Lately

We have been trying to go on as many walks as we can before it gets too cold. One day there was a small puddle at a corner from someone's sprinklers. A LOVES puddles! As soon as she saw it she started running to it saying "Splash!" "Splash!" It was too cold to splash in a puddle though so I wouldn't let her. She was very upset.

She has been starting to exert more independence on our walks and is less and less content to hold my hand. She likes to take off running ahead of me on the sidewalk and while she does she has this little mischievous laugh.

She has also started wanting to help me more and more. While I was making the bed the other day I started fluffing the pillows. She came over and started fluffing the duvey! It was so adorable to see her try to fluff it with her little tiny hands. I'm really glad that she likes to help though and try to give her jobs whenever I can.

Little A's favorite thing to play is our picture game. It's basically like playing dolls but with pictures instead. About a year ago I printed off a bunch of picture of our family and put them in an album. She destroyed the album pretty quickly so now we just have individual pictures.

She likes to pick a couple family members (her favorites are her grandparents and her birth family), give them to me, and then I make voices pretending that the people in the pictures are talking. She likes to show the pictures her heel stretch, jumps, her hair, her shoes and bows, dance with them, give them hugs and kisses, have them read stories to her, etc. We can do this all day, and sometimes do.

When we went and visited her grandma and grandpa (Allan's parents) the first thing she did was show the picture of them on the wall her shoes. Ha! One day we were playing downstairs (where the pictures are) and we heard grandma upstairs. I said, "Do you hear grandma? She's upstairs." Little A shook her head no. I said, "Yes, Grandma's upstairs." She shook her head no again and pointed to Grandma and Grandpa's picture on the wall! She's a funny girl.

I've been letting her pick out her own clothes lately. She really loves doing it. She puts a lot of thought into her socks and shoes. She picked out the white turtle neck and lime green pants. She also has a pair of white pants on under the lime green ones. She insisted that she wear both pairs. The next day she picked two shirts and one pair of pants.

She also likes to pick mismatched shoes. As you can see in these pictures.

The same day she chose the two pairs of pants and the turtle neck, Allan took her out on a daddy daughter date. She chose the purple vest as well. They went to Arctic Circle and ate lunch and then to the grocery store to get milk. Allan let her run around and look at all the stuff at the grocery store and say hi to everyone. This is one of her favorite things to do. They had so much fun together! When I told her she was going on a date with daddy she got so excited and started squealing and shaking her body.

Little A has started to figure out coloring. She still likes to eat the crayons/pencils/etc., but she is getting more interested in actually making marks on the paper. She doesn't press down much so her marks are usually very light.

She also has started combing her hair. If you look close you can see the comb in her hand. She has started "fixing" mine and Allan's hair as well, but with her hands. She likes to rub my hair and then fluff it and does the same to Allan's.

Little A's favorite toys are Cheer Bear and Daisy (a doll one of our AZ friends gave her.) Calls Cheer bear "Bear Bear" or "Cheer" She cannot go to sleep without them in her crib. If we put her in her bed without one of them she stands up and yells "Bear Bear" or "Day" until we give them to her. When she wakes up and is ready to get out of her crib she throws cheer bear on the floor and then yells desperately for us to come and give it to her. She is never content to just be taken out of her crib. We have to give her cheer bear first and then take her out. This girl knows what she wants.

My girl is so cute in pigtails! :)

Little A caught a cold and got another ear infection. So we are having tubes put in her ears soon. I usually keep the Kleenex up high, but this time I left it by her just long enough for me to get the nose sucker. I came back to almost the entire box pulled out. She was so sad when I took it away from her.

I was trying to take a picture of her and her mismatched shoes and she put her onsie over her head. Ha!

I checked a book out from the library called, "My Dad". A LOVED this book and wanted me to read it over and over. She would laugh and giggle at certain pictures and always got really excited about reading it.

Little A is trying to learn to use her spoon and fork. She can eat most of her yogurt by herself. She's got the scoop motion down pretty good but still has a hard time getting anything on her spoon. She's getting better at stabbing things with her fork.

She is talking more and more. The other day at dinner she was very hungry and getting impatient for her food. We finally got everything on the table and then she yelled to us, "Prayer! Fold your arms!"