Happy 21 Month Birthday Inara Grace

Inara turned 21 months yesterday. Only 3 more months till she turns 2! I can't believe it!!! To commemorate Inara's monthly birthdays, I usually like to write about new things she's doing. For this post, I decided to write about Inara's friends, real and imaginative.

In the past few weeks, I have noticed Inara's really starting to bond with several friends. I think her favorite friend would have to be a little boy named O. She will say his name at least once a day if not more. O is the son of the Stroller Fit instructor, who I used to work out with weekly. She's pregnant and can't teach SF any more, but we have been hanging out on a fairly regular basis. When Inara wakes up in the morning, I will ask her, "Who are we going to see today?" She almost always responds, "O." Whenever we drive down Broadway and pass the church where we used to meet to do our SF workouts, Inara always yells out her best friend's name. Then yesterday we were driving to the post office and Inara starts yelling out, "Mommy, Owen car." It took me a few beats to figure out what she was trying to say. I noticed in the next lane in front of us was a white Ford Explorer, which looks a lot like the car his mommy drives. I started laughing and asked, "Inara does that look like O's car?" "Yeah, mommy," she replied. So cute (and impressive that she is able to connect a white SUV/truck with her friend...so smart!) I really think Inara has started building a friendship with this little guy, and I'm so happy about it because I adore O too. K was one of the first moms I met when I moved here, and I am so glad we did. She and I get along great, and obviously Inara has a liking for Owen, who is only 2 weeks older than Inara. As I've commented before, Inara has a hard time warming up to other adults and often pulls away when moms at playgroups try talking to her, but not with K. Inara will talk to Kr and even sit on her lap on some occasions. The more time we spend with the two of them, I can see Inara warming up more and more to K. She obviously has a special place in her heart for O too.

The other friends Inara has really grown to like are Jen and Addison. Jen is the real estate agent who helped us find our house and one of the moms from the group I joined. I love spending time with Jen and have really felt like she and I have started building a strong friendship. Her hubby Andrew and Shawn get along great too, so we hope to have them in our lives for a very long time. As for the girls, Addison and Inara are only a few months apart and from the get-go seemed to really click. The last 4 weeks we've been able to hang out more one-on-one with the two of them and that has really worked best for Inara who tends to be really shy when in large group playdates. Last week, the 4 of us joined the mom's group at Wildlife Experience, and Inara and Addison were like 2 peas in a pod. They even held hands and walked together. So precious! I love hearing Addison say Nara when she's trying to get her attention. The other great part about this friendship, again, is Inara gets along great with Jen too. At WE, Addison wanted me to hold her hand, and Inara didn't seem to mind too much because she cozied up to Jen and held her hand. The 4 of us had a fantastic time at Wildlife Experience. Jen and I had even discussed getting an annual pass so the 4 of us can visit regularly. Yesterday, we met up with the two of them at the park and had a great time hanging out, playing, and having snacks. I absolutely love watching the two girls play together and can only hope they will be the best of friends forever.

I had asked one of the moms from the group, Jill, to babysit Inara so I could go to two dentist appointments. The first time was rough going, and Inara cried most of the time. The second time, however, it was a totally different story. Inara had a great time with Jill and her little one McKenna, who recently turned 2. When I came to pick Inara up the first time, I could hear her sobbing and calling for me. The second time she was sitting at the table doing Play-doh with McKenna and was having a grand ol time. On Saturday, I co-hosted a baby shower for the mom's group leader Laura. When Shawn and Inara got back from My Gym that day, Inara walked in to see a living room full of women. I could tell she was a bit hesitant to enter, but she walked right up to Jill and gave her a hug. I was so proud of my little girl for recognizing and being so sweet to Jill. She is another mom I just love talking with and enjoy spending time with. I keep saying we've got to get our hubbies together since her husband coaches soccer, and we all know how much Shawn loves to play soccer.

When driving around or walking through stores, Inara always loves to point out other kids and is fascinated watching what they do, especially older kids. Our neighbors across the street have two older girls, Ashley and Kayla, and Inara just loves seeing the girls. The other week they were having a garage sale, and Inara waved at them when we pulled into our driveway after running a few errands. I closed the garage door once inside only to be greeted with a horrible scream. When I asked Inara what was wrong, she cried, "Kids, mommy." Oh I'm so sorry. She didn't want me to close the garage door yet because she wanted to see the kids. We walked to the end of the driveway so she could wave hi to the two girls. I should have known that's what she wanted to do. Haha.

As you would expect, Inara's other best friend would be her cousin Avery. I can remember back to last year when we lived with them, and Avery would want to play with Inara who was still too little to do much of anything besides lay there and watch her cousin run around and have fun. The other week Kristi and the kids came over here to hang out and have lunch. It was so special to me watching Inara run after her cousin and listening to the two girls giggling. Avery likes to play house with Inara and calls her honey. So cute! It makes me think back to playing with my cousin April when we were younger and how special my childhood was once my brother came along. Boy, do I have great memories of playing with the two of them, my best friends growing up. I also love watching Inara when she's around Jack. She loves to kiss him lately, and I'm careful to make sure she touches him gently with soft hands. It's things like this that remind me why Inara has to have a sibling. Yes, she will always be close to Avery and Jack, but I want her to have the same experiences I had growing up with a best friend in the house. Well, a best friend until she is old enough to have a love/hate relationship like Michael and I did. I love you little brother and am so glad mom didn't get rid of you when I had wished she would. Hee hee.

Along with the real friendships Inara has started building, she also has several friendships with a couple toys in particular. When my parents were here in April, Pop had bought Inara a blue monkey at the mall. From that day forward, we have to take baby monkey with us practically every day when we leave the house. She even tried to put him in her car seat strap yesterday. Usually he sits right next to her in the car seat all snuggly close. I'm afraid she'll lose him if we bring him inside stores with us, but sometimes if I even mention leaving him in the car, I get a scream of protest in return. So sorry baby girl.

And of course, a blog about Inara's friends wouldn't be complete if we didn't mention Curious George. Inara LOVES LOVES LOVES Curious George. She is obsessed with watching his cartoons every day. I now have at least 32 episodes recorded on our DVR so we have options when it comes time to watch an episode of "Ah ah" as George is referred to around here. What really cracks me up now when she watches the show is how she will laugh when George does silly things. She's really getting to where she understands what's going on in the show. During the opening credits, she also has to yell out the names of the other characters that come on screen: hat (for man in the yellow hat), bird (for Compass the pigeon), Hunley (for Huntley the weiner dog), cat (for Gnocchi the cat), her eating squirrel sound effect (for Jumpy the squirrel), and her favorite of all Charkie (the trouble-making dog). It cracks me up how so many things on a daily basis can be related back to George stories. It could be the simplest thing like seeing a worm outside in the yard, and she'll say, "Ah ah, mommy." "Yes, sweet pea, George raced worms with his friend Bill, didn't he?" "Yeah." This is a typical anecdotal conversation we'll share relating back to George. I can't say it enough: she absolutely loves Curious George, and I'm totally cool with it because not only does she learn a ton from his cartoons, but Shawn and I have also grown to love watching George too.

Happy 21 month birthday baby girl. Mommy loves you so very much!!!