Pretend

It's funny to watch my girl play. In the last month, she has started to treat all her animals and toys like real people. She feeds them, helps them walk, dances with them, puts them down for a nap, gives kisses and hugs. Perhaps my favorite thing is that she talks to them. She will look a monkey straight in the eyes and say, "Monkey, baff? Bubbles? Wa-wa?" She will pause for a minute and then say, "K!" (more commonly known as OK). Then she and monkey will run off to the baby pool where she will beg me to fill it with water and bubble bath.

Today while I was folding laundry, AC was playing a few feet way with Woody, Jessie, and Barbie. I heard her say, "Guys!!! Mum on, GUYS!" I looked over and she was forcing Barbie to give piggyback rides to Woody and Jessie. I guess they weren't cooperating.

Making Barbie walk.

Making Woody ride a car.

"Cheeeeese, car!"

It's crazy to think back to this time last year. She had just mastered walking. She has changed so much. I wouldn't trade this age for anything (well except maybe one long snuggle with the sweet newborn she used to be). Even when she dives headfirst into the terrible twos with no life jacket, she's still incredibly lovely in my eyes.

On a different note, Daddy took AC to Monkey Joe's this morning. She had a blast, of course. He comes home to tell me that she was up to her usual shenanigans. For instance, if a mom is walking hand-in-hand with her child, AC just walks up and takes her other hand and takes charge of the situation. If a mom has her child in her lap, AC walks up and crawls right up in her lap, too. Sometimes she even goes as far as to grab the lady's face with both her hands, look her right in the eyes, and tell her something very important. Daddy doesn't get as embarrassed as I do. He's a good daddy. He said a little girl walked up to him and said, "My dad's here. He's on the bench looking at his laptop." It's funny how the smallest of children pick up on those things. Anyway, it was a good day. Rainy, but those are the best kind of days here. Cooler and calmer. Perfect days for staying inside with Woody, Jessie, and Barbie.

Upstairs

Mama says, "Hey, Curly Head, you wanna go upstairs and help me put the laundry away?"

She says nothing but bolts to the stairs.

Up she goes. As fast as she can. She doesn't want Mama to catch her.

And she's off...to slam the bedroom door. And lock me out for the first time.

While Mama frantically searched for the key, she was practicing her cat walk skills.

Mama says, "NEVER lock that door again. Do you understand me? Look at my eyes and tell me you're sorry." She's clearly not sorry.

Shopper

My little shopper in training.

Friday

Carrots: The Breakfast of Champions

Stopping to smell the flowers on our way home from the park

Bath time

A few of the following pictures are blurry, but I love them anyways.

(Blogs that apologize for picture quality are annoying, in my opinion. Unless it's a photography blog, of course).

Pretending to take a nap and Mama says, "Close your eyes."

Sisterly Love

In case you are wondering, yes, AC does have a bandage on her left hand. She burned the palm of her hand. It is painful and healing very slowly.

23 Months

My 23 month old baby girl.

We have had a rough month with lots of traveling and illness. But I'm not complaining because my baby has continued to blossom into this amazing little girl.

Here are a few "stats" about AC at 23 months.

Height: 34 inches (up 1/2 in. from 18 months), 65 percentile

Weight: 26.5 lbs. (down 1/2 lb. from 18 months), 60 percentile

Eating Habits: This girl is still picky. It seems that she is more willing to try new things, but not that often. She is currently cutting 5 new teeth and has had a stomach virus and a cold in the last month. She is still working her way back to eating like she did before.

Sleeping Patterns: Like a champ, even through the teething and sickness. I'm so thankful for this.

New or Fun Things This Month: I waited and waited and prayed and waited for AC to start talking. At around 20 months, she started using a few words. Today, she knows at least 80 words. I haven't tried to list them recently. She is using a few multiple word phrases: Love you. Thank you. More please. Where are you? Here it is. No, mine. Gracie, back. Ready...Go! She is saying something new everyday. For example, today she said tickle, spider, puppy, and bad for the first time. We are still working on the ABCs. She thinks every letter is "A". She counts like this, "1,2,3,8,9,8,2." Or like this, "1,2,2,go,8,9!" All colors are blue or red, except blue and red. She loves her furry sister and must know where she is at all times. I hear,"Gracie, where are you?" at least 10 times every day. She doesn't call her dad "Daddy" but rather "My Daddy." She still hates the car seat and cries almost every time we get in the car. She no longer wants her paci during the day. She says hi to EVERYONE we pass while we are out. Everyone. And she gets very excited when someone says hi back. I have always said and still believe that she is the most friendly child I've ever known. She truly knows no stranger. It can be embarrassing at times. I could go on and on. I just love this child more than life.

Pushing her stroller out the door

Just loungin' in the grass. Goofy child.

I have 4 more weeks to prepare myself for the big day. It will be bittersweet, for sure.

Pool Party

Daddy and I bought AC a new pool last weekend. It's been rainy all week so she hasn't had a chance to play in it. Until today, that is. She gathered up lots of her friends (her monkey, bunny, horse, and cow) and had a little party.

I was a little hesitant about putting stuffed animals in the pool. Eventually I gave in after remembering that it's hot enough for them to dry out in 30 minutes.

This girl has a skinny rear. She can still wear size 18 month bottoms. We ditched these bottoms not long after this picture. Oh, and if you're wondering why her horse has weird white stuff on it, I'll tell you. A few months ago, AC and Daddy decided it would be fun to 'decorate' the horse with white-out. It won't come off.

AND today AC turns 23 months old. Just one month until she is 2! I can't even believe it. Tomorrow's post will be dedicated to everything that is AC at 23 months old!

Dress Up

I have to hide the laundry from AC. Clean or dirty, she shows no favoritism. She is becoming (or already is) obsessed with wearing her dad's and my clothes. Hats, ties, shirts, socks, shorts, shoes. She loves it all. We even have a little song we sing when we wear Daddy's ties. I'll spare you the details, but it is rather catchy, if I say so myself.

This afternoon I was trying to sneak a few pieces of clean clothing upstairs. I needed to hang them up quickly to prevent wrinkles. I didn't make it far. As you can see, AC snagged a purple dress and insisted (threw a tantrum) until I put it on her. I had to use a rubber band to gather the extra material in order to keep it on her. It was sweet to watch her prance around. She felt like a princess. I could tell!

Helping Daddy water a few dry patches of the yard

She refused to look at the camera, so this is the best shot I could get of her from the front.

"Daddy! I really, really, really want to go out there!!!!"

Thanks for saying a pray for her last night. She is feeling much better today. We finally got our NoseFrida in the mail and it works wonders! Invest in one, Moms. You won't be sorry!

Oh, and I thought I would inform you all that my daughter has decided to call me "Mommy" once more. I've been just "Mom" for a few months, but now it's back to "Mommy"! I have no idea what brought about this sudden change but it's perfectly fine with me!

That's all! We love and miss you!

Go Team

AC is sick again. She has a cold. The worse part of it is that she isn't sleeping well. And she is a great sleeper. Teething, vomiting, traveling...you name it. Nothing keeps her up. Except this cold. She can't breath and is coughing a lot. PLEASE pray for my girl to get healthy soon. It seems that when it rains it pours.

On another note, she has learned to open our dresser drawers. Today she pulled out a shirt of mine and put it on all by herself.

Daddy loved these pictures!

PLEASE say a pray for our health! We are going crazy down here!

Sink Bath

After a big spaghetti lunch, I had an orange-faced girl. So off to the bath (or kitchen sink) we went!

Long curly locks

Her new thing is to say "CHEEESSEEE!" when she realizes I'm taking her picture.

One of my favorite things about this house is my huge sink. It's the perfect spot for a quick baby bath! The only thing that would make this sink better would be another one right beside it.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Indoor Playground

There are many perks to living way down here. One of them is that almost everything you need to do or want to do is only a few miles away. A favorite place of ours is a cool indoor playground. It's different from Monkey Joe's in that it has a tree house, beauty salon, kitchen, computer room, movie room, art station, lego room, etc. I would have LOVED this place as a kid. Today, AC and decided to stop by. She had so much fun. It was so crowded because school is out in our county so I didn't get many pictures. However, the art room was nice and calm so I managed to snap a few while AC drew.

The Little Artist

She had a lot of fun! I, on the other hand, wished I had had a ruler in my pocket so that I could whack a few kids from time to time.

Anywho, we love and miss you all!

What We Loved

Today's post will be about all the things we loved about today or that made us smile today.

1) Breakfast: AC ate breakfast for the first time in 5 days. She didn't each much but I think she is slowly getting her appetite back!

2) The Park: Because it is so hot, we only go to the park in the morning. We ventured out at around 9. She was the only kid there. There were lots of tennis players, exercisers, and city workers doing landscape, but no kids. An hour later, as we were about to leave, AC's friends starting showing up. She had a lot of fun and I could tell she had her energy back. Let me just tell you that I need advice on how to tame a bossy child. It's starting to get embarrassing. She was so sandy and dirty that we had to have a bath when we got home. Good times.

3) Nap: As if the stomach virus wasn't enough, I now have a sinus infection. Anyone who has ever had one knows how hard it is to sleep. I was so tired and couldn't wait for AC to take a nap. So, nap time comes. I lay her down. She doesn't want to sleep, so she cries. No biggie. She'll cry it out and sleep in a few minutes. Suddenly the cries stop and I hear, "MOM! Poo-poo! MOM! Poo-poo!" Oh dear. I decide that I have to go check. Chances are she's faking it as a way to get out of her bed. But if she's not faking it, I have to change her. That would make for an unpleasant nap, if you know what I mean. Well, she's not faking and I didn't have any diapers upstairs. Instead of prolonging the situation by running downstairs to get a diaper, I see some Little Swimmies (the diapers for the pool) in the closet. They will surely be okay for an hour or so while she naps, right? No. 45 minutes later, I hear, "MOM!!! WET!!!! MOM!!! WET!!!" I decide she's faking it this time and try to continue my nap. 10 minutes later, she is still going strong, except now she's added "POO-POO!!!!" to the mix. Sure enough, she had peed through the Little Swimmie all over her bed, clothes, and blanket. Cheers to a 45 minute nap, a teething toddler, and a sick mom. AND, can someone please explain how a diaper can work in the pool but not on a regular day? Makes me think there are lots of pee-pees in the pool.

4) Dance Parties: Like most toddlers, AC loves to dance. Today we turned on a little music and cut a rug! Note: AC has on my shirt. She's got a thing for wearing our clothes and shoes.

Running to the "Dance Floor"

Dancing with her Army bear

Taking a break to kiss the bears (clearly we have a lot to discuss about dance parties before she goes to middle school).

"Here, Mom. Kiss the bear." We also need to discuss nasal hygiene, it seems.

5) The Voice: LOVE this show. AC and I chose to dance to 2 of our favorites at our dance party today. Here they are:

Love this song. Beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSTv756gMi0

This girl seems so sweet! Sorry for the poor video quality. It was only one I could find.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij9CbUUsnJE&feature=related

Happy Wednesday, everyone!