In the Summertime

I must get myself to bed, but I wanted to post these cute little videos of the girls at the pool in Ohio this past weekend.

Mollie is VERY cautious about most everything, pools and water definitely included. She barely wanted to wade in the baby pool until all of a sudden she saw Natalie going down the slide all by herself. Then she said, "My tun! I side!" So I kind of ignored it for a bit, but she persisted, so Brad took her down. The first time, the sounds she made were less than enthusiastic, but that little thing trucked herself right back up and wanted to do it again - and again - and again - and AGAIN. I am not exaggerating AT ALL when I tell you that Brad took her down about 30 times, I took her twice, and Sheila took her probably 15 times. I think Mollie went down the slide more than anyone else!

Here are a couple clips of Mollie sliding and RUNNING back to the stairs.




Natalie had an absolute blast and has no fear of the water. In fact, I wish she had a little more fear, but we're working on it. :) She keeps her trusty Puddle Jumper on (as does Mollie), and she's good to go. I was proud of her sliding all by herself with her cousins. She (like her dear old mom) is not quite as coordinated with the sliding and ends up completely dunking herself at the bottom, but it doesn't phase her one bit!

Zoo Day!

Brad took the girlies to the zoo today while I was at work and sent me these pics from his cell phone of the girls with all of the different bronze animals. Made my day! :) Then they picked me up at we had lunch together! The girls were sweaty, sunscreen-smelling, and happy. :)

When I got in the car, I asked Natalie if they got to see the new baby elephant. She said, "Yeah! But I didn't get to ride it." :) :) :)

Oh, and here's a quick video too:

Untitled from Sarah Billheimer on Vimeo.

The Ungraffe

For Valentine's Day, we got the girls a super cute little stuffed animal. Natalie got a giraffe, Mollie got a monkey.





See? Super cute, right? Well, Natalie LOVED the giraffe. She calls it an "un-gr-aff" I don't know. I don't get it. I know she can say giraffe. Anyway, that's how she's decided to say giraffe. So she's been more attached to this little thing than maybe any other toy that she's had. She's never been one to be super attached to one toy. She has to sleep with a blanket and a baby, but she's usually not picky about WHICH blanket or WHICH baby. So she decides that she'd like to take Ungraffe to school to sleep with during her nap. OK, fine. We've never had an issue with her leaving her sleeping buddy at school, so I didn't think twice about it. That was my first mistake.

Yesterday when Brad picked the girls up, Natalie wanted to get Ungraffe out of her backpack to carry it separately to the car. Brad let her. They stopped at the front desk to buy some bake sale goodies. Natalie wanted to carry them to the car. Brad said no. A FIT WAS THROWN. (By the way, she hasn't been napping at school this week - YAY! NOTE SARCASM.)

Fast forward to last night, and Natalie MUST sleep with Ungraffe. MUST have it. We can't find it, Brad looks in the car, then he remembers THE FIT and determines that she must have left it there at the front desk. We manage to make her happy with the usual baby. Good. Well, this morning, she's asking about Ungraffe again. I tell her I bet we'll find it at school.

I usually carry Mollie into the building and into her classroom, and she has to be handed over to one of her teachers in order for us to all leave without tears. Today I had my hands full, it was SUPER windy, and Mollie was in a good mood, so I thought I'd attempt to let her walk into the building after carrying her to the door. She thought she was big stuff. We usually have to drop Mollie off first (Natalie's orders), but today, Mollie headed toward Natalie's class, and Natalie was (surprisingly) ok with that. So Nat's walking into her room, and Miss Mollie is eye level with the kids' cubbies. All of a sudden, she squeals with glee and grabs a giraffe - YES QUITE POSSIBLY THE UNGRAFFE - from ANOTHER little girl's cubby. Chaos ensues. Natalie remembers that she lost her Ungraffe, there it is, YAY! Um, no, actually THAT is L's giraffe, but yes, it does look exactly like Nat's. So her teacher goes up to the front to see if Natalie's is at the front desk. It's not. Natalie does not want to hand it over. She can't fathom that anyone else could possibly have another giraffe that looks exactly like hers. Little does she know that the Ty corporation has sold probably hundreds of thousands of them. So I finally manage to convince a tearful Natalie that it's not hers and we'll find hers. "Later?" she asks me with a tear rolling down her cheek. I assure her that we'll definitely find hers later, envisioning myself spending my lunch hour scouring Oklahoma City for another one. Luckily my mom had the idea to check Amazon, where, lo and behold, they had the same giraffe for $6.28+$3.99 OVERNIGHT shipping.

If we can make it through tonight and tomorrow morning, a new Ungraffe will be waiting for Natalie Friday afternoon. *INSERT HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF*

OH! AND! Lesson learned: EVERYTHING GETS A LABEL. This might not have solved the initial problem, but it would have helped in the end. Maybe.

Natalie

Natalie is 3 years, 5 months, and 4 days old today. How can it be that she's almost halfway to FOUR already?! It doesn't seem possible, but as I watch her lately, I am starting to think she looks like she could be a 4 year old AND - as usual, I hesitate to say this - I'm starting to see some glimpses of what I hope might be more of a 4-year-old mentality. I thought it was probably a good time to share them so I don't forget!

- Natalie has been EXCITED about helping me fold clothes. Truly excited and OFFERS to help! She's a washcloth folding MACHINE, that girl! I wish she was tall enough to do towels! :)

- The other day, she asked Mollie if she was done eating, got a wet cloth from the counter, wiped Mollies face and hands, unbuckled her from her booster seat, and gently helped her get down from her chair! It was adorable!

- Mollie is a pest. Really, she is. She just wants attention from Natalie because she loooooooves her so much, but if Nat's not giving her enough, she pulls her hair. All.the.time. with the hair pulling. Natalie definitely whines and often cries about it, but I just realized that she really doesn't reciprocate. You'd think she might hit her (they're both hitters, ugh) or reach out and grab a handful of Mollie's locks, but she doesn't. She's gentle with her.

- We go through phases with the hair issues. I somehow got out of the braiding routine (honestly, it's just so gorgeous to see the natural waves she has when it dries on it's own!), so some days are rough with the brushing, but honestly, for the most part - it's better! She doesn't react as strongly if it pulls and we talk about what a big girl she is! :)

- She's doing better with her ballet class. She's always had fun with it, but I can tell that she is trying to pay better attention now. Monday night, after class, she had to show us "First A-sishen" (position). Too cute! I asked her if she could show us Second Position, and she said no and asked me what it was. I told her I was sure Ms. Jesi would teach her. Then she went over to Mollie, kneeled down on the floor, and she got herself and Mollie into some goofy position (which most definitely was NOT Second Position) and proclaimed it to be "Sekin A-sishen!" We just clapped anyway. :)

- Background: Mollie is just as strong-willed as Nat, and we've been attempting to do some Time Outs with her when she misbehaves. Story: The other night, we were in Natalie's room getting her PJ's on, and Mollie walked right over and pulled Nat's hair (SEE?!). I told her that wasn't ok, and tried to redirect her. Once Natalie was changed, she stood up and said, "Mommy, there are corners in my room there and THERE. And you can probaly use that one too." and pointed at all of the corners in her room, for Mollie's next Time Out. hahha

I'm sure there are many more that I've missed, but there are a few. :) It's so funny how things change so quickly! I was JUST telling a friend how Natalie's the one who's in a difficult stage right now, but it's always changing, blah, blah. Pretty much the next day Mollie became Difficult Child #1 and Natalie instantly appeared more mature. They have to keep us on our toes!

I wish I could say I had forty gazillion adorable pics to post, but I don't. I do have some from the snow that I need to get to. SOON! :)

Figuring things out

So I realize that I'm probably tempting fate by posting this at all, but I feel like I've grown as a mommy in the past few months, and I wanted to share that. It's happened gradually, and it relates to getting out the door in the mornings on workdays.

****Pause. I started this post last night after the girls went to bed, but then I got side-tracked. I did, indeed, tempt fate. Natalie's behavior today has been horrible, terrible, awful, no-good. Very bad. I'll still venture to say I've dealt with it better than I used to.****

Sooooo like I was saying I know everything about how to deal with my preschooler now. HA HA HA. What I was actually saying was that I've learned SOME things about how to interact with her. A few months ago, every morning presented something on a scale from REALLY.BAD.TANTRUM to the worst meltdown I've ever seen in my life prior to THAT morning. I was about to lose my mind. Natalie was grumpy when I woke her, didn't want to get out of bed, didn't want me to pick out her clothes, didn't want to pick out her own clothes, didn't want to dress herself, and are-you-serious?-use-the-bathroom-first-thing-in-the-morning-mommy?!-you-have-GOT-to-be-out-of-your-mind. And don't even get me started on the hair. You know, those lovely, thick, beautiful, caramel-y golden waves? Yeahhhhhh try brushing that every morning and attempting to get a clip in it to keep her bangs out of her eyes (the exact reason I'm not cutting bangs for Mollie in the foreseeable future). Goodluckwiththat.

So I enlisted the help of mommy friends. I asked - nay, BEGGED - for advice. I got lots! I was excited to try new things! The common thread in all of the advice that I got was that you just have to keep trying different things to see what works with your kid. Isn't it sad that probably nothing I've learned with work with Mollie? *sigh* EXCEPT! That I did learn THAT - that you just gotta keep trying new things.

The first thing that we tried was the Marble Jar here. It has been a HUGE help. We've slacked off on it a bit, and I know I need to get back on it, but it has definitely served a great purpose. I highly recommend them!

So I tried having her pick out her clothes at night. This didn't make much difference. She was just as apt to change her mind in the morning, so I stopped wasting time on this. The best thing I did regarding picking out clothes was this: Make sure there is NOTHING in her closet (or at least that she can see) that she can't wear. I started a box in the back of Mollie's closet and now I toss anything that doesn't fit or isn't the correct season in there as I come across it. Works like a charm! Out of sight, out of mind. Period.

A friend suggested letting her hold a special doll and count to twenty while we brush her hair in the morning, for distraction. Nat was unimpressed. I asked her if she wanted to sing a song instead. She was game, but it didn't work. Someone suggested to me that we braid her hair at night. That didn't seem to be the perfect solution because I'd still have to brush the day's tangles out at night. So our new solution is that we wash her hair in the bath about every other night. She is well aware that our routine now consists of her watching Curious George while I brush and French braid her wet hair. She sleeps on it, it still looks pretty cute, if a little messy, in the morning, and she wears it in braids on day #1. The braids stay in until the next morning. At that time, we take them out, and I do not brush, I just run my fingers through it gently, and voila! It's all good for day #2. That night: lather, rinse, repeat. There is an occasional tear here and there, but we have an understanding that Mommy doesn't intend to hurt her, and it's ok to say "Ouch!" but tears are really not necessary and they don't help the situation. The bad thing is that I don't routinely get to see her pretty natural waves, but I'll take it over the daily hair fight any day!

I had been getting Natalie up and then letting her play around while I get Mollie ready. That was kind of a hit or miss thing. Some days it worked fine, other days it didn't. So I decided that she needed a little more sleep. We put her to bed earlier, and I let her sleep while I got Mollie up and dressed. Still not really the answer (although the slightly earlier bedtime helps in general). More and more often, she told me that she wanted me to "dress her like a tiny little baby-haha-isn't-that-funny-Mommy?!" I found it (more than) a little annoying, but it did seem to make things go pretty quickly, so most mornings I "gave in." Then I feel like I had the biggest epiphany yet after a friend experienced a similar thing with her three-year-old son. She realized that it wasn't about him being difficult or grumpy or not getting enough sleep or him "winning" and her "giving in." It was simply this: he wanted some extra attention and TIME with her. She related it to the extra attention and time she likes to have from her husband some days. It totally clicked with me. I know that Natalie CAN fully dress herself while I get Mollie dressed. However, if I wake her before Mollie, only FIVE minutes earlier than I used to, spend a little time cuddling with her, and help her get dressed while just the two of us talk, giving as much help as she wants that day - get this: IT.WORKS. We are both happy and the day starts better for both of us!

And here's the final word of advice that I have about this situation. If your kid doesn't want to pee first thing in the morning and you're familiar enough with their habits that you know they can hold it like some kind of freakish camel? Just let them go at school. No harm, no foul. Seriously, the difference that has made in the past few mornings is immeasurable! :)

Marble Time!

Parenting a three-year-old is proving to be life's toughest challenge. We have had some seriously rough mornings lately, and I felt like I'd reached the end of my rope. I turned to some good mommy friends who had an awesome idea - along with getting things ready the night before and few tricks for a more pleasant hair-brushing experience - a reward system, specifically a marble jar!

So the idea is that Natalie will get a set # of marbles in her jar for specific things she does that are positive. We will not ever take marbles out for punishment - this is strictly for rewarding good behavior. I had fun making up a cute poster to show how many marbles she gets for different things - like being a good listener, using a pleasant voice (aka NOT WHINING), being respectful of others (sharing with Mollie, saying please/thank you, etc), staying in bed until her OK to Wake! clock light turns green at naps and in the morning, picking up toys, and the biggie - getting dressed and ready with no tears or fits! Once her marbles reach a certain point in the jar, she gets a "Marble Party," which isn't necessarily a party, but just a prize that she gets to have a lot of say in choosing.

The marble thing has gone swimmingly, to our delight! My friends suggested to make the first marble party happen fairly quickly, and then move the line up little by little. Knowing what the prize really means goes a long way toward motivation. So after about 3 days, Natalie reached Party status. I guess I should have just called it a "Marble Prize" though, because to Natalie, Party = cake. Well, that's not so bad, but whereas we'd envisioned a Marble Prize being a trip for ice cream, picking dinner that night, having a movie night, picking out a small toy at the store, or something of that nature, Natalie chose to bake a cake with Mommy - specifically an Apple Cake - that takes a lot of effort and that we JUST made last week (I'm sure that's why - it was fresh in her mind). So I was flattered that cooking with Mommy = prize in her mind, so we make a run to the store for more apples. It's kind of important that the prize happen fairly quickly, so I told her we'd make the cake yesterday - after dance and after dinner. Which means that we were peeling apples at 7:45 last night. ;) I'd already told her that the cake wouldn't be in the oven by the time she needed to be in bed, so she could help until bedtime (cutting and snacking on the apples is really the part she likes anyway), and then I'd finish the cake after she went to bed and we could have cake after dinner tonight.

A few steps into the cake, I realized we didn't have enough eggs. So Super Daddy went out to get eggs at 8:00 pm, and I got the girls to bed. I was up until 9:00 making a cake (BY MYSELF!) that takes at LEAST 1.5 hrs to bake. And I wonder where the Marble Party Fairy is that's going to clean up the mess from said cake? But Nat's excitement over her pretty cake this morning was worth it. I just hope that Brad's not right that she's going to want to do this for EVERY marble prize. I think we'll encourage something a little different next time, but it may include snacking on some apples. ;)

Here's the recipe for the cake - Mom's Apple Cake from the Smitten Kitchen blog (love her recipes!): http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/moms-apple-cake/ I don't know what happened the first time I made it, but it took over 2 hours to cook, it spilled up over the top, made a huge mess in the bottom of my oven, charred a bunch of the apples on top, and was rather dry. This time, the only real difference was that I sifted the flour (like it says) and I tried not to mix very long at all after each egg. It turned out perfectly (in the same exact pan) after only 1.5 hours. It looks amazingly moist, and I'm pretty excited to sample it myself. Oh, and our house smells WONDERFUL!

Natalieism

This is a quickie . . . but every day when we walk into daycare, Natalie says, "We are tossing Mollie first, right? We are gonna toss Mollie first, right?" The first time I didn't really get it, but I finally figured out she means "drop." Drop, toss, it's all the same, right? Well, maybe not when you're talking about babies! Anyway, it still cracks me up every day, and I'm a little bit ashamed that I didn't correct her for a few days because it makes me laugh. I tried to quickly tell her today that she means "drop," but I'm not sure that it got through. We'll probably be "tossing" Miss Mollie again tomorrow morning! :) Thankfully, in related news, Mollie is doing super great now with her "toss" aka drop off - no more tears from either girlie anymore! Praise Jesus! :)

Natalieisms, Take 1

Me(watching Natalie dancing around the living room): Natalie, come here a minute. I want to tell you something.
Nat (comes over): What?
Me (whispering): You are beautiful!
Nat (eyes light up, HUUUGE smile): Like Ariel?
Me (laughing): Sure. Like Ariel.
Nat (completely satisfied): Prince Eric tells Ariel that she is beauuuuuutiful!

9 Months

Well, I was late in taking Miss Mollie's 9 month photo, and now I'm even later in posting it! During the past month, Mollie has started crawling and pulling herself up on things. She LOVES being mobile, especially when it involves chasing Natalie around the house. Natalie's definitely a trooper - getting down on Mollie's level and crawling with her! They are so adorable together!

It's so exciting to watch this point in Mollie's life. She's showing more and more personality, and just gets sweeter each day. She seems to be more attached to me than Daddy's Girl Natalie was, which is kind of neat for me, I won't lie. :) We think she may have started giving some "kisses" over the weekend, but it's not especially consistent. I loooooove it when they start doing that, so I seriously can't wait!

It is totally and completely insane to me that Mollie is only 3 months (well, 2.5 at this point) away from her first birthday! I have been planning her party in my head, but I need to start really getting some ideas. The way time flies, it will be here literally before we know it!

Natalie and Mollie are having more fun together than I could have imagined at this point. They play peek-a-boo in the car, and they play a game that Natalie has entitled "Jumperoos," which is basically a type of peek-a-boo where Natalie puts a blanket over Mollie, then pulls it off and says, "Jump-a-roo, Jump-a-roo, Jump-a-ROO!" to the tune of Mollie's giggles.

Last week, they were crawling around in the kitchen, chasing each other and having fun when Natalie disappeared. I knew she'd gone into her room, and after about two minutes, I called her across the house. She said, "I in my roooooom!" I said, "I know, but what are you doing in there?" She replied, "I waiting fa Mollie. She gonna come chatch me." I looked down at Mollie, chewing on a toy she'd just discovered, blissfully unaware that she was part of a game of Hide & Seek. So I scooped her up, and both of us went to "chatch" Natalie.

Sunday evening was the close of a rough day. No one had been sleeping too well the past few nights, Mollie wasn't napping well, and she just didn't seem to be happy. Brad had been playing with the girls, and I started hearing extremely excited giggles and squeals. Eager to see what all the excitement was about, I went into the living room, and to my surprise, I found Brad sitting on the couch - alone. He said that the girls were chasing each other and having THAT much fun going from room to room, all on their own. I had totally assumed that he was tossing them in the air or inventing some super-fun new Daddy game. YAY for sisters having fun with each other!

And here are a few of Natalie with the pink bear, because isn't only fair that they both have a turn? :) I am definitely not turning her down ANY time she WANTS to look into the camera! :)

I know this looks really odd, but she's belting out one of her famous Disney tunes, and it's just classic Natalie. :)

For the Birds

So tonight, we went to the "big park" in town and walked the 2 mile track with the girls in the double stroller (joovy caboose - love it!). In one area, there is a large pond that kind of trickles out into a stream on one side. I saw these black birds that had bright red shoulders. I thought they were really different, so I was pointing them out to Brad. After a minute, Natalie starts pointing, and saying, "I want one." We have no idea what she's talking about. She says, "I want one a dose. Wight here." She still appears to be pointing out towards . . . the birds. We then realize that she has pushed up the sleeve of the arm she is "pointing" with . . . and also realize that she's not pointing, she's sticking her arm out so the bird can come land on it. I think someone's been to the new Lorakeet adventure at the zoo a few too many times lately. ;) Add that in to a fondness for Cinderella, and voila! Birds totally just come sit on your arm if you want them to. Obviously! Right?

Snowing

Yesterday morning I set out a pair of shoes for Natalie to try on (I've had them a while, but they are still too big!) - they are brown canvas shoes with white & pink polka dots. Natalie saw them, and said, "It's snowing on my shoes!" :) I had totally forgotten about that, and today I set out a light blue shirt with tiny white polka dots, and she said, "Mommy, it's snowing on my shirt!" :) Just shows you what a weird winter we've had - it's pretty amazing that a 2 year old Oklahoma girl is THAT familiar with snow. ;)

Two Going on Twelve

So Natalie's new thing is really not my favorite so far. Apparently she's getting a really early start on the fine art of the excuse. For EV.E.RY.THING. Seriously:

One:
Me: OK, Natalie, let's go potty and read some books (she knows this means it's naptime).
Natalie: But I awake!

Two:
Natalie is standing on a plastic tote filled with clothes.
Me: Get off of that box.
Natalie: But I jus . . .
Me: No, get off of the box. You could fall.
Natalie: But I jus . . . but I jus . . . (looking around wildly for something, anything that might be a reason to stand there) I nee my crowns (crayons).

Three:
Me: Natalie, put the phone back.
Natalie: But I jus calking (talking).
Me: Put it back please.
Natalie: But I jus calking. I calk a Nonny. I calking.

Four:
Me: Come on, Natalie, eat the oatmeal you wanted.
Natalie: I jus . . . I jus grumping.
Me (trying reeeeeally hard not to laugh): Well, you can eat your oatmeal even if you're grumpy. ;)

I can't even remember all of them, there were SO many yesterday. And she's not quite two and a half. I am afraid to know what the teenage years hold for us.

So here's another observation I made today about Miss Nat. She loves Sleeping Beauty - ok, that's not the observation, but that's a little background - anyway, she loves it. She would watch it like 5 times a day if we let her (we don't). However, it's starting to appear to me that Sleeping Beauty is on a constant loop in the back of Natalie's mind.

Background: Natalie did not watch Sleeping Beauty AT ALL yesterday. In fact, it's been a few days since she's watched it.

Exhibit A:
Last night, Natalie was taking a bath. She was making me soup and pies and ice cream cones (all out of clear water), and playing with her bath toys. She would hand me a spoon with water on it, and make little fake eating noises and motion to the spoon - she wanted me to pretend to drink my "pie" from the spoon (obviously she's not totally clear on the consistency of pie, but that's beside the point). So my point is, she's completely involved in her pretend play. She then rolls over on her tummy and is kind of swimming around in the tub. She sits up and says, "She skaaaary." I ask her who is scary. She replies, "Baaalady (bad lady) on Seepa Booly. She skary." Just like that, like we'd been talking about Sleeping Beauty the whole time.

Exhibit B:
About an hour later, Natalie is "reading" ME her bedtime books (this is her new thing). We're reading a book about Clifford, and she's having fun reading, then turning the page and answering the "who are we?" question from the previous page. We're on our second time through the Clifford book, and in the middle of the book, she turns the page to answer the question, and instead, looks at the page, then looks at me and says, "She runaway. Seepa Booly runaway." I say, "Oh, yeah? She does, doesn't she?" She agrees. Then we're right back to Clifford - it's a seamless transition.

Not sure what this says about Natalie. Is it good that she's able to multi-task? Bad that she's so thoroughly obsessed with a movie? Just a toddler thing in general? I wish I knew! :)

Since my access to big chunks of free time is basically nil at this point, I am going to attempt to quickly post cute things closer to the time that they happen, instead of storing them up until I have a big long post with lots of pictures. :)

Here's my first attempt:

Last week, Natalie decided that she really wanted to help feed Mollie, so whenever she saw a full bottle ready to go, she snatched it up, saying, "I hep Mommmmmy!" and carried it over to wherever I was going to feed Mollie. I humored her by letting her hold the bottle after I realized that she tired of it quickly. It's easier to let her get bored in 60 seconds and let her feel helpful than fight for 2 minutes about it. So anyway, while she was holding the bottle in Mollie's mouth, she looked at her lovingly, stroked her fuzzy little head, leaned down a bit so she was right on her level, and said, "You'a liiiike it, Mollie? (small pause) Yeah, you do. OK good." I thought I was going to die laughing. It's her new big thing to ask Mollie a question, then pause as if Mollie is answering (generally she "answers" yes), then respond to Mollie's answer. TOO cute!

Nat Stuff

I'm desperately trying to record some of the smart and funny things that Natalie's been doing. Here are some gems:

• She was sitting on my lap scribbling with a pen on a discarded piece of junk mail. She tapped me and said, "Ook, Mommy! A-plane!" She was so proud and seriously thought her scribble looked just like an airplane. ;) Then she said, "Oh! A baby!" and made another little scribble next to the "plane."
• She really likes airplanes - for some reason lately, she will just say out of the blue, "TWO a-planes!!!" We have yet to figure out what she means or why she says it!
• And one more airplane story - she has a travel-sized MagnaDoodle. The other day while I was feeding Mollie, she brought it to me and asked me to draw different things, so we did that for quite a while. Then she took it back from me and drew an "a-plane." Brad got home from work, looked at the MagnaDoodle and said, "I see Natalie's been drawing airplanes for you?" I was cracking up that he knew what her airplanes look like (because they seriously don't look like airplanes). ;) :)
• She was coloring a picture today of 3 flamingos. I told her that they were called flamingos, and she said, "Oh, yah. Mingos!" and started counting them, "Mingos! One, two, free, fo-ah, six, seben, et, niiii, ten, leben!" I actually think she was grasping the concept of counting them with the 1-2-3, but then got carried away with the counting.
• She loves to sing the ABC song . . . however, she starts with Q, skips R, and kind of mumbles the rest. It's SO cute though!
• Last night, she was giving her babies bubble baths in the bathtub. She took three babies into the big bathtub and was pretending to wash them. She asked Brad for soap and he pretended to give her some, which was absolutely fine with her. She got pretend soap from him repeatedly.
• She's all about doing things herself lately. Out of the blue, she'll tell me, "My doooit!" when I try to help her with something I usually help her with. I've learned to start asking her if she needs help, and I say, "Do you need help? Or you got it?" I know, not the greatest way to phrase it, but I guess that's the way I talk. ;) So today when she was trying to get up into bed for her nap, I asked her if she needed help. She replied, "I goddit."
• Another phrase that I'm sure she's picked up from me . . . she was "reading" me a book the other day, and she kept flipping through the pages and mumbling something, as if she were looking for something in particular. I kept asking her if I could read it (trying to expedite the pre-nap process that had gone on long enough that day), when I realized she was saying the same thing over and over, and I was laughing when I figured out what it was: "Hod on . . . (pause) minnit. Hod on . . . (pause) minnit."

Well, I'm sure there are TONS more, but that's all I've got for now. :)