2 years + 2 months

When did our baby become a little girl? Seriously, it's crazy how grown up she's getting. The other night something she did surprised Drew, and in wonderment he said, "Wow, Lilly. How old are you?" To which she nonchalantly replied, "I'm two." 
Well, technically speaking, she'll be 2 years and 2 months old tomorrow.

So here's a little sort of lengthy update on what she's been doing and saying for the past month:

• Puzzles. She'll sit with me and work through puzzles for-ev-er. 
• When I'm busy doing something, I'll often find her "reading" to herself in her bedroom. 
• She can completely dress herself, and mostly undress herself. I think if I teach her which settings to use, she'll start doing her own laundry, too. Just kidding, kind of. 
• She can count to ten! 
• Her drawing has become more purposeful. I tried to show her how to write Lilly so she started drawing groups of vertical lines next to each other. Now, she has moved on to what I call her circle phase.
• She loves having tea parties, serving me her play food, and taking care of her babies. I often hear her having conversations with them, and she loves putting them to sleep with a kiss on the forehead. She also loves her doll house.
• She's obsessed with putting people to bed and waking them up.
• She loves playing matching games, and she's pretty good at remembering the cards she's flipped.
• She kept coming up with excuses to get medicine like, "My cheeks hurt. I need medicine." Then her last two bottom molars popped through, so maybe they weren't actually excuses. Oops.
• She knows our "real" names and will randomly called me "Allyson" instead of mom. Especially if I'm not listening to her.
• She got scissors for her birthday and loves using them. Whenever she wants to open something, she'll say, "I need scissors!" and run off to find some. I'll tell her to be careful and she says, "Only cut paper."
• When we try to take her picture she says "cheese," but doesn't actually smile.
• She calls mangos "mean-go" and pillows "pee-yo"
• She likes to eat cold frozen waffles for breakfast.
• She likes to do things, "All by Lilly's self!"
• If she doesn't think it's time to go to sleep, she'll say, "I just woke up!"
• At the airport watching a plane take-off . . .Me: "Where do you think the plane is going?" Her:"To see Jesus!" Me:"Umm, I don't think so."  Her:"Yeah! It will be fun!" Me:"Uhhh . . " 
• She really didn't want to come home after Christmas, but I thought she would be excited to see her friends, instead she insisted "I no want play with friends! I play with Grama!" She LOVES all her grandparents and asks to talk to them on the computer all the time!
• She went to her new nursery class and afterward I asked what the teachers' names were. She thought about it and said, "Sister Allison!" (This was true, she heard me and the lady talking about having the same name.) Then I asked about the man, she thought about it for awhile and then said, "Church daddy."
• She kept pointing insistently at the air and saying, "what is that?!" When we were about ready to call a psychiatrist (or ghost busters), we finally figured out she was seeing the dust particles in the ray of sunlight coming through the window. We told her to run through it, so she pretended to be brave, "I run through it!" but she totally ran around it!
• At dinner, Drew said, "Who's the cutest baby? Lilly's the cutest baby." She said, "No! I'm Lilly! I'm not a baby!"
• At bedtime the last few nights she's wanted me to cuddle with her for a few minutes instead of singing songs, but instead of just asking, she slowly leans over in bed until she's partially sitting up with her head on my arm. I'll ask what she wants, and she says, "I want mommy."
• She is loving her new fish, and always wants to feed him. She even cheers him on, "Come on Charlie! Eat your food. Over here Charlie!"
• Asks "What is that?" or "What happened?" about EVERYTHING.

I have been getting progressively worse at remembering to take pictures, but here's a sampling of what I've got:

Lilly randomly started asking to build forts again. 

This is my creation, experimenting with string.

 

  This is Drew's 3 room monster fort made out of every chair and blanket he could find.

Lilly loves friends and sunglasses!

  
When we play Candy Land, she always insists on putting her card on the matching color square instead of the discard pile.

 

Adjusting to afternoon church, and looking beautiful.


Finishing off a massive chocolate chip pancake at Kerbey Lane Cafe (an Austin favorite) (and how we got to see Dad when he was pulling another late night in the lab).

Our little artiste.
 
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