New words

Since I posted about Aubree last Friday, she has added a couple more words to her vocab.  Unfortunately, one of them is "MINE!"  She learned it very quickly from big sister Ayla while they were fighting over a toy.  She now says it constantly when she takes something...even if it's not hers.  She's starting to sound like the seagulls in Finding Nemo.  "Mine-mine-mine!"

She also says car...and "mo" which means no more or all gone in Chinese, and also "choo-choo" for a train.  It's crazy how all of a sudden she's talking more.  It's so fun. :)

Finally!

Our permits for the new house came back last week and the lot was staked so the girls and I just drove by to see if there was any progress.  I was shocked to see the entire thing dug already! I was so excited, I had tears in my eyes. :)

Fish-face!

via Instagram

Aubree: 15-months

Our Aubree lady is 15-months old today!  The dress she is wearing in these pictures was my absolute favorite of all of Ayla's clothes.  I remember being so bummed out when I had to pack it away because she outgrew it.  I was so happy when I dug it out of the box last week and found that it fit Aubree perfectly. 

Here are just a few 15-month tidbits:

She is starting to add more words to her vocabulary...even her gibberish sounds more like actual words.  It's pretty entertaining to listen to. :)  She says: Mama, Daddy, Kody, ball, water, bye, pretty, night-night, go, no, yay, whoa, more; in Chinese, she says: Yeh-Yeh (grandpa), Nai-Nai (grandma), Jeh-Jeh (big sister), baw-baw (hold me), and dah (spank--this goes along with when we tell her no...she says "dah!" and spanks her own butt.)  She woofs, quacks, and chirps when asked what a dog, duck, and bird says.  She also says "shhh" when we say, "go night-night."  She has two different ways of saying "mama".  When she's super upset, she says it over and over again in a really frustrated, irritated tone.  But then she also says it in the cutest, most loving way when she hugs me...makes me melt every time.

I think...well, actually, I know she gets frustrated when she can't say what she wants or needs.  She definitely understands a LOT more than she can say.  She's still signing "more" and "all done."  She grunts and points a lot.  I can't wait for the language explosion over the next several months...I want to know what that pretty little head is thinking.

We're continuing to work on body parts--she can point out her hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, belly, hands, and feet.

I mentioned in an earlier post that she loves Caillou...she also, like most kids her age, loves Elmo.  Curious George is a top contender as well.  

She has learned to LOVE books!  It's so great!  She loves sitting on our laps and listening to a story.  We also read to her before she goes to bed.  When we go into her room, she points and grunts at her books on the nightstand.  I think the next word she needs to learn is "book." :)

She also loves bath time.  I almost always bathe them together now.  I think they enjoy playing in there together (or fighting over toys).  Overall, it's much easier...gets a little tricky when Dean's not here for a hand-off though.  She likes brushing her teeth as well...hopefully it stays this way.  She watches Ayla brush and tries to mimic whatever she's doing.  She even tries to brush her tongue...she basically just sticks her tongue out and waves the toothbrush in front of her face. Funny. :)

She loves to play outside--sidewalk chalk, bubbles, eating things she shouldn't be eating, etc.  Speaking of, she STILL puts everything in her mouth.  It's terrible.  Last weekend, she dumped a container of sand in her mouth.  Yuck.  I felt so bad for her!  But anyway. Yes, she loves being outside.  It's often a struggle to get her to come back in.  Which leads to...

Tantrums.  She throws them.  When we keep her from doing something she wants to do, she goes limp, throws her head back, crumples to the ground, and CRIES.  Drama.  I can't wait until she hits her "terrible twos."  What's that going to be like?!

She dances (spins in circles, sways, and bops to music), claps, tries to jump but her feet don't ever leave the ground, and she has started to run but she leads with her head which leads to a lot of face plants.  Poor baby needs a face-guard.  One of her favorite things to do while she runs is stealing something of Ayla's and taking off with it in a fit of giggles.  The more Ayla screams and runs after her, the more fun she has.  She knows exactly what she's doing.  It cracks me up.

She also gets a rise out of pinching.  I have no idea what it is.  Out of nowhere, her tiny little fingers will find a tiny chunk of skin and she pinches away.  I'm not sure how to stop this.  When she does it, I grab her hands and tell her no, but the more we say no, the bigger her smile gets...and she actually laughs.  Lil stinker.

And on the other hand, she is a little lover.  She loves sitting on my lap...she likes to be touching me.  While she's playing, she checks-in with me every now and then with the sweetest little hugs and snuggles.  She hugs my legs a lot if I'm standing...if I'm sitting on the ground she comes up behind me and lays on my back while she says "mama."  It's the best.  She can definitely be a handful and downright difficult sometimes, but...she's also pretty awesome. :)

Love. Her. So. Much.

I needed Ayla's help to make her smile and laugh...she loves her big sister.

Love.

Father's Day 2012

I get a big, fat, F for the pictures I took (or didn't take) on Father's Day.  Terrible.  I didn't get any of Dean with both of the girls.  I have ONE of my dad where he's not even looking at the camera and ONE of Dean's dad but his eyes are closed (on purpose).  It's the memories that count, right?  :)  I hope all the dads in my life had a good day!

Ayla was very excited to give Daddy the cards that she made and colored on. :)

When she showed this to me, I assumed I was the sad/angry one and was hesitant to ask why.  Turns out, SHE is the sad one "because Kody chewed on my lion toy."  About a year or so ago, he chewed the leg off one of her animal toys. Apparently she has not let that go yet.

Aubree paused for about two seconds to check out the card.

After opening all of his cards and gift, Dean headed over to his parents' house to start their "Let's-Cook-a-Lot-of-Meat-All-Day" Extravaganza. :)  He also got the chance to sit and relax for a little while before I brought Aubree over for lunch and a nap while Ayla and I went over to my brother's house to hang out with my dad and have lunch ourselves.

Two little princesses

Makayla cracks me up in this one! :)

Love from Yeh-Yeh

I think Ayla and Bennett spent more time OUTside of the pool than in.

And I seriously took ONE picture after we went back to Dean's parents' house for dinner.  Ayla made Grandpa close his eyes so she could surprise him with his card. :)

Mom and Dad

I tried posting this yesterday through Instagram, but I'm still fighting that app when it comes to getting the photos onto the blog.  They always end up chopped off or blurry. Annoying.  So I went a different route.

Anyway.

For part of my Father's Day present to my dad, I scanned and printed my two favorite pictures of them from back in the day and put them in a frame.  I should have taken a pic of the finished product...it turned out great!

They're beautiful.

Vacation Bible School

Ayla started Vacation Bible School yesterday!  We registered over a month ago and finally it was time for her to go.  She has been so excited for it and has constantly been asking if it was "time to go to school yet."  We've talked about it a lot...about how I was going to bring her there and leave and Daddy/Grandpa/I would be there to pick her up later.  She seemed totally fine about it but you know how kids are...everything is just dandy until the time comes to actually do it.  I was nervous because this is her first organized activity and her first time away from anyone in the family.

After we got her checked in, we went in and found where she needed to be (she's a Pre-K Panda this week). :)  I took a picture of her and asked for a hug and kiss and told her that I was going to go.  I paused.  Waiting.  "Ok, Mommy, bye" and walked to her seat and sat down.  No issues at all.  I called out another "Bye Ayla!" as I was walking away and she waved back with a smile.  As I kept walking away, I looked back a few times to see if she was looking for me.  Nope. :)  What a big girl.  I called Dean and started to get choked up as I told him about it.  Geez.  I'm going to be one of those moms.

En route

Quick picture before I left

Dean brought her in for lunch afterwards...a Daddy-Daughter date!

I think she's really enjoying it so far.  Yesterday, she didn't say a whole lot about it...I think it needed to sink in a bit.  Pretty much the only thing she told me was that she hurt her arm because someone knocked her down while they were playing outside. :)  This morning, on the way there, I popped in the cd that was sent home with her yesterday and was surprised to hear her singing to one of the songs already.  It was so cute.  Today, she talked about it more and while she was playing after dinner, she incorporated some things she has learned.  I love it.  I'm so happy she likes it and that she's learning.