two minus two

two years minus two months... almost there little lela lu.  :)

what is new...

• "ooooh my goshhhhh" and "what da heck!"  
• went to daycare a few times and did great... enjoys the extended time with kids of a similar age (however she returned with a sickness and crabby due to less of a nap than normal!)
• dances in her car seat and asks to dance nightly to music (and we both have to join her)
• loves being "nudey cutie" and will ask to strip down
• conquered jumping in the pool from the side and swimming in her life jacket solo!
• still insists on "wrestle mania" nightly and now "dance mania" too
• abc song and counting to 10 daily... pretends to count up to 30, but only throws in a few more numbers
• favorites songs are "twinkle twinkle", "someone's in the kitchen with dinah", "rockabye baby", "torah", "doggie in window", "rain rain go away", and most of all... "wheels on the bus"
• really, really witty little toddler
• ready to start potty training

a 21 monther

too much to write... she's just changing daily, i can't keep up with all the newness!  here's a snippet:

• loves, LOVES, LOVES chasing pigeons in all public spaces
• instead of saying just "no" now, she says "no way jose", but it sounds like "no way hoseeeee"
• when asked "what did you dream about last night?" she thinks, and shakes her head while responding, "milk!"  
• tried to reach for the clock on top of the DOM cathedral in trier... saying "touch clock?"
• always wants to hold hands and walk with other kids
• loves hide and seek, always cheats and hides in the same spot, counts, "8, 9, 10!"
• finally got her first toe painting... anne did just the big toes red and then lela and i just redid all of them hot pink
• after crying/whining hysterically and watching for my reaction, she got distracted, stopped, and said, "lela crying."  i said "yes, you are.  why?"  she thinks for a second... and responds, "WHY not?"  i just die with laughter... and she joins in.

at trier amphitheater:

chasing pigeons in trier:

with a flemish friend in brugge:

the little lady flourishes... 20 months

• loves wrestling on our bed and asks for "wrestle mania!"
• "ta" new buzzword (using different voices) that makes her roar with laughter
• likes saying hello in different voices, mostly a really deep man voice
• i say "lela, we're going grocery shopping!" and she looks at me quizzically and says "toy shopping??"
• ask her "where do you live?" she answers, "orenhofen."  too cute.
• out of car, walks to sidewalk, turns left... "baby goats?  chickens?" starts walking in the direction of them
• squeals with delight at touching the goats' mouths and noses
• sings "ABC" song
• sorts letters by color
• collects all "I's" and "O's" and puts them together
• says "P. U.!" when smelling anything and when smelling feet, she says they smell like "pickles" or "cheesy"
• looking at comforter on our bed... thinks.... pointing to it says, "snowsuit on?"
• talking about what we'll do the next morning, i tell her we will go see the goats and pet their noses... she thinks... says, "hair?  nose too?  boogers?"  :)  yup, we'll pet the boogers too.
• still loves wheels on the bus song and does all the motions
• started opening doors!  no!!!
• on that note, snuck away from me and ended up at the TOP of the circular stairs - ScARy
• can draw straight lines and will write letters (that look really close to the real thing!) and say what they are...  V, L, N, M, W, O  
• drew an airplane and made the fast "swoosh" noise... said "show mama, daddy"

the airplane: