Vroom Vroom!

Yep, we're officially behind again. I'm not sure where the time goes, but instead of trying to play catch up, I figured I'd update on what LC is up to these days. She is at such a fun age, and constantly has Trevor and I laughing. Well, laughing when we're not running to keep up with her or trying to figure out what she is grunting/whining/fussing about. 

Our mini-dictator relaxing in her throne

LC took her first few steps the night before her first birthday, but still preferred crawling as her main method of getting around for a few weeks. She would take a few tentative steps between pieces of furniture, but you could see her little face analyze how far it was she wanted to go and determine that crawling would be faster. Then after a week at the beach around her cousins, or maybe just a new place to explore was inspiring, she started really walking, and she LOVES it. She gets so excited that sometimes she'll squeal and fall over. And she does it monkey style with her hands sort of waving above her head for balance. It is adorable, and still somewhat hard to believe that our little baby can walk around our house. And just like everyone says, you think your house is baby proofed until the next phase comes along, and then all of a sudden she's holding/throwing/eating something you didn't even realize was there. Her last hurdle was learning to stand up on her own; ever since that happened, she's been unstoppable both in the house and out while running errands.  Trying to grocery shop with her has become a bit of a challenge.

She has gotten into cars/any toy with wheels lately and will say 'vroom vroom' when she sees one. She loves when you push a car towards her, and she'll either run towards it or away from it. Trevor and I have taken to naming her various 'vroom vrooms' and the best is the mini VW van with surfboards on top that Trevor has deemed 'dude vroom vroom.' LC and I laugh at it for different reasons. Another one of her favorite activities is being carried around the house to check out everything that is on the walls. It started with Trevor walking around with her to calm her down, and now she just loves it. He points to different pictures on the walls and identifies it. Then one day she started saying a word, which we couldn't quite figure out, and we realized it was 'owl' and she wanted to look at the owl painting in the guest room. It is now one of my favorite things she says. Her pronunciation is actually really good, and she'll be sitting in one room and all of a sudden shout excitedly 'OWL!' and either head toward the guest room or ask to be picked up so she can go touch the owl painting. She's even started saying 'art' and what kind sounds like 'Italy.' It is so cute. 

When were were on vacation at the beach, I was actually worried that she would miss the owl painting. But, no need to worry. There were fake trees in several of the rooms at the beach house, and she quickly learned to say 'tree!' and that became her new favorite item to point at. 

Something else she does that I can't quite figure out is demanding that Trevor and I wear hats/sunglasses/gator beads/whatever random item in her reach. It started because I had a spare baby hat and pair of sunglasses under stroller for our walks. When we would play in the office (where the stroller is parked) she would pick them up and hand them to us and whine until we put them on. Trevor walked in one day to find me in a baby hat and sunglasses while LC played happily with other toys. She gets frustrated if you take either item off, so it's just easier to keep them on. If we're both in the room, she'll randomly take the hat off one of our heads and hand it to the other. Trevor looks hilarious with her little hat on his head while he wears my sunglasses. If we are in a store, and we put our sunglasses on head, she'll reach for them and whine until we put them on. So if anyone sees us wearing our sunglasses around Target, we didn't forget to take them off, we're obeying the wishes of our adorable mini-dictator. 

First time getting dressed by my daughter...only missing the sunglasses

I demand you take this giraffe and hand it immediately back to me

Bed time is still one of our favorite times of day. After her bath, LC loves playing her room with Mommy and Daddy, and pulling all of her diapers out is still a favorite activity. But now she can go get one diaper, and bring it to me and put it on the little changing place we use. She also loves to pick out her pajamas. And by pick out, I mean open the drawer and toss every neatly folded pair on to the floor behind her and then squeal with delight as she tosses them around. She is really starting to understand what we say, which is awesome. If we ask her to bring us an item, she generally can do it. And I can ask her to take something and put it in the trashcan or wherever, and she does that, too. Now if only we could better understand her. She is using quite a few words, but most of the time, she gets really frustrated when she wants something and we can't figure it out. This results in a lot of flailing arms and borderline tatrums until we get it right. 

Fun at dinner time

One word she recently learned that completely melts my heart is Daddy. Except she says it Dad-Deeeee! I love that she says Daddy instead of Dada - it is so cute. She gets so excited to see Trevor and starts squealing Daddy and walking towards him. Or if she hears him someplace else in the house, she will look in that direction and sweetly say 'Daddy?' She is no where near saying M's or Mama, so I will enjoy hearing her say Daddy for now. Also, she is in a bit of a Mommy phase, so her saying Trevor's name with such happiness is a sweet way of her showing how much she loves her Daddy.

The last month has been absolutely incredible.  LC is turning from a "little baby" into a little person.  She's starting to exhibit her personality more, has started testing boundaries with mommy and daddy and is really coming into her own.  Of course she'll always be our little baby girl, but it's been a lot of fun watching her grow and starting to understand us and interact with us a lot more.

Splashing around in her water table

Learning to walk on the grass