Breath of Fresh Air

I wonder where Marlow gets it... she LOVES being outside!! 

I've taken a great interest in finding new "chores" for her to do around the house.  Each morning she helps mommy by watering all the plants and herbs... and herself of course.  She takes great pride in putting her dishes in the sink, throwing away her trash, pushing in her chair after a meal.  She also loves to help with laundry loading and folding.  I take great pleasure in watching her wipe her mouth clean and then wipe her feeding area.  It's adorable!!  At bath time she knows where her towels are and grabs them on her run over to the big girl tub.

When I say run, I mean RUN... the girl has picked up speed lately.  I love watching her turn corners and try to hit the breaks :)

READY?

SET.

GO!

She's been especially proud to climb up on my raised step I use for exercise with no hands and jump down on a 1, 2, 3 count with no hands.  She doesn't quite pronounce "one, two, three" but she thinks she's saying it. 

I've been trying to ask her how old she is and she's finally getting down her response of "ONE!"

She favorite stories lately has been Where's Mommy, and Llama Llama Red Pajama.

Her favorite song is my rendition of something called "You and Me Makes We."  She points to you on the we part and then herself on the me... she LOVES that song!

And to just melt my heart competely.... when asked, "How much do you love me?" she stretches her sweet little arms as far as they can while showing how much she working at it, and says, "Much!"... as in... "this much."

Oh my baby girl is getting to full blown status.  I even tried testing the potty training waters :/

17.5 months and counting...

I can't believe how fast she's growing!!

Favorite books: Shake a Leg, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Head to Toe
She loves making all her animal sounds... especially "meow", "moo", "quack quack", "roar"

Her latest talents include raising her shoulders like a buffalo, stomping like an elephant, clapping like a seal and my ultimate favorite... make a muscle!

She's a hoot. 

My latest strategies to redirect - Coloring!  Which includes me taping large amounts of paper to the counter top.  Finger Painting! - Oh so messy...but we've mastered the clean up. Chalk drawing! - Thanks goodness for the shaded patieo and of course water!  Lately when I go to get her from her crib, she clasps her hands together and tries to wave them around like a fish.  This means she wants to swim.  Sadly our last swim class is next week.  She really did love it.  I can't believe how fast the summer is coming to an end.  I guess you could say this was her first true summer :).  I'm so glad she got to see the beach this summer too.

Marlow finally moved into the big girl bathtub this month and she couldn't be more excited for bath time.  In our defense, we have a very large oversized sink.  We finally gave up the sink when there began to be more water on the floor instead of the sink :(.  My favorite part of the bath is wrapping her up in a hooded towel and then attempting to chase her down while singing The Imperial March.  She looks like a little Darth Vader with a towel cape behind her.

Let's see if I can remember some words she's saying now...  she'll say just about anything you tell her.  There's no way I can remember all of them but here are some fun or new ones.

"Amen!"

"Mama"
"Dada"
"Nana"
"PoPo"
"Bampa"
"MehMeh"
"Auuud" Which is for Audrey
"Bell" For Bella
"Ta" Auntie Tammy

Usually she'll say her friends names like LiLi, Ad-um, Claire...

Funny words
"Uppa" (Up)
"Wok" (Work) sadly she knows this so well because she ALWAYS asks me where daddy is but then answers for me with "Wok".
"Chuk" (Chalk)
"Car"
"Uth-Oh" for some reason she uses this for open
"Wah Wah" (Water)
"Milk" - she just started saying this clearly

Greetings she uses
"Hi!" love this
"Adios"
"BYE!"
"Olah" (Hola)

More summer highlights...