18-month "Miss"-cellany

I can't believe Miss is 18 months old! Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday we were here:

But those pictures were all taken about a year ago!

It's funny that I no longer commemorate the months passing with various milestones, but rather marvel every day in how much she is learning and growing. It amazes me the things she can suddenly do! For example, she recently completed a gymnastics class. The other day she bent over and just did a somersault by herself. She did it again today. And her language is just phenomenal. She says new words and phrases every day, and can repeat back to me just about anything I say. Today I said "Oh boy!" about something I was trying to get her excited to do, and she repeated it right back. I have no idea how many words she can say now, there are so many. It is so fun to talk to her. To see her understand me and actually answer my questions. And I adore her voice. The way she says certain words, like "bubbles" and "goggles" and "buh-byee," just makes me want to squeeze her and laugh every time. She is fascinated with colors. Right now most things are "pink," but sometimes she will correctly identify a "red car" or use the word "white" correctly. She also loves the number 2 and counting. She gets excited when she sees two of something and says "two!!!" She also likes to try to count. When we are counting she will point and say "twoooo, heeeee." Never any other numbers, but she's got those down!

Here are some of the other things she's enjoying right now.

She loves our dogs!!

She loves giving a stick to our younger dog. . .
. . .and gets so excited when he takes it!

Sometimes she just watches him chew on it. . .

. . .and sometimes she tries to take it back.

She makes funny faces all the time. She will sit in front of the mirror when I'm drying her hair after a bath and pull and pinch her face to try to "make faces," which is something she learned from her cousins in Iowa. Other times, she just makes funny faces because she's funny! She was actually telling me something serious here:

She is a total Daddy's girl. She likes to hang out wherever he is. She enjoys playing with him in the garage in our gym area. He plays music and she tries to lift the "big balls" (medicine balls) or dances around. These are some booty shakin' moves:

She is a big helper. She loves to help with laundry. She pushes the basket to the stairs and climbs up in front of me while I carry the basket behind. Then she hands me the clothes while I'm folding them. She also loves to help make the bed. Every day she gets the pillows for me when I do.


I am seriously in such awe of her all the time. I love to try to see things through her eyes, as she often notices things I completely miss or take for granted. And she gets such joy out of everything. It's impossible not to be happy when I'm with her. She is exuberance and sunshine and delight. Man, it's great to be "Mama" to my girl.