80's Girl

Gracie did her own hairstyle this morning. I think maybe she was born in the wrong decade!

Where Did my Baby Go?

I put Gracie's hair in pigtails today for the first time in a long time and was blown away by how old she looked. I don't think I was really able to capture it in the pictures, but she is definitely looking like a big girl these days! I miss that sweet little baby, but Gracie is so much fun as a toddler and continues to amaze me with what she learns everyday!

Testing the limits

Gracie has found new pleasure in finding trouble. She has a knack for finding the one thing in any room that she should stay away from, and once she's found it, you can bet she'll go back to it over and over and over again.

Our experience this morning is a perfect example. I was trying to get a load of laundry done before heading out for the day, and Gracie was playing in the loft. For months she has ignored the closet in the loft, but this weekend she discovered that it held many new treasures, her favorite being a box that holds place mats and chopsticks. She got it out several times this weekend and Jeff and I made her put it back each time. This morning as I was putting the laundry in, she went straight for the box. (She also has a keen sense for knowing when we're busy and not paying that close of attention.) I walked toward her, and she obviously knew I was going to ask her to put it away because she ran just inside my bedroom.
"Gracie, put that back please," I said in my best "mommy voice".

"Back?" she responded in her cutest voice with a sly smile forming.

"Gracie, bring that here now, please."

"Now?" Her smile is growing bigger.

It was time to bring out my sternest voice..."Gracie....", and do you know what she did?!?! She gave me a huge grin and slammed the door shut! It was a good thing the door was closed so that she couldn't see me lose it and laugh hysterically. I pulled myself together, opened the door, and she ran out and handed me the box.

A few minutes later things were very quiet, so I went to check on her again. This time I found her sitting in her rocking chair reading her Bible. Ahhhh....that's more like it!

I hear her playing in the china cupboard now, so I'm off to another battle! =)

Shirt Heads

Recently Gracie has been learning to take her own clothes off. She's mastered pants and (unfortunately!) diapers. This was her attempt tonight at taking her shirt off. Jeff instantly joined in the fun and they became "shirt heads". It was the end of a long rainy day spent inside and I think we were all feeling a little goofy!

Yogurt

Grace has recently been working on learning to eat using a spoon and fork. She's got the fork down pretty well, but the spoon is another story. This morning I gave her a bowl of yogurt and a spoon to see what would happen. She started out really trying to use the spoon and made quite a mess. The spoon must not have been quite efficient enough, however, because she soon gave up on it and began scooping the yogurt into her mouth using her whole hand. When that wasn't fast enough, she just tilted the bowl up to her face and tried to drink it. You can see from the picture that she made quite a mess, but yogurt supposed to be good for your skin, right!?!? For some reason she thought it was hysterical to stick her finger up her nose every time I tried to take a picture. What a little lady!!!

Inspiration

Blogging is not something that I thought I would ever really try. That is, until recently when on an almost daily basis,Grace does something and I think to myself, "I wish I was recording all of this!" So here I am...recording those precious, hilarious, and sometimes unbelievable things that she does. I know the only people that will probably want to read all of this are her grandparents, and that is totally okay with me.

The event that really inspired me to get started happened a couple days ago and has had me giggling ever since. We were at my parents house celebrating Ryan's birthday. Copper was visiting as well, and for the first time Gracie had really taken a liking to him. She followed him around, teased him with her stuffed monkey, and got a look of simultaneous joy and fear every time her gave her "kisses". At one point, Gracie watched as Copper went over to his water bowl, leaned over, and lapped up a drink with his tongue. She gave him his distance, but as soon as he was done, she headed straight for the water bowl, got down on all fours, leaned over, and used her tongue to get a drink. Of course I stopped her as soon as I noticed, and as she stood up and walked away she kept saying "Mmmmm! Mmmmm! Mmmmm!" like it was the best tasting thing she had ever had. As if that wasn't enough, later that night, Copper got a hold of her water bottle. Instead of trying to get it back, she RAN straight to his water bowl and took another drink. What a funny girl!