My sweet little girl is 18 months old today! I can't believe it! She is such a sweetheart, and we are so lucky to have her in our lives! Jake and I were talking last night about how much she's grown this summer, and just how dang funny she is. I wish I could keep the video camera on her almost all the time, just because I can't stop laughing at the things she does!
She talks non-stop most of the time (some people don't believe me) and is picking up lots of words and phrases. She getting to know a few animal sounds, is getting better at her colors (everything's been "boo" to her, but we're getting there), and really is talking a lot. Apparently I'm the only one that can understand her, as Jake says, but she's my little talker and in my opinion coming along nicely:). She says things like "Mommy, bayou" when she wants me to sit by her, and "boat gone" (there's a story behind that one), and "Daddy wuk" explaining that Jake's at work. My personal favorite though is "wea ah you?" aka "where are you?" I woke up the other morning to "Mommy, wea ah you?" SO CUTE She'll just randomly call out to anything and anyone she's looking for. I think she went through every name she knows the other day just casually as she played. "Pooh beeah(bear), wea ah you? Amma (Grandma),Gappa (Grandpa), wea ah you? Daddy, mommy, wea ah you? Guke (Uncle Luke) wea ah you?" etc. etc. all within a few minutes. Oh, and let's not forget her Binky. "Binky, wea ah you?" in a high pitched cute voice, then she'll say "Deah (there)" with a big grin when she's found it. For some reason she sounds like a New Yorker most of the time. Not sure where that accent is coming from, but we'll go with it :).
Her favorite TV shows are 'My friends Tigger and Pooh', and 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.' She loves to "think think think" with Darby and loves the Hot Dog song at the end of Mickey. It really is amazing that even after all this time she still hasn't gotten sick of them. She jumps up and down and is so excited even for a commercial of these guys. She loves it! She'll actually sit and watch those, which is nice for me. Where would we be without Disney, seriously!?!
She loves everything GIRL. Purses, dancing, jewelry, baby dolls, princesses, but especially shoes, and has figured out how to put her little pink crocs on by herself. The first thing she does most mornings after we change her diaper (and sometimes before) is find her shoes. She'll even put them on over the feet in her footsie jammies. She also gets concerned when other people don't have their shoes on. She saw a baby the other week at church that didn't have shoes on, and she comes to me with her hands up, "Shoes, go?" and kept repeating it until I said they're gone today. She said, "gone" and went on her way. Phew. I got off easy on that one. She cracks me up.
She loves to sing songs, especially Popcorn Popping. Her eyes light up and she gets her hands ready to "pop" as soon as that "looked out the window..." starts. I really need to get that on video because words can't describe how cute it is. Ok, so I know she's not the first kid to sing that song, but she probably is the cutest. But what do I know? ;) I'm just her mama. :)
Her fave foods right now I'd have to say are "Boops" aka Fruit Loops, "Paffpa" or pasta, and "bapes" aka grapes. She eats like a bird, and I think is picky like her dad, but when you give her pasta (which could be mac & cheese, spaghetti, or fettucine, doesn't matter) or grapes, she eats and eats! Needless to say we eat a lot of those.
Some of just her funny little quirks (besides the shoe fettish) are:
-She's the only person I know that will come back for more after her feet get tickled. She'll give you the other foot and say "gen" for again. Weirdo!
-She's also a good sharer, almost to a fault. She'll feed her cousin Cade, Daddy, babies, or anyone else before she eats it herself.
-She HATES the sound of the vacuum or mixer or anything that makes sudden loud noises.
-She colored on the walls for the first time today, and all she could say was "gween." I had to praise her for getting the color right, if nothing else. Let's see...what else. She's kind of a wuss (sorry Jen) when it comes to new things or trying something she hasn't done and/or eaten before.
-She doesn't like getting shampoo out of her hair. It's always a fight. I think because sometimes the water gets in her eyes, but I'm not sure.
-She loves to play with her cousins. I think she's definitely still a Daddy's Girl, but she does love her cousins.
-And so on...To name a few... :)
So we've tried nursery the last couple of weeks just staying in there with her, and I don't know if it's just that I'm overprotective or what, but I don't know if I want her in there! That place is intense! That first day she did pretty well and was excited to play with the kids and the toys, until she had her hair pulled 3 times, kicked in the shins twice for no reason, and had a toy truck thrown at her head. SHEESH! I don't know if I can take that kind of violence toward my precious little girl! I must say the next week was much better, but man! Hopefully it'll be better in weeks to come. Jake took her last week while I went to YW, and said that nursery's great, and he didn't feel bad for eating some of the goldfish because everyone had goldfish. Apparently in Elders Quorum he has to sneak 'em out of Jen's stash. I reminded Jake that there will come a time when Jen will go by herself, and he wasn't too sure about that. We'll see how things go. :) We'll wean Jake slowly. :)
I could go on and on about my baby girl (as if I haven't already!) so I guess that's it for now. There are so many pics I want to post, but here are just a few favorites from this summer. They're in kind of a random order, some from the beginning of the summer, and some from last week. Either way, enjoy! She's so darn cute!
