Shoe Fiend

We may have our hands full.

Within the last few weeks Grace has really started to pick up a lot of new words in her vocabulary. One word that clearly emerged among the rest was "shoe". It started that she'd just talk about them while I put them on. Then I'd discover her digging through our shoe bin, dragging random shoes around the house (so we can never find our pairs!) It wasn't long before she'd recognize the shoes that were hers and she'd bring me one or the other and say "shoe". This week she actually started to bring me both shoes in a pair, hand me the shoes, say "shoe" and then climb on my lap so that I can put them on. She likes to wear shoes!

"Shoe" is usually the first word she says in the morning. I will pick her up out of her crib and she'll just start asking about her shoes. It isn't too long after she's dressed that she'll fetch hers and request to wear them. She'll try on Hannah's occasionally. She'll bring Hannah's shoes to Hannah! It has become very obvious that she has shoes on her mind.

And then today we realized just how much. Hannah and Grace were playing with their doll strollers. Hannah, being older, has a blast pushing the actual dolls and treating them like they are actual babies. She puts them to bed, tucks them in, takes them out and feeds them, gives them baths, etc. She's pretty involved in her doll's well being. Grace will usually stick a doll (or stuffed animal) in the stroller just to be like Hannah and off they'll go chasing each other with their strollers.

This evening I saw Grace struggling with her stroller. I assumed her doll was falling out and I went to investigate. She'd pretty much sorted it out by the time I got there and off she went...with my shoe placed happily in the seat.

Oh, dear... we may have a shoe fiend our hands.