She is getting funnier and feistier by the day, with more of a personality, preferences, and a mind of her own by the minute. I've joked a lot lately about how I'm actually going to have to start parenting her soon as opposed to just keeping her alive (though, trust me, there has been plenty of both parenting and survival since Day 1!) A few months ago she would blindly obey when I asked her to do something whereas now, we get push-back or boundary testing. For example, drumming with hands or utensils during meals is a no-no. We reviewed this for the one thousandth time the other day and took her spoon away. So she drummed lightly with her hands, which we reprimanded. So she drummed ever so lightly with her fingers while eyeing us to see if it counted as drumming. (It did.) Just one minor example of many about how she is testing her limits. Totally normal, but sometimes totally exhausting.
I can definitely see some of her Momma's bossiness (though I prefer to call it "emerging leadership skills"). Of course, just when we think we've got her figured out, she'll turn off her outgoing craziness and become shy and thoughtful like her Daddy. Hopefully she'll find the perfect balance in herself like we did in each other.
Below are some quips, stories, and hilarious things our big girl is up to these days:
- As we were driving down the road the other day, she exclaimed, "Watch out cars! Here we come! Mommy's driving! Watch out!" I asked her where on earth she got that and she just grinned. When I retold David the story later he promised he has never said any such thing. He suggested that she's just super perceptive. Uh-huh.
- She is very much into singing songs these days. "Jesus Loves the Little Children" is a favorite and I love her rendition of the "red and yellow, black and white" part. It usually becomes "red, yellow, blue, green, purple..." etc. I just visualize a bunch of multi-colored people and smurfs running around Jesus.
- Another favorite song she sings is "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" because she adds an "s" on star. I don't know why I think that's adorable, but I do.
- On Mondays, we go to story time at our local library. As we were pulling in one day, Audrey says, "It's Audrey's neighborhood liberry!" Thank you, my community-minded child.
- All of the harping we do about manners seems to be paying off a little too well. Now she'll say "Excuse me" or, worse, sometimes she'll scold, "Say 'scuse me!" for someone else in the store if they cut in front of us. At story time the other day the leader was making her way to the front of the room and Audrey loudly proclaimed, "Scuse me!" after she stepped over us. The whole room burst out laughing while I hid my red face. I'm a little embarrassed that my child is trying to teach manners to others, but really if my 21 month old has them down better than you, well...
- She is SUPER particular about lining things up regardless of how I try to hide that side of myself from her. She ran past a trashcan in the hall that had been knocked over and stopped in her tracks, turned around, and went back to set it upright. Another time she was walking past the fridge, got almost out of the kitchen, and went back saying "Fix T" to line up the crooked letter T magnet. Yesterday she pitched a royal fit when I picked her up without letting her line her shoes up against the wall like Mommy's and Daddy's. Oh boy.
- Lately she is into looking at pictures of family and friends around the house. She's always loved seeing their familiar faces, but recently we've had to add it to the nap and bedtime routines. I'm about ready to switch out photos in the frames because we have stared at and explained the same ones so many times.
- I was walking down the stairs one afternoon and David was standing at the bottom holding her. She looked up, stared at me for a second, and said, "So pretty, Mommy! Mommy so pretty!" And there have been few times in my life that I felt more beautiful than in that moment.
- We were sitting at the dinner table the other night and she said, "Mommy kiss Daddy", so I did. Then she said "Mommy kiss Audrey" and motioned with both hands for me to come towards her. "C'mon. C'mon." she said seriously, "Mommy kiss Audrey." As soon as I quit laughing, I did.
- After the rain cut our jog short the other morning, we explained to her as we hurried to the car that we couldn't stay and go on the swings because it was raining. She calmly replied, "Get umbrella." Even when we told her that wouldn't work, she didn't get upset. I love that she's becoming more logical and accepting of our explanations! Of course, try to tell her why it doesn't matter that shoes aren't lined up straight and you'll lose, but nonetheless, she's getting there!
- This one came from her Grandmom: She and David's dad were keeping her one evening while we were at small group and gave her a vanilla wafer. She took a bite, looked at the cookie, and said, "Crescent!" We've been working on that shape as well as semicircle lately, so that cracked me up!
- When she wakes up in the morning, I'll ask her if she had a good night's rest and if she had any dreams/what she dreamed about. She's recently started telling us she had a good night's rest, which sounds so hilariously old. After she said it the other day, I asked her what she dreamed about. She replied "castles." I know she got it from a book we've read where the little girl dreams of castles, but it was still so funny!
- Sometimes she'll offer David and I bites of food (usually stuff she doesn't want) and we'll say, "No, I'm fine. But thank you!" or something to that effect. The other night David was trying to get her to eat a bite of something and, you guessed it, she said, "No, I'm fine. But thank you. Thank you so much!" Needless to say, we didn't let that fly.
That's all I can think of for now, but I'm sure there are plenty I'm missing, so keep checking back for my tardy updates. She keeps us on our toes, for sure!
I'm having trouble with the picture gallery, so if you really want to see the latest album, leave me a comment and I'll email you the Facebook link. I'll let you know when they're updated on here.
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