My Girl

She's really becoming a person.  She is such a perfect addition to our family and our days.  I am having so much fun watching her little personality shine through.

-She enjoys art.  She is excited to sit and color at a restaurant and is eager to use every marker, stamper and paint brush in the art box.  All of which, thankfully, are washable.

-She has discovered God's gift of bacon.  This thick cut slice was hard for her to bite, so she sucked on it.  I was so proud.  I was not quite as proud the day she drank her Spaghettios.  I tried really hard to hold off the junk food with her, and succeeded for awhile.  She was 15 months old before she had juice!  But the streak has ended and she is now as addicted to her "nini" (candy) as her role model.

-Her Role Model.  She looks up to him in everything, for good and for bad.  She's desperate to figure out the scooter and actually begged me to take the little bike down off the wall after Sam spent an afternoon on his bike.  She refuses to sit on the tricycle.  She wants to be big like him. (Note: She can't move the bike yet.  She will be required to wear a helmet once she can push the pedals.  She wears one when she rides on my bike.)

-And she loves him.  He wasn't feeling well this day, but some choices require a punishment even if you're under the weather.  He sat in time out and whined that he was cold.  Annabelle grabbed the big blanket, huge and awkward compared to her, and dragged it over to him.  And then laid with him until his sentence had been served.

Sweet, huh?  Oh did she miss him when he went back to school after Christmas break!  Asked about him all day long.  She gets excited when we pulled into the parking lot, calling his name as she points to the building. 

But she is also learning to stand her ground with him.  She's learned a particular scream she uses to get her way when she feels she has been wronged, particularly by him.  Someone is starting to show her 2-year-old self!

-Speaking of being 2, she has also decided she's interested in the potty.  No really, she asked about it, tried it out, and has been successful.  Successful enough that we tried underwear for a few days, but that she was NOT ready for.  So we are practicing for now. 

So maybe she's doesn't have all of her teeth yet (still!), but she's not a baby anymore!

And I now realize that I need to be better about taking her picture on days when I put together really cute outfits for her.  Because I do - she looks adorable all the time.  Yet she is a mess in all of these pictures.  Sigh.