Accomplishments

As promised, here is a list of some of the cute, big girl things I have accomplished:

• I say "Amen" at the end of prayers
• I try to cross myself at church and during prayers anywhere by pointing to my chest with all of my fingers
• I say "The End" when mommy finishes a book
• I love to dance, especially to the "hot dog" song at the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Usually when I dance I squat down, flail my arms, and kick my legs
• I enjoy drinking from cups with straws
• I keep getting better at using utensils to feed myself. Today I even kept my yogurt between the cup and my face.
• I say "Woah, woah, woah!" Mommy's favorite time I say this is when I'm walking and lose my balance. I say it while trying to catch myself. I also say it to Bailey if he takes something belonging to me.
• I know I am supposed to wear shoes to go outside and will bring them to mommy when I want to go out.
• I brush my teeth every day, but I don't like it when mommy tries to brush my teeth for me!
• I go to bed on my own for both naps and bed time. If I am tired and nobody puts me to bed, I will grab a blanket and maybe a pillow and lay down on the floor or the couch.
• I love to play games saying "hi" and "bye" while playing peek-a-boo or hide and seek.
• At the grocery store I am a social butterfly saying "hello" to everyone we pass.
• I still love talking on cell phones and am starting to really try to have conversations. I get frustrated sometimes when people pretend somebody is on the phone. I prefer the real thing and have been known to make phone calls from mommy or daddy's phones before 7 A.M.
• I try to count and have said "one, two, three, four." Usually I say "two two" or "three three three" when counting to 2 or 3, respectively.
• I'm starting to understand more and more and am mommy's little helper. I almost always do exactly what she asks if she asks me to bring her something. I also like to help take clothes out of the dryer and fold the laundry.
• I try to dress myself sometimes and am very good at getting tank tops off. I know where on my body all of my clothes go. I will play games, pretending to put my shorts on my head or my arms, then I laugh and try to put them on my legs where they really go. I wish they did go on my head though; they are much easier to get on there than on my legs!
• I know most of my body parts and point to them if you ask me. Some of the parts I know include: eyes, nose, mouth, ears, cheek, tongue, chin, tummy, belly button, eyebrows, knees, fingers, toes, hands, feet, hair, head, and teeth.
• I love to clap along to any music. One of my favorite songs is "If you're happy and you know it"; I always clap exactly when I am supposed to. Of course I always applaud when any song is over. This makes mommy feel much more confident about singing, especially when I make her sing as we walk through a store. I also do the movements for itsy bitsy spider.
• I love to draw pictures and give them to people I love. I MUCH prefer coloring with markers than crayons.
• I say "All done" and do the sign for it as well.
• I say "Sshhh!" while putting my finger to my lips if I think anyone is sleeping or if you just need to be quiet. I do this especially when my brother Bailey is sleeping or if one of my baby dolls is taking a nap.

Becoming a big girl

With all of the excitement of having our new puppy, I forgot to mention I finally have started walking. I've been walking efficiently for a month now. I took my first steps when I was 13 months old and it has been a gradual process over the past few months. For quite some time I was able to walk and simply chose not to. Then I spent a couple of months walking short distances always stopping to grab the nearest wall, object, or person. Finally when I turned 16 months old and Bailey joined our family, I decided walking is definitely the most efficient way to get around. Bailey had a lot to do with that. I love my brother, but any time I am on the floor or crawling, he thinks I am playing with him and tries to punce on me. Now I get up and walk as soon as I see him coming. As long as I am walking, I always have the upper hand on my brother!

The more I walk, the more comfortable I become. I have mostly dropped my arms from the high guard (or Frankenstein) position when I walk and have MUCH better balance. I'm also starting to walk backwards and trying my hand at running. This of course leads to increased falls, but so far nothing TOO bad has happened.

Also, as of yesterday, I no longer drink from a bottle. Mommy decided I was a big girl and could drink my milk from a cup, so we threw away all of my bottles. I still miss them a little, but I am doing MUCH better than mommy expected. Whenever I want a bottle, I always lead mommy to the fridge and get one out. Now when we get to the fridge I find a cup where my bottle used to be. Sometimes I forget that we thre the bottles away and fuss for a couple of minutes, but mommy just reminds me that I am a big girl. She lets me search all through the fridge until I remember that the bottles are gone. Then I take my cup of milk all by myself.

Physically, I am becoming a big girl too. I keep getting taller and my body is leaning out. My face no longer looks like a baby at all! I think the walking makes me look much more mature as well. I sure am a big girl! Mommy likes to talk and brag about all of the cute things I do. Soon I think she and I will make a list of some of those things to share with all of you.

I'm a big sister!

Before you get too many ideas in your head based on the title, let me tell you my new baby brother has 4 legs and is covered in black fur. Mommy, daddy, and I talked about getting a puppy for a long time. Daddy and I had to work a bit of persuasion on mommy though. Then we went to a friend's graduation party from church and met a puppy named Cinco. He along with his mom Uno and 9 brothers and sisters were rescued by an organization called Stray Rescue of St. Louis. Cinco and his brother Once were staying with their foster mommy and daddy when we met him. He is a terrier/lab mix. He looks mainly like a lab, but there's definitely terrior in his face. Mommy and I fell in love and daddy wasn't far behind. A few days later we filled out an application for him, then his foster mommy brought him to our house to visit. He has already had all of his shots and mommy says he is microchipped and neutered too. I don't know what those things are, but mommy just tells me he has an "owie." Our visit was on Monday, and all week long we thought about what his new name should be. Mommy and my cousin Erin kept showing me his picture and asking me what the doggy's name is. I kept telling them his name is "Bailey," but it took them a while to figure that out. They thought I was just saying "Bay", so they looked up many lists of dog names and told me all names starting with B until they got to Bailey. I nodded my head excitedly repeating "Bay-Bay." And that is how Bailey got his name. Friday night I stayed with Maw and Pawpaw while mommy and daddy went to pick up my new brother. Though we don't know his exact birthday, it is estimated around April 20th, so he is 10 weeks old now. It was almost bed time when Bailey got home, but I still had a little time to play with him. Mommy thought for sure I would not sleep with Bailey home but I surprised her by sleeping as good as ever. I haven't been napping lately, and as soon as we brought Bailey home, I began napping well again. I have so much fun and use so much energy playing with him that I am more ready for naps! Bailey and I get along great. He likes to play with my toys sometimes, but I like to play with is toys too, so it's an even exchange. Mommy says he is teething just like me so he likes to chew a lot. I feel for him, so I gave him one of my rubber duckies to chew on. Another great thing about Bailey is that he loves his kennel. He even goes into it when he doesn't have to. I like to try to shut him in it too. We have so much fun playing together! I love my new baby brother!

Here he is on his car ride home. Isn't he cute?
Here I am playing with him when we first got home. I wasn't quite sure what to think of sharing my home with him at first.
Bailey plays my V-tech better than I do!
We both love cuddling with daddy!
Play time!