or sign (I've tried teaching her some sign language, but she just wants to do it her way).