20 months

My, oh my, little pumpkin. 20 months! You are the best little girl and your daddy and I are so proud of you and all that you are doing these days. You keep us laughing on a regular basis and we are constantly wondering what we did to deserve such a sweetie. Here is what you are up to:

You have become a talking toddler overnight it seems. You answer questions with a shoulder shrug and nonchalant responses like, "okay," and "sure." WHAT? It is hilarious.
"Grace do you want yogurt with your breakfast?"
(shrug) "Sure."

You love to play with the $2 ball plastic ball we bought you from United.

You are trying so hard with your ABC's. You say "X, Y, Z, Yaaaayyyy!" alot, as well as X, Y, six. You still aren't fond of seven.

You love to draw on any piece of paper with any kind of pen. It's been neat. Ahem.

You go "shopping" almost every day and walk around the house with a United bag picking up whatever you can find, putting it in your bag, dumping it out on the floor, and starting the whole process over again.

You won't finish the last syllable on a lot of your words. You say "pe" for pen, "ba" for bag, and "bih" for bib. You know how, it's almost as if you're just being lazy or using shorthand with your words. It cracks me up.

You have learned your name! It took us awhile, but you will finally say Grace. It actually sounds more like Greece, but whatever works. I will point to my chest and say "mama," then point to you and say "Grace," and you will smile and usually say "daddy."

You have started saying my mama and my daddy. Melts my heart, but I'm not ready for the possessive to be used with words like toys...

You are as stubborn as you are sweet. You tell us "no" when you don't like or want something and when your mind is made up there is no changing it.

You have started pushing the little cart at United. We can only do this when daddy is with us and can supervise, but it is so fun to watch you put things in your basket. The other day you cleared an entire shelf of snoring aid and put in the basket. A stockboy's dream, I'm sure.

Your nana bought you this backpack. You look like you are about to start kindergarten in this picture! Look how cute you are.
You love whole bananas now.

They say the heart of rock and roll is in Cleveland...

and from what I see I believe it!

We had a blast visiting Dan's family last week in Cleveland! His cousin is having a baby in August so we flew up for the baby shower and a family visit. I have lots to share but it will be easiest to show you in pictures!

Grace did AMAZING on the plane. I mean seriously, amazing. She didn't nap much on the way up there, which had us worried, but she still did great. We had a little DVD player that we took so she could watch Sesame Street and she loved it. We even practiced with it before we left so she could get used to the headphones.
Waiting in the Cleveland airport
She was absolutely IN LOVE with her cousins. She wanted Dominic to carry her around and wanted to chase Aidan and Connor around wherever they went.



We had a few footraces and some ice cream,

The old mare ain't what she used to be... but I almost beat him!
Uncle Dan finished the job though! Victory is sweet!!
Aunt Cheri and Beth visited Connor and the twins on Friday afternoon. Aren't they sweet?


Grace loved Aunt Cheri's water fountain out front and had to visit it every time we got home.

The night before we left we packed up a pizza picnic and hung out at the pool. We had such a blast!


I LOVE this picture of Aunt Cheri and Grace! They were having such a good time!




On our way to Pizza Hut after Dominic's baseball game. Dominic's team dominated, of course.
Normal parents dress their kids in outfits like this for a little league baseball game, don't they? Bethie gave me a hard time, but I say there is no time like the present to be fabulous. : )
Making her stank face at the game

We had such a blast and miss all of our Cleveland family so much! Love you guys!

Pool time fun

Man, this little girl loves her papa. I mean, LOVES her papa. She still says his name with an Italian accent, calls him from my speed dial pretty often, and asks for him at least twice a day. She even starts saying his name when we turn on the street by the Sinclair shop! So you can imagine how much fun she has when she and her papa get to play in the pool.

19 ish month update

Sorry, I'm running a little behind. Grace will be (gulp) 20 months in 6 days but here is her 19 month update.

New words:
Oh Boy! (it's actually more like, oooohhhhhhhhhhhh booooyyy!!!), glasses, flower, pretty, bite, toe, feet, all gone, there, picture, whoa baby, chair, shorts, poop, piper (diaper), paper, pen, bib, got it, gotcha, star, no more, bar, and mail.

Other funny words and phrases:
She likes to say, "ere you are!" when we hand her something or we play peek-a-boo

She says "more" or "bite" when she's hungry.

She loves to climb up in a chair and starts clapping and saying "yaayyy!" as soon as she does it.

She says "whheeeeeee!!" whenever she feels like something is fun. Lately she says it in the car when we hit a bump or go over the railroad tracks. So funny.

She has also started saying "choicey" for choices since those are what she makes every day. Love and logic is a big deal in this house.

She says "bess you" when she hears a sneeze or confuses a loud cough for one.

And she says "get that ball" when she brings us her ball of shapes.

She will repeat all of her numbers and the alphabet, but she doesn't like seven or F. This week she has started saying 2, 4, 6, and 8 on her own when we start counting to her.

She loves to throw away trash and hates for her hands to be dirty.

She loves to give high fives. Many times. To everyone she sees.

She has started running up to us and hugging our legs for no reason at all. Melt my heart.

She has started feeding herself with a spoon with no assistance. Man, this is a tough one for me because I hate the mess and prefer control. In the mornings I put two bibs on her and tuck approximately 12 paper towels in her shirt and all over the high chair because half of her food ends up outside the bowl.


She loves to sit in her daddy's lap and eat cereal. And lately she opens the pantry door and grabs the rice chex and starts chowing down.

She is definitely testing us a lot lately. She will look right us and do something she is not supposed to, do something anyway after we tell her no, etc... I really thought we had a few more months before this started, but I was definitely wrong! The problem is not laughing because after we get on to her or spank her hand she will give us a kiss or start pointing to all the features of our face and naming them. She has learned the art of distraction well.

She has started flailing her hands around a lot when she gets excited and ends up hitting us in the face a lot. It drives us crazy. I know she is playing most of the time, but we are still figuring out how to teach her not to hit. It doesn't seem right to spank her hand and say "don't hit!" Dan decided he wanted us to use a spatula instead of our hand to "spank" her so she isn't afraid of our hands. The other day after she repeatedly did something we asked her not to do he tapped the back of her leg so softly with the spatula that she turned around and raised her eyebrows at him and then walked away. We could not stop laughing. Disciplining is hard!

She thinks everything is hot and she says it with a British accent. It is so funny and I will be sad when she starts saying it the right way. She has to blow on every bite of food before she puts it in her mouth. Even the cold stuff.

She loves to say "cheese" and smile for the camera. We are having a ball with her at this phase. She is so funny and seems to do something else new or silly every day. We love you pumpkin!