happy & we know it: October 2012

Isn't that just shy of two?!

I could post a thousand pictures of this girl, and write a million words. She's the sweetest little thing and I (again) am loving everything about this stage. So often I wish I could keep her, just how she is, for just a little bit longer. But then she changes and I love it even more. The other day I was thinking of how Josh and I have been parents for two years (well almost - longer if you count the preparatory pregnancy phase). Either way, somehow the weeks and months have flown by because I swear I just graduated high school. Where is the pause button in all of this?

A little bit about my girl at twenty-one months:

- She pretty much lives for her art. I laugh, but she takes it pretty darn seriously. We pull out crayons, marker, colored pencils - you name it - multiple times a day. She has coloring books completely filled and loves blank paper even more. She went crazy with pen on one of our walls a few weeks ago. She loves to color and draw and paint etc, etc.

- She is still such a cuddler - Although we typically don't, we could get her to fall asleep on one of us every nap and every bedtime it seems. She loves us to rock her before bed and sing to her. Lately she's been pretty particular about our song choice and tells us "no" if it's not one she wants. From there it's a guessing game to find just the right one. She always has to have her soft Aden + Anais blankets at every nap and bedtime and loves to have another soft blanket wrapped around her. So particular.

- She has the sweetest personality. Yesterday at Target I realized that we really have never had any tantrums or melt-downs at the store. She seriously is just good while I shop as long as I don't take forever (and let her snack). She's pretty easy-going. Rarely do I even find a need to put her in time out because she's just pretty even-tempered. Don't get me wrong - she has her moments but I feel like for a toddler approaching two this is kind of rare. Heaven help me with our second baby because I worry he/she will make up for this.

- She's slowly learning new words each day. She still prefers her own jabber language most of the time, but says a handful of words consistently {hi, no, bye, blue, bubbles, peppers (? - she really does love peppers), dadda and a few others}. She will say other words and even a few phrases but they aren't super consistent. She's a pro with animal noises and really loves this.

- She has developed some shyness around new people and situations. We're working on getting her to come out of her shell.

- She is as girly as ever and could seriously play dolls and brush hair and do makeup and put on nail polish... ... all day. She loves dolls and barbies (already), and princesses that she's never even heard of. She is girl through and through and as much as I love it, sometimes it worries me ;)

- Her teeny tiny feet are finally growing. After what seems like forever of not being able to find hard-soled shoes that fit, we have finally got her into a size 4 or 5.

- She's tall for her age which sometimes catches me off guard. I think she looks older than she is but she still has her baby face and sweet chubby cheeks.

- Right now she is obsessed with everything Halloween. She loves ghosts and pumpkins and her halloween costume. I can't wait to see what Christmas brings.