that's right, 26 months and still counting

• she has a lot to say these days. and she talks like a little lady. "sooo, let me do this now." if you ask her something, she will say, "because...(fill in the blank)."
• other things that get me. "next is my turn." "my shoes are brown. sooo, where's my brown jacket?" and "umm..." she also likes to make a statement, and then follow it up with, "so, i have to..."
• she is such a tough little cookie. she takes tumbles and falls just like i'd expect a little boy to. this month she fell into the door frame and got a huge knot on her head. this one hurt. a lot. poor baby.
• speaking of a lot. i'll tell her "only a little bit." and she'll say, "no. a yot."
• she threw up in her car seat. three times. we were on our way to dallas and had to turn around and back home. once home, she told me, "i got sick in my car seat. i cried. but i all better now." (update: she did this again yesterday when elna took her to wonderwild to play. unfortunately, i think she got my aversion to all modes of transportation. later, she told donnie, "too many cars, daddy").
• she is such a dog person. she fell in love with reese and harper's yellow lab maddie. "where's mat-ty, mommy?" in fact, sunday night, she was asking about mat-ty in her sleep. to her credit, maddie was so sweet to her...unlike tanner. she let em pet her all weekend.
• she likes to "get you." she puts her little hands close to her face, crouches down, and sort of creeps up to you and says, "i get you, mommy!"
• she thinks she can "take off" her booboos. like when she scratches herself and gets a tiny scab. she tells me to "take it off!!!"
• when i lay down with her at night to put her to bed, she will turn to me and say, "i hold you, mommy." and she'll give me a huge hug and pat my back (or arm, wherever it is her little hand is resting). it melts my heart.
• ha! she talks to tanner in this funny voice. it's just like penny when she first sees bolt at the pet store. when she uses this voice, she always calls tanner "bobos," which is his nickname. don't ask how we came up with it. i don't know.
• it just occurred to me this month that she may be a little spoiled. (i know! just. now.). she thinks it's always her turn. which means she doesn't like to wait in line. or wait to get your attention. because, hello? everything is about her at home. guess what, everyone? i'm not about to change that. so i guess she's going to be the bratty one at school. (disclaimer, i've never had that reported to me by her teachers. i just am preparing myself).
• she knows more spanish than i thought she did. we were watching dora and there was a picture of a butterfly. they said "mariposa." and em repeated it as if she'd known what it was all along. about 4 days later, i remembered this and tested her. i asked her, "how does ms. candy say butterfly?" without hesitation, she said, "mariposa!" then later, she was talking to me and telling me she threw something away in the basura..."so i have no mas."
• i overheard a conversation she was having with herself one day, "how miss candy say buh-fy? maybe she say mariposa!"
• sometimes when she wants more of something and i don't give it to her, she thinks i don't understand what she's asking for. she'll say, "more. more. more. MAS!"
• her other favorite words besides soooo, just ("so i just..."), and because is maybe. "umm, maybe it's in there!" but she'll use maybe in front of a lot of sentences, even if there's no maybe about it. she also likes to use the word already. "em, let me change your diaper." "no, ms. candy changed me already."
• sometimes "thank you" is "thanks." this makes me laugh. she says it as if she's a big girl and doesn't need to use 2 words.
• she's learning the art of negotiation. if she's not ready for bed, she will want to read 10 books. i usually stop at 3. "one more, mommy." or "only one." "another one!" "again!" "one more time!" it's the same with songs. she will want to hear the song over and over. and when i stop singing with her, she will just start on her own. she even shuffles the songs. and when she gets tired of songs, it's time for animal sounds. out of nowhere she'll start with, "doggie goes woof, woof. kitty cat says meow. elephant says "(sound)". froggie says ribbit, ribbit. monkey says ooh ooh ah ah." and on and on. i'm not going to lie. i have fallen asleep before her on many occasions.
• she loves to play patty cake. "oh i know, let's do patty cakes!"
• there is a game on my phone she loves to play. when she successfully completes 3 games, it prompts her to "pick a sticker." when the phone tells her this, she always says, "okay!"
• she is getting so good at the game memory. she has mastered memory with 8 cards (or, 4 matches), so we're going to try 12 cards now.
• she sang the abc song twice in a row when i was giving her a bath. unprompted. since then, she's sung it at least 5 more times. she'll also count for me. finally! she's known her numbers for a while, but she'd never count by herself.
• HUGE milestone. em voluntarily laid down in her crib to go to bed. no tears. this is a first. also a first: the first night? she fell asleep all on her own!!! she needed a little bit of consoling the next 2 nights after about 15 minutes of quiet time alone, but she fell asleep quickly afterwards. night 4 was the same as night 1. say some prayers everybody (another of em's favorite words, but she says it "ev-we-BAH-dee"), because i could get used to this. btw- i do give her an extra chee choo when she lays down by herself. she knows this and won't let me forget.
• em was starting to get a little rash on her bottom, so we had to put some diaper cream on. em: "what happened to my booty, booty? i have booboo?"
• if it happened in the past, it usually happened "last night." e.g, "last night, the choo choo train was closed," even if it was a week ago.
• just this weekend, you decided you would start talking like a little southern girl. baby is now baaaybe. she'll draw out her sentences out and say things very slowly, also.

(you probably wonder why she's eating in most of her pictures. and the answer is, she's happy when she eats. as such, it's easier to get her to smile. and yes, this is how she smiles).

i included this picture not to give you a glimpse of my monica (from friends) closet, or so you can see the number of bows she has (this is not even 1/2 of them), but to document those legs. she is slowly losing that last roll on her thigh, and i am sort of sad.

looking like a big girl.

this is the conversation we had this morning: "mommy, you stay home with me?" "no, baby. i have to go to work." "okay, so i have to go with daddy. to see annie and robin." "actually, we're going to see ong and ba today. and miss candy and aaron." "nooooo! i want to go to school!"

she also picked out those shoes on her own. "i have gold shoes!!! who give them to me?" "auntie lynda." "no, not auntie lynda. onyee auntie phi." (in case you didn't know, phi is my brother's name).