23 months!

Hard to believe soon she will be 2!!  Right now she is so loving and sweet. She will ask to just hold your hand sometimes. Always asking if "so and so" is okay if they seem upset. She now will give you a "real" kiss or hug if you ask.

Her letter and sound recognization is getting better and better each day. She can tell you what each letter is when you point to it and she can point to whatever letter you ask. She will also tell you words that start with different letters.

She still loves, loves, loves books. She would be happy to sit and read for hours. She does get favorites and they are repeated nightly and before nap time each day until she switches on to the next. The library has been great get to read all of these different books but we have been close to due dates as she loves them so much and has a hard time parting with them!

She loves going to storytime and the museum. We try to do those things multiple times per week. She also just loves to hang out and play with her toys at home.  

She can now get both feet of the ground and jump! She loves to hop around now.

Our sweet girl!

She is getting a lot better about smiling for the camera. She likes when you take the picture on your phone and then show it to her right afterwards. I guess that motivates her to smile!

Playing inside at Short Pump mall. She loves that play area!

Look Mom I can swing!

Stylin...thanks for the shades Aunt Kristen.

It snowed!! She loved it!

Smile!

Bath time!

Christmas 2012!

Best one yet!! She loved everything Christmas related just like her mama!! Christmas songs, Christmas lights, cookies and especially SANTA!!

We went and visited the "Legendary" Richmond Santa and she was mesmerized by him. When we got there we were lucky enough to get a front row seat to see him come down the chimney, talk to all of the boys and girls and put his gloves on. She was happy to sit on his lap and talk to him. He asked what she wanted for Christmas and she said "a toy!" Not a specific toy or anything, just a toy. And he delivered :)

Her favorite gifts most definitely are her dollhouse and more baby dolls.

Whenever we saw other Santa's in the mall or anyplace else. She loved to just stop and look at him! Sometimes Santa would look over and she would get a wave, the look on her face when he did that was priceless. Now a couple of weeks after Christmas, she still asks to go see him!

She loved the Advent Calendar this year. Everyday we would put up a different magnet on the Advent Tree. If Mommy forgot, she sure didn't! She would even remember from the day before what magnet oranament was for that day!

Another favorite activity, looking at Christmas lights! The blow up Santas were definitely her favorite. We had a few favorite spots that we frequented quite often. We also visited some houses on the Richmond Tacky Light Christmas Tour....wow, unbelievable!! We were all mesmerized.

We were all over this Christmas and had a wonderful time seeing everyone. Spent Christmas in Hampton and then New Years in Louisiana!

Can't wait for next year as they each keep getting better and better :)

Visit with Santa!

Christmas Eve

Opening presents on Christmas Eve at Cindy & Mike's

Being silly!

Putting out cookies and milk for Santa. And a carrot for the reindeer!

Christmas morning!!

Christmas Morning 2012

Grammie and Papa

Family Christmas Dinner at Jim and Paula's

Yorktown Beach visit

Visiting Great-Grandma in Louisiana

Christmas "morning" in Louisiana

A huge gingerbread heart from Germany from Aunt Wendy!

New Year's lunch at Great-Grandma's

With Aunt Ginny

Snuggling with Pepe

22 months!

Sorry, it's been awhile! Let's see...22 months on Christmas Day!

She really is such a happy little girl now. Smiling and laughing a lot! I love how excited she gets over things. Storytime, folding clothes, music class, pancakes :) She sure does take the time to enjoy the simple things in life.

She seems to talk more and more everyday. We can have full conversations. She really is my little side kick. She'll even joke with you now and smile when she does.

She is getting great recongnizing and knowing her letters. She can almost tell you nearly all of the letters when you point to them. And she even knows what letters some words start with when you ask her. She amazes us everyday!!

It seems like she is grasping the concept of counting better too! She has been able to count from 1-10 for a while but now seems to understand that the amount of objects actually represents a number. She has started to point and count things out. And now she will even count past 10, so far she has counted to 15!

Loves, loves, loves her baby dolls even more. She can spend hours playing with them. It's hard to get her out of the house now :)

Favorite food - macaroni and cheese for sure!

Find her in some odd places sometimes :)

Visit to Lewis Ginter Garden to see all of the lights, she loved them!

Reading books in a box with Grammie

Visit with Santa! When he asked what she wanted, she whispered "toys"

After Santa, a visit to the Jefferson Hotel to see the beautiful decorations.

And then dinner out...she loved the mac and cheese at Comfort!!

Our tree...she LOVED it! She was a great help decorating

Picnic with Daddy and Molly

Loved taking the ornament on and off her felt tree

21 months!

Another month!

Some fun things from this month:

She is really into songs lately. We sing lots of different songs/nursery rhymes at library storytime and she has a lot of favorites that she likes to sing over and over again and likes for you to sing to her. "Bouncing Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon," "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, "Rock a bye Baby" are all song multiple times a day.

She still really loves to take care of her dolls and stuffed animals. Very, very mothering to them. I've even caught her wiping Molly's bottom and nose with a baby wipe. Poor Molly!!

She has become really good at stacking her blocks and can now make a pretty decent tower with them.

She loves to color with her markers and is getting a lot better about only coloring on the paper.

Hide and seek with Daddy is a big favorite. She has even started counting on her own...usually it's, "1,2,3,4,5,6...go!"

Oh, one night I said, "Claire, dinner's ready." I turn around and she's in the high chair. Climbed in all by herself...

Going to the store in the car!

Just relaxing, reading with her sunglasses!

Stack, stack, stack!

So sweet!

Thanksgiving 2012

Enjoying her appetizers!

Found these somewhere....