Your new favorite phrase is "bad girl."

don't ask me why... maybe it's because you are bad to the bone, like this first picture suggests.



we had church in the park this past weekend, and you had all kinds of fun. you didn't seem too jazzed about the slide, once you got to the top and realized what you were in for, but you went down anyway. and you weren't scared of the swing at all. we're not used to having such a fearless kid. i guess we should have learned when you dove out of the shopping cart a long time ago that we're going to have to keep an eye on you. 4 eyes, whenever we can spare them. 6, including sam's. and also the eyes of whoever else happens to be around at the time. at any rate, your knees are all banged up, and you are covered in mosquito bites. i don't really think you mind too much, though. you're always pointing out your booboos, like you're proud of them.

here's a picture of you staring at julia. you really like her. don't go getting any ideas about wanting a little sister.

love, mom

Happy 21 Months Birthday!

wow, how much difference a another month makes!

every day you learn more words and often say things that i didn't realize you knew how to say or understood concepts of. we went out on the deck to take pictures of a slug that had come in the house. you were very interested in the slug and kept pointing to him and saying, "snake!" i don't remember ever purposefully telling you about snakes, and how they're shaped and how they move, but you must have picked it up somewhere, if you thought that the legless, long and skinny slug was a snake. it was a pretty good guess! recently you were crying, and when i came to you, you pointed to your face and sad, "i sad." you're just getting smarter every day, and it's really neat to watch you grow up.

you've also started asserting yourself more with sam. if he does something you don't like, you tell him "NO!" if he's standing up in the grocery basket, you tell him to "Sit!" sometimes you go a little overboard, and say no to him no matter what he's doing. you also assert yourself with mommy and daddy. if i'm taking your picture, and you don't want me to, you say, "No!" and shake your head or refuse to look at me. or, you make an angry face, like the one in this picture.

you've been telling us pretty often when you need to go to the bathroom, before it happens. yesterday, you went twice on the potty.

you love to draw and color, and while i know it is really early for this, you seem to be trying (pretty successfully) to copy letters and shapes that we draw for you. i'm pretty sure you're going to be just as smart as sam. i only hope you two don't plot to overthrow us by the time you're 10.

Tomato licking runs in the family.

i was just looking at your blog and wondering what you will look like when you're a little bit older. daddy said i should look at sam's blog and see what he looked like when he was one and a half, and see how different he looked then, as compared to now.

i came across this picture of him from the summer of 2005, when he was almost your age, trying to bite into a tomato at grandma and papa's house. it reminded me of some i took of you just a couple weeks ago.

i think you enjoyed the tomato licking more than sam did, but you definitely look like brother and sister.

love, mom

You are getting pretty silly!

you think it's very funny to play the game where one or more people copy your movements. you laughed and laughed while you and your grandma mimicked each other's dance moves or hand gestures, and you definitely got a kick out of your cousin jacob, when he got in on the fun. you always tried to slyly get grandma to pick her own nose, though, which we all thought was really funny. you might have a trace of mischief in you, trying to get out. i think we're all in trouble.
love, mom


p.s. another funny thing about you: you don't just sniff the flowers; you rub them all over your face.

happy 20 months birthday!

it's getting to the point where people ask how old you are, and i say "20 months," and i know that some find it kind of annoying that i just don't say "one and a half" or "one" or "almost two." but really, i think that in the first two years, every month is like a long span of time, because you are growing and changing and learning so much. so having said that, today, you are 20 months old.

in the past few weeks, some of your clothes have started to seem too snug, so you're wearing some 2T tops. the 18-24 pants are still often too big, so i'm not sure what that's all about. but in any case, i know you are growing. even if some days you barely eat anything, you are still growing!

you string a lot of words together now, like "want juice." and "Here go, Sam." tonight, you wanted daddy to open the bedroom door for you, so you came and told him, "Want see! want see!" and made him follow you and open the door. you've also gone from just saying the names of things to commenting on things that you're doing. like "open" when you open a door or cabinet, and "close" when you close it. or you stand up and squat and say "up, down, up, down," accordingly. i think you've been less frustrated lately about communication, because you're getting so much better at it.

you're also getting better at making friends. here's a picture of you with our friend Don at the Naturals game. he had so much fun with you and sam, he invited you guys over to play while daddy and i went to a movie the next day. and here's another picture, of you dancing with another random friend you made at the baseball game.

you're getting to be such a big girl. i love you!
love, mom

this is the face you make when i ask you to smile.

it's pretty funny. sam makes that face, too. actually, so do i. sorry, kids.

you are an expressive and persistent and funny little girl.

you love books, and you now talk constantly, and you make all kinds of silly faces.

today, at the check-out at walmart, you waved and said "Hi!" to the lady
behind us at least 37 times. she was cracking up.

you're fearless.

more and more often, you do things that let us know you're really not afraid of much.

when we went to visit grandpa last week, you rode the four-wheeler like a champ, and you cried when it was time to stop. while we were on the boat, you stood close to the sides, looked over the railings, and tried to crawl under the gate to get out and get in the water. you really wanted to swim without a life jacket or a floatie or me holding you at all. this will not be an option for another couple years at least. you eventually submitted to sitting and splashing in the floatie, and i'm pretty sure you would have done that all day.

you're also getting much less afraid of people. you and your grandpa hit it off the minute you walked in the door, which he was thrilled about. you have been so shy in the past, but i think maybe you are growing out of that.

you are a brave little girl, and you make me nervous!