New Words/Phrases: She has been putting words together a lot more the last few days, forming simple sentences, and it's been so fun to hear! Besides that, here are some new and fun words she's been saying:
Hey Baby! - "Hey Baby!" (her favorite greeting lately)
sleepy - "leepy"
police - "peece" (she was scared of a siren, so we explained what it was--don't worry, no visits from cops or anything!)
eyedrops - "i-dops"
hill - "hulk" (?)
park - "park"
splits - "buh-lits" (she tries to do the splits from time to time and gets pretty close!)
it's okay - "duts otay!"
look at it - "loo la lit"
fence - "wents"
The concept of -ing has clicked in her mind too, so she'll tell me what she's doing while she's doing it by saying, "walkin" or "runnin" or "sitting". A couple of weeks ago, we were sitting at a booth at a restaurant, and she tried to climb over me to escape. Unfortunately, I was sitting on the edge, so as she started to fall she said, "Fallin'!" so we caught her. We got a good laugh out of that!
She can also sing all of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" (pronounced "Keekle, keekle") without any help at all! She'll start singing it randomly (and not on command, of course), and it is SOOOO cute! We keep wanting to record it, but we have to do it sometime that she doesn't know she's being recorded. She is also starting to like "popular" music and sing along to it. Imagine our surprise when we are driving down the road and she starts singing (on her own--the radio wasn't even on) "Ella, ella, ella--ay, ay, ay!" That is, "Under my um-ber-ella, ella, ella, hey, hey, hey!" She also sings along to parts of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. We've got one cool kid on our hands!
She loves to say family and meal prayers (with help, of course), and even adds in some of her own words. For example, one day I helped her say the lunch prayer after we had come back from a park visit. I had her say, "Thank thee for the park" and as I tried to move on to "bless the food" she said, "lide, wings..." So we added a "thank thee for the slide and swings too." I'm so glad she's learning to be thankful for things!
Whenever we look for things, she says, "____[whatever we're looking for], ah-you?!" (where are you?) and when she finds it she says, "Der tis!" (for there it is). :)
She tells us the color of everything she says now. Usually the first thing she says to me in the morning is whatever color my shirt is. :)
Favorite Foods: We [read: Dave] finally got her to eat a cheese quesadilla the other day for lunch, and I was so excited! She almost always has a peanut butter & honey sandwich for lunch, and I've tried a billion other things, but she won't eat them. Thankfully we have Dave to be the strict one and make her try foods even though she doesn't want to! I'm way too soft! She also loves oatmeal, and I came up with a fun way to make it that tastes really good without being too unhealthy. I microwave the oatmeal with milk instead of water, and then mix in part of a packet of hot chocolate powder, and it's really yummy! She's just excited that she gets to have chocolate for breakfast! Another favorite food is popcorn:
Favorite Movie: We discovered the Arthur the Aardvark video series at the library, and there's been no turning back since! Gracie wants to watch "Ar-ter" all day long! The stories are pretty cute, though, and not very annoying, so I can't complain too much!
Favorite Books: The Sneeches by Dr. Seuss, Dora the Explorer, and Este no es mi tren... by Fiona Watt
Adventures: We started a "Good Girl Chart" for Gracie a few weeks ago, and she gets to put a sticker on it each time she does something good, such as cleaning up or helping Mom/Dad, etc. Then, she gets a reward at 10, 20, and 30 stickers (after which we start a new chart). For 10 we went to the park, 20 I made cookies with her, and 30 she got to go on a date with Daddy to the library! She was SO excited about each reward, but especially about the library with Daddy. Although they had fun at the library, the most exciting part was that she got to ride in the "little truck" with him. Dave's dad has a small truck that Dave uses from time to time. It has a switch to turn off the passenger air bag, so Gracie got to sit in the front seat, and she felt like such a big girl! Here's a picture of the two of them ready to go!
Other: Several weeks ago our ward did the Primary program, and Gracie absolutely loved it! Their opening song was "I Am a Child of God," and she applauded and said, "Yay!" when they finished. (We were sitting in the back, so hopefully she didn't distract any children!) She kept saying, "Ying, more!" (sing, more) and got excited every time they sang, especially since she recognized some of the songs. [On a related note, yesterday I put a Conference DVD on where the choir was made up of Primary children, and she was thrilled! I showed her the same song 3 times in a row, and she kept saying, "Again, kids singing!"]
One of her Halloween candies was a Dora candy bracelet, so we let her have it one evening. She loved wearing it, and was even more delighted when we showed her that she could eat it! Eventually she got tired of eating one at a time and I found her with puffed out cheeks, trying to chew something. I stuck my finger in and all I could get out was the string! She ate like 8-10 pieces at once! Here she is showing it off.
She loves to watch videos of herself, and lately she has been asking me for "yi-yos" and pulling me to the computer to watch them. She sits on her own "big" chair and watches the same videos over and over again. And if the video is of someone other than Gracie, she has me stop it and find another one. :)
Coloring is her life these days. She colors all day long, and thankfully she's stopped trying to color on the walls (although she still tries to color in library books sometimes). She likes to color at her little table, but her new favorite coloring position is laying on her tummy on the tile inside the front door. Apparently that's where she really gets inspired...? ;)
Coloring is her life these days. She colors all day long, and thankfully she's stopped trying to color on the walls (although she still tries to color in library books sometimes). She likes to color at her little table, but her new favorite coloring position is laying on her tummy on the tile inside the front door. Apparently that's where she really gets inspired...? ;)
When she's done eating a meal or snack, she stacks her dishes/cups for me and announces, "Clean up!" then hands them to me! I'm really not sure where she learned it from, but I think it's so adorable! Here's a picture of her handing her dishes to me.
This part is mostly for my mom, who asked for a picture of this. I've started singing a lullaby called "Bye-o" (sp?) to Gracie that my mom used to sing to me and my mom's dad used to sing to her, and Gracie really loves it. She sometimes asks me to hold her, cuddles up in my arms like a baby, and says, "Bye-o?", so then I sing it to her. Here we are doing just that.
Here are some other pictures I just had to include:
One final story: A few weeks ago we got to church late and waited in the foyer for a chance to sneak in the back of the meeting, and as we were waiting Gracie was walking around smiling and waving at people and just being adorable. There was an older man there whom we had never seen before, and after watching her for a few minutes he said, "Boy, she's sure a little ray of sunshine, isn't she?" I couldn't help but agree. :) We're so grateful for Gracie and the sweet little spirit she has. We are so lucky to get to be her parents, and I only hope we can preserve her sweetness and help her grow up to be the best person she can be!
Here are some other pictures I just had to include:
dancing on the couch
all tuckered out
cute hand-me-down from cousins
beautiful sweater from a friend
all tuckered out
cute hand-me-down from cousins
beautiful sweater from a friend
pressing her tummy against the window (?)
another cute cousin hand-me-down, with some
attitude thrown in
another cute cousin hand-me-down, with some
attitude thrown in
One final story: A few weeks ago we got to church late and waited in the foyer for a chance to sneak in the back of the meeting, and as we were waiting Gracie was walking around smiling and waving at people and just being adorable. There was an older man there whom we had never seen before, and after watching her for a few minutes he said, "Boy, she's sure a little ray of sunshine, isn't she?" I couldn't help but agree. :) We're so grateful for Gracie and the sweet little spirit she has. We are so lucky to get to be her parents, and I only hope we can preserve her sweetness and help her grow up to be the best person she can be!
