Happy 23 Months Birthday!

wow, i managed to miss it again! the time is flying by, and this month, like last month, i didn't take note of the 27th until it was already past.....

this month, you got two new cousins! your aunt michelle had her baby, Troy, on the 17th. and your aunt Keri had Kayla just this afternoon! (the 28th). so you're not the youngest in the family anymore. i hope you get to meet both of your baby cousins really soon.

you like to sing, especially Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star, which sounds like:

"tinkle tinkle, little start......how i wonder WHATchoo art.... "

really, it's unbearably cute. you also like to sing wiggles songs, like "fruit salad, yummy yummy" (froot sad-id, yuh yummy) and "toot toot chugga chugga, big red car" (too too, chuh chuh, big red car) ... you still don't really like captain feathersword, but you do really like jeff, because he's always sleeping. you always point to him and say "he nigh nigh!" and then scrunch up your face and pretend to snore. ("*snort* - shoooooooo, *snort* - shooooo")
i'll take a picture of you making that face tomorrow; it's pretty funny.

you are an increasingly finicky eater lately. i'm pretty sure you'd be very happy living off of chips, ramen noodles, and candy, but we're really trying not to let you turn into a giant ball of starch.

you haven't been throwing nearly as many fits lately. daddy decided it was time to stop letting you get away with that, and he gave you a stern talking to. you really haven't thrown fits (on that level) since. go, daddy!

people keep saying how pretty your eyes are, lately. and marveling that they still seem to be changing color. usually an eye color is pretty set early in the first few months of life, but sam's didn't settle until well past two. your grandma says that mine didn't either. and yours are the same, which i think is pretty neat. sam's ended up looking a lot like mine, but i think that yours will be a little lighter or more blue-green than brown-green, like ours.

you say your name now, though i'm not sure you realize it's YOUR name. today when you saw bella, you pointed at her and laughed and said "Lib-beth! MON, Lib-beth!" ( mon = come on)

you are super attached to the blue care bear that your aunt michelle got you for your birthday last year. you sleep with him and carry around and call him "baby." in fact, you call most bears "baby" now, in his honor.

i think you're pretty cute. i can't believe your birthday is less than a month away.
love, mom

p.s. sorry for the somewhat boogery pictures. we can't keep your nose clean lately.

you're a little girl.

i know that sounds sort of obvious. but just in the last couple weeks, you've seemed to cross some invisible threshold between baby and little girl. it seemed so sudden! i feel like i'm going to wake up tomorrow, and you'll be 16.
please don't grow up any faster!
love, mom

Who's that girl??

in this first picture, you look totally different than i've ever seen you look. i know you're holding your mouth funny, because you're chewing on some candy, but still, you look so grown up, or something. it's hard to put my finger on it. you just suddenly seem to be so much bigger and older.

you say all kinds of funny things, and you like to count with daddy. you take turns saying numbers. daddy says, "one," then you say "two," etc., up to about five. sometimes when you're counting on your own, you say, "one, two, three, two..." and today, while we were reading about the ABCs, you pointed to the A, B, and C, and said, "A....2.....3.....2...."

you're a pretty silly little girl, but i can tell you're learning so much all the time.

here's another picture of you looking grown up, painting a big painting with sam.