Lizzy: Making Target Customers Laugh since 2010.

 

 Sweet Lizzy--This past Thursday, you turned THREE. I can hardly believe it. In some ways, it seems like just yesterday that you were born, and in other ways sometimes it feels like you must be at least five already! Lately, you've been saying and doing some of the most hilarious things, and I've been making an effort to write them down so that I won't forget. Here's just a few from this past month:

(in the Target bathroom)

Lizzy: I'm so cold. I want to take off my sweatshirt.

Me: Do you mean that you're warm?

L: That's what I said, Mom!

Me: Well, you may not take off your sweatshirt because it is winter. It's snowing outside, and you're only wearing a tank top under your sweatshirt.

L: THAT IS A SAD CHOICE YOU ARE MAKING.

(the lady in the stall next to us begins to laugh)

Me: I'm sorry you think that. In the summer, you may wear tank tops.

L: When I am older, I WILL SHOW MY ARMPITS IN THE WINTER. It will be my choice!

(Another lady begin laughing quietly)

Me: Yes, when you're older, you can make that choice.

L: And I will tell my children to wear tank tops in the winter.

Me: Oh really?

Lizzy sighs heavily, like I just don't have a clue, and then replies, "No mom! My children can not make that choice, 'cause then they would get cold and sick!"

(At this point, there were at least five ladies totally cracking up in the Target bathroom). 

Lizzy: Mom, I decided last month not to get married. It is not my choice.

(five minutes later)

Lizzy: Actually. I decided to marry Leah's father next week if he has some time off work. He is a nice guy, but he will have to ask my Uncle Ryan first.

{Leah is Lizzy's imaginary friend, FYI}

Lizzy: I can't find my pink hairtie. The fairies took it to pink hairtie heaven!

(upon opening a present wrapped in a pullups box on Christmas)

Lizzy: How did you know that I have wanted Dora pullups FOR MY WHOLE LIFE?!

Lizzy: If I mess up my beautiful hair, that would be very dangerous to me. It is NOT OKAY. 

(upon walking into the bedroom while I was changing)

Lizzy: Oh mom! I just love your new boobs! They are perfect and awesome!

Edited to add--I just realized that these photos make perfect sense to me
 to go along with this birthday-ish post, but may not make one bit of sense to anyone else--
so, by way of explanation, we gave Lizzy swimming lessons, a new suit, and goggles for her birthday!

Letter to Lizzy- You're Two!

Lizzy,

Today, you are officially two. Twenty-four months. Two YEARS old. We had family over for your second birthday party on Sunday afternoon, and you had a blast.

Your dad and I got you a kid-sized baby grand piano as your gift. Even though it was exactly the price that we had budgeted, we really debated about whether or not to get it for you since you already have a number of BIG toys, but this photo totally justified our decision for me. You LOVE it, and it warms my heart to hear you sing Jesus Loves Me and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star into the microphone at the top of your lungs!

I remember not long after you were born thinking ahead and wondering what our life would be like when you were two. In some ways, it's just as I imagined--you are spunky, talkative, hilarious, and sometimes an exhausting hand-full. You love music and books. You hate sleep. You want to read the story of baby Jesus being born every single night, and want a banana for breakfast every single morning. You desperately want to go to school like your older cousins, and I have to tell you that we're going to "school" when I take you to Toddlers in the Library just to placate you. :)

In other ways, it's a little different--at first, I imagined that we'd have another little baby, or that I'd at least be pregnant by the time you were two. Even though that part of our life isn't as I had originally anticipated, I'm just so stinking happy with where we are now. So blessed. You are the best, sweetest, smartest, most beautiful little girl to your dad and I...and we can't wait to see who you become as you continue to grow. I know you're going to be amazing.

Love you forever and for always,
Mom

Letter to Lizzy- Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three Months

Dear Lizzy Girl,

I can hardly believe that you're almost two. I know that I say that I can hardly believe how old you are every month, but this time feels especially crazy.

You are wearing a combo of 24 month and 2T clothes. I still don't think you've quite hit 30 lbs yet. You're still rear-facing in your car seat, except on certain occasions when we have to go somewhere in your dad's truck--and when you *do* get to forward face, you love it. You always request that we "rock out" with you. On a couple of occasions, you've thrown major tantrums, because you want to see a pink (or blue, or white) car next to us. We've tried to explain that we don't have any control over the other cars on the road, but I don't think you're quite getting that yet!

You continue to say hilarious things almost every day. For example, the other night you were doing an Advent craft with Papa Gary that involved coloring on a board. He had been telling you and all the other kids all about the board, what was going to be written on it, what it meant, etc. Anyway, when you decided that you were done coloring, you ran around the corner with the board over your head and yelled, "Mama! I'm board!" which, of course sounded like "I'm bored!" and got a huge reaction, so now you say 'I'm board/bored' often.

You've also continued to talk about babies a TON, and want one in mama's belly very badly. the other night you said, "Pray baby in mama's belly. Blue hat." I tried to explain to you that mom is a little sick right now and needs to be better before I can have a baby in my belly, but you just looked at me very sternly and said, "I pray baby."

Lately, you haven't been playing with a lot of your toys, but you have been really into coloring. When I'm coloring with you, you'll often take a crayon of your own, scribble right on top of what I'm coloring, and say, "Here. There you go!"

You're not completely potty trained yet, but you're getting there. You're asking more and more often to sit on the toilet, and are having pretty good success with actually going as well. I could probably do a better job of letting you wear real underwear around the house, but things have just been kind of crazy lately! Maybe we'll tackle it a bit more in the next couple of weeks. I'm not worried about it!

I love you sweet girl, and I always will!

Letter to Lizzy- Twenty & Twenty One Months

Dear Lizzy-Loo,

Just within the last couple of weeks, you have definitely entered into the "do self" phase. In fact, you want to pick out your own outfit almost every day (you picked the outfit in the above photo and "styled" yourself, actually), and get very upset if I misunderstand you or if you just can't wear what you have in mind. Yesterday, you threw a 25 minute temper tantrum because I could only find your dark pink headband, and you wanted the light pink one. Your dad and I are trying to find that balance between teaching you that you can't always have everything you want at the very instant you want it and also just going ahead and fixing what we know is making you mad. It's a fine line to walk sometimes baby girl!

Milestones:
-You can count to 10, but can't necessarily count objects (i.e. if I ask you how many strawberries are on your plate, you'll just count to whatever number you feel like counting to).
-You correctly identify pink and blue most times. You correctly identify purple, black, green, and orange maybe 70% of the time.
-You are just starting to string together sentences, with the most common one being "Mama, WATCH ME!"
-You're really interested in climbing and playing like the big kids at the playground. You do NOT want anyone to help you at all, ever.

Funny Stories This Month:
-Of course, there's the Frog/Perry the Platypus slipper story.
-Another good story was when we were in the second-hand kid store. We passed the shoe section, and you gasped and said, "Mama, I LOVE shoes!"
-You and Logan were in the car, and you were being a stinker, trying to kick him (you are still rear-facing and he is in a booster). You couldn't quite reach him to kick him, so you just started pointing your toe at him, teasing. He didn't like that, so he licked your foot...and WHOO BOY, that made you MAD.
-We don't listen to rap that often, but I was listening to it the other day in the car. Ever since then, you've been "rapping" Jesus Loves Me".
-I tried to teach you to say "Trick or Treat" the other day, but you just walk around holding your pumpkin and saying "Twinkle Twinkle!"

Things That Were Hard:
-You've really been testing boundaries these past two months. You'll sometimes be doing something that you know you're not supposed to do, and say "Look mama, NO NO!" or, when I'll ask if you're supposed to be doing something (such as hitting when you're mad), you'll respond, "I want timeout," like you KNOW it's naughty, but you've decided to do it anyway. Not gonna lie, that's HARD.
-You've been getting your molars, so you've been VERY whiny this month.

Things I Love:
-Rocking you to sleep for your naps. It's still working well, and I LOVE that snuggle time, so we're still doing it!
-How much better you're able to communicate this month.
-You're finally interested in reading books again this month!
-At bible Study yesterday, the childcare workers told me that you are a GREAT helper. You always ask to wipe off the table after snack, help clean up toys, and like to sing to the babies as well.

Letter to Lizzy- Nineteen Months

Dear Lizzy,

This past month when we got back from our trip to Idaho, anytime we'd see someone that hadn't been on the trip with us, you'd run up to them and excitedly say, "Uh-oh! Jump Jump Jump! Pizza! Toast! Steve!" It took us a little while to figure out that you were giving them your own re-cap of the trip--Mom and Dad wakeboarded, and when we fell after jumping, you liked to say uh-oh. You also enjoyed pretending to make pizza out of the pea gravel on the beach. Most mornings, you had toast for breakfast, and on the way home, we spent the night at my uncle Steve's house. It cracked your dad and I up that the details of your re-cap were exactly the same every time--it was neat to hear you tell everyone what you remember as the "highlights" of the trip (obviously, the carousel was not one of them, judging from the side-eye you gave it)!

You love to clap, dance, and sing. Another thing that we were surprised about on our trip was that when we listed to the Raffi CD, you always knew which song would come next, and have started trying to sing-along to a lot of them. Right now, your favorites are Old McDonald, Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star (which you call Up-A-Sky), and Jesus Loves Me.

You've also entered into the "Self" phase--you do NOT want help of any kind, whether it's brushing your teeth, climbing some stairs, or opening a container of applesauce so you can eat it. You've recently learned the words "don't" and "stop", and tell them to me all the time in that context.

This past month, you've also started to make decisions to do things even though you know you're not supposed to. If I walk out of the room for a minute, you'll climb up onto the computer desk. I'll say, "Lizzy, are you supposed to be up at the desk?" and you'll respond, "No, no," very somberly. Usually I'll then tell you that you need to sit yourself in a time-out, which you do, but then get hysterical about--throwing yourself backwards onto the floor, biting yourself, screaming at the top of your lungs. I can understand now how some parents give up on the discipline game--its definitely easier just to forgo the timeout. But I think that you really thrive on consistency, and that it's important for your dad and I to be consistent about which circumstances warrant a timeout and also talking with you after the timeout is over, SuperNanny style. We don't always get it right, but we're trying.

{the lakehouse had a karaoke machine, which you thought was the coolest thing EVER}

My favorite new phrase from you this month? Undoubtedly, "I want Ferb."

I love you sweet girl, and I always will,
Mom

Letter to Lizzy- Eighteen Months

Dear Lizzy,

This month, you have started to develop the most precious sense of humor. Just recently, you've started to like to tease us, and I love it--we'll ask you what a particular animal says, and you'll make the wrong sound on purpose and then dissolve into giggles. Right now, you especially like to roar like lions and you also do the cutest imitation of an elephant where you stick one arm straight up into the air and say "EEEEEEE!".  We spend a lot of time playing "Yi-Yo" (which is your version of e-i-e-i-o) with your toy farm.

You love to yell "Hi!" and "Bye!" to every person we pass at the grocery store, and you get very upset if they do not say it back to you. You love to talk on the phone, both for real and pretend. We've had a tough time this month with you plugging your ears and shaking your head no anytime we tell you something that you don't want to hear or do. Right now, your favorite food is still bananas, followed closely by ice (which you want in your cup every time you drink water) and blueberries. We recently bought you a small pool, and the faces that you make while playing in it are hilarious.You also love to go swimming at Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Mike's house--you especially love to jump into the pool (no more blowing in your face to get you to hold your breath) and want to do it over and over again!

Baby girl, you have so much fire and spunk in you. You are very opinionated (about everything, and you've recently started to love the word 'no' and say it to me frequently), stubborn, and also determined. You throw fake temper tantrums often and can turn off the tears like a pro. I think that dad and I will have our hands full with you as you continue to grow up, and I hope we're able to find some techniques that will help us to parent you in a way that will facilitate these natural leadership traits that we're already seeing in a positive way.

Words that you're saying right now include:

-Mama

-Ice

-Dada
-Payton
-Mah-nah (Banana)
-No (which can mean both 'no' and 'Logan')
-Up
-Papa
-Down
-Baa-Baa (which is your favorite stuffed animal)
-More
-Cheese
-Peas (please)
-Pizza
-Tee (thank you)
-Jesus
-Bones (our cat)
-Up-Ah-Bof-High! (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
-Woof-woof
-Hi
-RAWR!
-Bye
-Yuck
-Duck
-Ow
-Moon
-Ney-Ney (Renee)
-Ryan
-Stump (which can mean both Stump and/or Kelsey)
-Shoe
-Water
-TV
-Baby
-Pee-Yew (which you say any time you want your diaper changed or observe anyone going into the bathroom)
-Nose
-Eye
-Knee
-Num-num (Yum-Yum!)




I love you forever and ever baby girl. Always will. Nothing can change that ever, okay?


-Mom

Letter to Lizzy- Seventeen Months

Dear Lizzy,

This past month, your language skills have just exploded. All of a sudden, you are saying tons of new words every day. In fact, it's quite common for you to wake up every morning and yell out every word you know rapid-fire style before we start the day. You're also starting to recognize books, and say the correct sounds for the first four or five pages of "Moo, Baa, La La La" and "If You See A Kitten". You still love to read. Yesterday, we went to the used book store--I planned to get you a couple of board books since you keep trying to rip the pages out of normal books when you're mad. However, you came across a picture dictionary, and LOVED it. You spent a good portion of the afternoon yesterday flipping through the pages and saying the words that you know.

You really love to listen to music, and have started to be able to communicate that you'd like to listen to a particular song. Some of your favorite songs right now are "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (you like to sing along saying "Up-a-bof-HIGH!"), "I'm A Little Tea Pot", "The Wheels On the Bus", and "Pop Goes the Weasel".

One of your favorite words to say is "pizza", and I'm pretty sure it's also your favorite food at the moment, second maybe only to bananas. You love to dip your pizza in Ranch just like your dad.

My favorite thing that you say? 'Eye-oooh', which is your version of 'I love you.'

Along with your increase in verbal skills, your gross motor skills have also exploded in the past month...and you especially love to climb (see above picture--your first black eye happened yesterday due to a climbing incident). Twice last week, I bent down to get something out of the dishwasher and stood up to find you standing on our dining room table...which is kind of a scary thing for me baby girl! You haven't yet figured out how to climb out of your crib, but I'm sure that's coming soon.

You LOVE to slide. You know how to climb up the steps at the playground and could literally slide for hours on end. I can't wait until we can find or build you a little playground in our backyard!

All that said, you're also really starting to test limits. Last Saturday, your dad's band was playing music at a local lake. We all got free waterslide passes, and really wanted to take you because we knew you would love it. However, earlier in the day we had told you that you'd need to lay down and take a nap after lunch before we could go on the waterslides. You shook your head no, and literally held your eyes open for the entire day. Despite my best efforts, I could NOT get you to take a nap. It was totally clear that you understood what we said, but were testing limits. So, you didn't get to go on the waterslides--we were really sad about it, but we're trying to be good about sticking to what we tell you.

I have to admit though baby girl, you are just so sweet and cute that sometimes it's hard!

Love you forever,

Mom.

Letter to Lizzy- Sixteen Months

Lizzy Lou-

Just a couple days ago, you got to see your future-husband/new buddy Jaxon! You guys have actually met before, but probably don't remember it. Anyway, the first night we got together, Jaxon's grandma Bev was giving him a bath. You and Jaxon were having fun talking to each other, so Bev said that you could stay in the bathroom and keep talking while the four of us relaxed and caught up--but then before she could stop you, you had thrown yourself into the tub fully clothed! You were quite proud of yourself, but you certainly gave your mama and Bev a little bit of a scare!

In general, I've noticed that our swim lessons have emboldened you in the water--last night we were sitting in the hot tub with your dad, Kaitlin, Jesse, and Jaxon, and you frequently tried to throw yourself out of my arms. You apparently wanted to swim all by yourself, and it didn't phase you at all if you went underwater...we are definitely going to have to keep a VERY close eye on you around water this summer, and I'm pretty happy that we don't have a pool to worry about at our house!

You have recently decided that you do NOT like me to put bows in your hair. You also don't like me to put it up. I'll be honest--sometimes I do anyway, because the faces that you make when I do are hilarious.

One of your favorite things to do right now is to play Ring Around the Rosey. You will play it for hours, literally. You like to sing along and can say both "Ashes" and "Down". Recently, your cousin Payton was playing with you--about 20 minutes later, Payton came up to me and said, "Aunt Mere-Mere, can I PLEASE be done playing Ring Around the Rosey with Lizzy?!" I told her that I was impressed she had kept going as long as she had! You also like to try and play it with Jaxon even though he can't walk on his own yet--I have caught you trying to pry Jaxon's little hands off of whatever he's holding on to several times so that you can Ring Around the Rosey with him!

We've been dealing a lot with your temper lately--you hit and scratch often when you're mad, and we're trying to nip that in the bud. I don't always think people believe us when we talk about what an issue the hitting, pinching, and scratching is because you're generally very sweet and smiley when we're out and about! So far, we mostly employ the time-out method, or sometimes end up just putting you in your crib for a few minutes. I'm not sure how well this method is working.

Sleep has still been a bit of an issue, probably because your dad has still been on a weird schedule where he's home for a few days and then gone for a few. Or working nights. In the meantime, I've taken to sitting down in the rocking chair and rocking you to sleep while I read a book for naps. A few people have told me that I'm starting a bad habit in doing this, but I rather enjoy the snuggles and the quiet time reading--if I just lay you down in your crib while you're awake, you scream for hours (even with me going in every 10-15 minutes) and never actually end up falling asleep. I am NOT ready to give up naps just yet, and with Justin being here and gone or sleeping all day, doing things this way saves my sanity. So for now, we'll probably keep with the rock-to-sleep for naps schedule.

You're really interested in body parts right now, and can usually identify head, nose, mouth, eyes, ears, toes, and belly button on yourself and others. You are especially interested in belly buttons, and frequently try to pull up people's shirts to see theirs!

Words you're saying this month are: Yes (very clearly), banana, woof-woof, tweet-tweet, bath, cup, mama, dada, cheese (which also apparently means Jesus), ashes, down, and no. You also frequently say "SEEEEEE!", but we haven't really figured out what that means.

I love you so much sweet girl. You are so smart, so funny, and just a joy to have in my life. I love watching you grow and learn!

Forever and For Always,

Mom

Letter to Lizzy- Fifteen Months

Dear Lizard,

Last week, you officially turned 15 months old. As always, this past month has brought lots of fun developments and changes! For example, since we've been staying with Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Mike, you've really enjoyed playing with their dog Buddy, and have learned how to bark. Any time Buddy barks, you respond with a loud "Whoo! Whoo!", which is your best interpretation of "woof".

You also have also had lots of experience talking to your dad on the phone recently, and now love to pretend that anything and everything is your phone, and walk around just jabbering away.

One of your favorite things to do right now is to sing Ring Around the Rosey. You love to spin around as fast as you can and then sit down on your bottom. And then at the end of the song, you often throw your hands in the air as if to say "TA DA!"

You are very interested in giving loves, and were quite concerned when your Aunt Courtney was sick this past week. Several different times, you accidentally woke her up trying to give her pats and loves.

This past month we also took you to the park that used to be my favorite growing up. I have to admit, it's still pretty cool, even though they've since removed all the coolest parts because they were too 'dangerous'.

You had a lot of fun climbing through the maze, and love swinging and going down the slides!

This month hasn't been without its challenges--you have basically been attached to my hip 24/7 (which can get a little exhausting), but it has also been a lot of fun watching you interact with us more and more every day. You are so smart baby girl, and I hope you're always proud of that!

All my love,

Mom

Letter to Lizzy- Fourteen Months

Dear Lizzy-

Right now, you are standing next to me "reading" The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is something that you do frequently. You have absolutely no interest in me reading it to you, but you like to babble about the pages for several minutes at a time, and occasionally point to different items saying, "Dis?"

You also have started trying to say bird, and LOVE the bird artwork in your nursery. Some other new things you're saying this month are "cup", "out", you also try to say "spider" when we're singing (which comes out "eye-dah") and surprisingly, "I waked up!" The last one totally threw me for awhile, but you say it every single morning when I go to get you out of your crib.

Another one of your favorite activities is to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", and you're getting really good at the hand motions. You love singing in general, and love it when I let you watch a DVD we have of kids singing songs and doing the motions. The DVD has both Spanish and English, so we try to alternate between the two, but you don't seem to understand that the songs are the same. For example, you don't do the hand motions on the Spanish version of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

In the last few days, you've also reached another milestone in terms of blocks--you're now interested in stacking them instead of just banging them together. It's still a work in progress, but you're getting better at stacking them every day.

You also LOVE it when your auntie Kait posts videos of your future-husband-to-be, Jaxon. Any time we sit down to the computer, you come peek around the screen to see if we're looking at your buddy. I am so excited for them to come visit in May--I think it will be a hoot to watch you and Jaxon play together!

One thing that's been hard this month is sleep. I'm not sure if you have more teeth coming in or what, but we've gone from being able to lay you down when you're tired and you being able to put yourself to sleep, to giant screaming battles at every nap and bedtime. More than once, I've just ended up rocking you to sleep. I have mixed feelings about this, but sometimes it sure is nice to snuggle with you sweet girl! 

I've also noticed that you're really starting to understand most everything that we say, and that I'm starting to be able to reason with you. There have been a couple of times where we've been at church and you're throwing a temper tantrum because you can't run around wherever you want. I've told you that you can either calm down and snuggle with me, or we can go home and take a nap. Both times, you calmed down almost immediately. You also often bring a book over to read when asked, and are starting to help put your toys away when asked. 

I've also noticed that you're starting to find ways to get around the "rules"--for example, we've started doing "quiet time", where I lay a blanket on the floor with some books, and you practice sitting quietly until the timer goes off. I always tell you that your bottom needs to stay on the blanket until the timer goes off. Well, the last time we practiced quiet time, I noticed that you were scooting the blanket all around the room with your bottom. You looked at me like, "WHAT?! My bottom is on the blanket!" Ha! 

I love you sweet girl! 

-Mom

Letter to Lizzy- Thirteen Months

Dear Lizzy,

What a big, opinionated girl you are now! In fact, I think "opinionated" is the word of the month--you know exactly what you want, and often get frustrated when you can't express yourself, or when I just don't let you have what you want. For example, yesterday, you threw a 35 minute tantrum (complete with head banging on the floor) when I wouldn't let you have a third banana for lunch.

It's hard for me sometimes, because if you don't get exactly what you want when you want it, you lash out--hitting, biting, and scratching. I have to keep reminding myself that this behavior is a normal developmental stage for babies your age. Some days though, I get really flustered and upset. And then, out of nowhere, you'll come and give me a snuggle or a kiss, and my heart just melts. I treasure those snuggles, hugs, and kisses.

Recently, you've started to do well with feeding yourself. I think you may get almost as much in your stomach as you do on the top of your head. 

You've always loved music, but this month, you've started dancing and sometimes singing along, which is just adorable. Your favorite songs right now are Baby Beluga, the ABC song (every once in a while I hear you singing AHH BAAAA CEEEE!), Skidamarink, and Ooh Eee Ooh Ah Ah Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang. When you dance, you like to spin in circles, and also go into a deep squat and bounce like you're "getting low"...I have no idea where you learned or even saw that, but it's hilarious. 

You've also started to actually cover your eyes when we're playing peek-a-boo, as well as to run and hide behind things. Sometimes, one of us will chase you, and you'll run (yes, RUN) to the other to be "saved". Sometimes, you like to pretend that our cat is "getting you" and run away from her while laughing hysterically. 

When Dad was out of town for work for a week, you got to talk to him on the phone every night. Since then, you love to pretend to call your cousins on the phone. You hold it up to your ear and just babble to them. You really do a lot of talking just in general, and you tend to put the same consonant and vowel sounds together in the same sequences. I have do doubt that you are talking and know exactly what you're saying...I just can't interpret it quite yet.

Even though this month has been pretty difficult (in addition to the testing limits behavioral stage, you were also sick for the first time AND got several molars), your dad and I love you beyond measure, and nothing...NOTHING...will ever change that.

For Ever and For Always,

Mom

Letter to Lizzy- Twelve Months

Lizzy Loo,

Today, you are one year old. Officially a toddler, not a baby. The idea that you're not a baby anymore doesn't make me sad, but I am surprised at just how quickly the year has flown by. I literally remember the day that you were born like it was yesterday. Rocking you to sleep that first night singing Bob Marley's Three Little Birds. It seems crazy that now when I put on the music, you dance right along!

On Saturday, we had your birthday party, and the whole family came.





You had your own little cake (after I failed at making one, TWICE, but that's a {hilarious} story for another day), and at first, you were pretty suspicious of it, but eventually face planted right into the cake and went to town.







One part of your personality that we've really seen develop recently is that you love to be the center of attention. I can totally see you being an entertainer of some sort when you grow up--you love to make people laugh! During your party, you loved to walk into the center of the room and happily scream as loudly as you could, and then when everyone would look at you, you'd laugh hysterically.





You also really enjoy showing everyone your "tricks"--especially doing the round and round motion to "The Wheels on the Bus"



You also know how to clap your hands and stomp your feet during "If You're Happy And You Know It", play Peek-A-Boo, and point to the correct picture of your cousins (and Jaxon) on the side of our fridge when we say their names. You especially like to give Jaxon kisses, which we happily encourage!

Your favorite game is to play "Getcha Getcha", where we say that we're going to "get you", and chase you all over the house. You laugh hysterically every time! For some inexplicable reason, you also LOVE to crawl under our barstools and sit with them like a cage around you.



You absolutely love books. We've added your books to one of the shelves in the living room, and you happily take them all off every morning, and play with them for hours at a time. You have started to favor "real" books over board books, and absolutely do not want me to turn the pages for you. Some of your favorites (Pat the Bunny, Brown Bear Brown Bear) are already starting to fall apart, but I would much rather your books need to be replaced every year from being loved on than to stay on the shelves in pristine condition!

You say Mama, Da-Da, Pay-Pay (Payton), OHHHH!, Bye-Bye, Kit-Kat (Kitty Cat), Papa (Grandpa), and Bo (Bones). You also know the signs for all-done/finished, and more.

But my favorite development this month is the frequency that you give kisses and snuggles. It melts my heart every time baby girl.



Love you more than anything,
Mom