Little Baby Big Girl

Grace is now officially past the one-and-a-half mark:

At twenty months, she's almost TWO!

I can't believe how fast little baby big girl is growing up.

At twenty months:

Grace finally learned how to say "no". Most kids learn this super early, so I'm glad it took her a while (probably because we hardly ever tell her no...horrible, I know). I'm sure I won't think so forever, but it's absolutely adorable. I find myself asking her things that I know she doesn't want just so I can hear that cute little "no":

Grace learns new words every day now. My favorites this month are: "mon" (c'mon) complete with the little hand motion, "tseeez" (please) anytime she wants anything, "ah whyie" (Wall-E) which we watch every single night before bed, and "bah time" (bath time) when she knows it's getting close to bed time.

She's gotten pretty clingy these past few days too. I'm not sure why, but she wants Mommy AND Daddy by her sides at all times.

She has taken up coloring again. She loves her little easel from Poppa and Gran and makes Isaac and I color with her at least twice a day. The chalkboard is her favorite. She also got some crayons that work on dry erase boards, so they're super bright. They look really pretty on her play house, my bedroom wall, our leather ottoman, and the door to the kitchen pantry. Luckily, they're washable.

We took her binky away two weeks ago, and she's been doing great without it. The first few nights were hard, but it gets easier as we go. She's still got ten weeks or so to forget about it before the new baby comes.

She's been back to sleeping in our bed the past few nights, but only because she can't have her binky. Since she's doing better now, we're moving her back to her own bed this weekend.

This month, Grace loves Wall-E and Megamind. She asks for them by name now, too!

Her favorite thing to do in the afternoons is go outside and play with all of the neighborhood kids. Noah is her favorite. Whenever she hears kids outside, she says "Oah?" and runs to the door. She also pretend talks to him on her toy phones. It's so cute!

I've been spending extra time lately finishing up her baby book (more on that later)...just in time to start a new one for the new baby. When Grace sees the pictures of herself as a baby, she says, "awww, a baby". Her favorite is looking at the ones with Daddy and "a baby".

My favorite times are when Grace snuggles up in my arms to watch movies. It makes me so happy that she loves to be near me, because I love this little girl with all I have. It may be the pregnancy hormones, but I could bawl my eyes out just watching her sleep.

After twenty months, I still can't believe I'm lucky enough to be her mommy!