23 Months

I have to break from the beach pictures because a little over a week ago my little girl turned 23 months. I have kept myself extremely busy ever since we got back from vacation so I wouldn't be able to think about my baby girl turning two (or my baby boy turning one). It hasn't helped. I can already tell that the fact that their Birthdays are so close together is going to be hard on this Mommy. Lilly--the best way I can describe you is to say that you are SO FULL OF LIFE!! You are just at such a fun (and exhausting) age where you are curious about everything and you are developing the skills to investigate!! You can open anything twist-top or pop-top...which means yet another set of things that have to be moved up/locked up. I am amazed by how much you can figure out. You are such a smart little thang! (c:

You are also into playing games such as wrestling...more on that in a second...., chase, being scared (I hide and jump out at you) and trying to scare others, peek-a-boo, tickle time, etc. You think it is HILARIOUS when I hold you on my lap where you can't move and say "Lilly get down..Lilly, Lilly, get down" or when I give you a "kissing whipping" (where I kiss her all over her pretty little face) and tell you to stop kissing me. You really get mommy and daddy's sense of humor now...and you have the quite the little sense of humor yourself. You crack yourself up---just like Mommy!

You are LOUD. Oh. My. Word! You are loud. I swear you yell just to hear your own voice. I love your sweet little voice..but I prefer it when you use your "inside" voice. You really like to be loud when we are in public--it gets you some attention. We are REALLY WORKING on finding a quiet voice.

Your words are becoming more and more clear and frequent. I still tell you 7,000 times a day to "use your big girl words". You say "nacks" for snacks. This is an improvement because for a while you just kept saying cackers (crackers) for any type of food. You call both a fork and a spoon a "pooooon". Grapes and apples are also both "appies". You love to "paaaaaay" (play) with friends. You also say your friends names...or at least some version of them...you might have renamed a couple of them (i.e. Brody is Bobby, Brayden is Baaayden, etc.). You tend to make any one syllable word have at least three syllables--a true southern belle. (c:

You have such a sweet and funny personality. You keep us laughing all the time. You are also so strong-willed. This is something that makes it tough as a parent sometimes, but I really am so happy that you have this quality! I know that obstacles aren't going to slow you down because you are determined.

A funny thing that happened last night....your nose was running and Daddy used his shirt to wipe it off because he couldn't get to anything else. For the rest of the night, anytime your nose started to run, you would go up to him and grab his shirt and wipe your nose off. We were laughing to hard to stop you.

You love your little brother. I am so proud that you are such a sweet big sister. You go over randomly during the day and give him toys, hugs, and pacis. You love to "tickle" him and you both think it is hysterical!! When he walks, you clap for him. You also make sure he is your accomplice in any mischievousness too...who wants to be told "no" alone, right??

At the same time, you are a bit of a "stinker" as a sister, too. You will want him playing with you one second..but when you have things set up the way you want--you want him to stay away and not mess it up! Your favorite thing to do right now is to tackle him while he is walking. Half of the time he loves this and half of the time he hates it. He either deep belly-laughs or squeals/screams at you. You have started to try and wrestle him. You pin him down and don't let him move. He pretty much never likes this. You two also wrestle over a paci.

You aren't a huge fan of the car. Short trips are okay but anything over twenty minutes just really isn't fun for you. Sometimes you do fine..others you make the ride miserable for everyone. You love music. In the car we listen to nursery rhymes...you watch them on DVD...Mommy and Daddy just listen. You like to dance to the music. You sing along to some of them too. "Bring Back"--you sing "Back Bing". You sing A. E. E. A. I. E. A for your ABCs. You also point to letters and say these same letters. There is also an O stuck in there sometimes too. We just love you more and more daily and just can't wait to see what you will do and say next. You are such a blessing from God and we just LOVE that he chose us to be your parents!!!