by David Howie
Aubrey is full of life and personality. And she says the dardest things. When I was in college, we used to carry a paper and pen whenever we went out in groups to write down quotes (I hope that file has been lost forever). We may need to start doing this for Aubrey too. Some examples of her quotes:
Aubrey was lifting something, and we said, “You’re strong, Aubrey.”
Aubrey: “No, I’m not strong.”
Us: “You’re not? Who is?”
Aubrey: “Daddy and God are strong. And Aladdin.”
Aubrey wet her pants during church. I asked her what happened. She said, “Some tee-tee wanted to come out, so I let it.”
Aubrey and Jude were playing on the floor. Every time Jude started playing with something, Aubrey all of the sudden wanted that thing. I told her she couldn’t have all the toys to herself. She said, “But I love to have everything.”
Showing posts with label Aubrey-isms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aubrey-isms. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
My sweet funny girl
Aubrey is as cute and funny as ever these days. Really, just when I think she can't get any more fun, she does. I love being around her, and I'm so happy to get to hang out with her everyday. She has said and done some funny things lately, and I just wanted to write some of them down :)
She is quite the little drama queen. This morning, she and Jude were playing on the floor. She looked at me with a brokenhearted expression on her face and said, "Mommy! Jude keeps crawling away from me, so I'm going to go into your room and lay on that "ting" (thing) and CRY!" (I'm pretty sure "that ting" was the ottoman that we have in our room. She lays across it and cries when she is feeling especially broken hearted over something.) She didn't end up having to go take a cry break after all, though. Guess Jude started cooperating ;)
She is very loving.... on her own terms. Sometimes, I'll ask her for a hug or a kiss and she will say no. I will then say something like, "Awww, that makes me sad! I want a kiss from my girl!" She will reply, "I love you, Mommy, but I don't want to kiss you right now." Haha! Well, alrighty then. But she makes up for it when she runs to me randomly and hugs my legs and tells me that she loves me with NO prompting. Best feeling ever!
The other day, David asked her for a kiss, and she said that she "didn't have any kisses right now." I told her that she did because I could see one on her lips. She thought about that for a minute and then gave us kisses! I couldn't believe that worked!
Aubrey has always LOVED my brother, Joel. My brother Michael is pretty hit or miss with Aubrey, though. Sometimes it seems like it's mostly miss. Bless his heart; he tries so hard to win her love! When we used to ask Aubrey if she liked Uncle Michael, she would say no. We told her that wasn't very nice, so now she will say that she likes Michael "a little bit." Ha! But then sometimes she says that she liked Michael yesterday, but she doesn't like him today. She's such a girl!
Speaking of yesterday and today, Aubrey thinks every time she goes to bed and gets up, it's a new day. So, when she wakes up from her nap, everything that happened that morning was yesterday. We only let her watch one movie a day, and she usually watches it in the morning. She asks to watch another one when she gets up from her nap, and when I tell her that she's already watched one that day, she tells me that that was yesterday. She can't understand why I don't let her watch a movie some days!
Aubrey can count to 12 or 13 by herself. Once she gets to that point, she just starts repeating random numbers. The other day I decided that I should start working with her on this and teach her to count higher. (I've never taught her any numbers; We really don't know how she learned to count as much as she has.) So, after she got to 12, I kept counting, and she would repeat each number after me. We counted to 20, and after she repeated 20, she paused and said, "You didn't say twentyTEEN!" I told her that 20 was just 20. No teen. She didn't really buy that, though. She said again, "You mean twentyTEEN." ;) I have realized lately what a little sponge Aubrey is right now, and I decided that I need to take advantage of that and really be more purposeful about teaching her things.
She knows all of her colors, and that gets me in trouble now. She thinks that if she's wearing a pink shirt, she has to wear pink shoes. If I try to put her white sandals on her, she will tell me that those shoes "don't match because they're white, not pink." I'm trying to explain to her that white goes with almost everything, and that all pinks do NOT match each other ;)
Aubrey still has a crazy memory when it comes to clothes. We went to Bible Study on Tuesday, and David was asking Aubrey about who she played with in the nursery when he got home. She named several children, and then she started telling David what all of them had on. I couldn't remember all of the ones she told him about, but the ones that I did remember, she got right! That's just so crazy to me!
She notices when things are different before I do sometimes. David cleaned out my car the other day, and I didn't even notice right away because I was busy getting Jude and then Aubrey buckled into their carseats. While I was buckling Aubrey, she was looking down at the floorboard. She then asked, "Why is anything not down there, Mommy?" I looked, and sure enough, my car was clean! It cracks David up that our two year old is sometimes more observant than I am. Haha!
I think Aubrey has a great vocabulary and communicates very well. She does get a few words wrong right now, but I think it's cute and don't worry about correcting her at this point. I just think she will pick up the correct words on her own soon. An example of this is that she says "what" instead of "that." She says, "These are the shoes what Daddy put on me." This is really the only example I can think of, so there obviously aren't a lot of words that she messes up.
She is getting more and more self-sufficient. When we are at home, she goes to the bathroom all by herself. I go make sure she's all clean, but she usually doesn't even need my help. She likes to dress herself, and she LOVES to pick out her own clothes (although, I don't let her do that ALL the time ;). She is very specific about how she wants to wear her hair. Her FAVORITE hairdo is a ponytail. She asks to wear her hair in a ponytail every single day. Sometimes I let her, but other times I tell her that I want to be able to see her pretty curls :) She still has never had a haircut!
I love watching Aubrey learn and develop into more of a "little girl" and less of a "toddler." When I start to get sad about Jude getting so old, I look at Aubrey and remember how every stage is the BEST stage. I sometimes wish that I could just freeze time and keep my children exactly as they are now for a while, but then I remind myself that if I had done that a few months ago, I would be missing out on this. And this with my children is the best stage yet!
She is quite the little drama queen. This morning, she and Jude were playing on the floor. She looked at me with a brokenhearted expression on her face and said, "Mommy! Jude keeps crawling away from me, so I'm going to go into your room and lay on that "ting" (thing) and CRY!" (I'm pretty sure "that ting" was the ottoman that we have in our room. She lays across it and cries when she is feeling especially broken hearted over something.) She didn't end up having to go take a cry break after all, though. Guess Jude started cooperating ;)
She is very loving.... on her own terms. Sometimes, I'll ask her for a hug or a kiss and she will say no. I will then say something like, "Awww, that makes me sad! I want a kiss from my girl!" She will reply, "I love you, Mommy, but I don't want to kiss you right now." Haha! Well, alrighty then. But she makes up for it when she runs to me randomly and hugs my legs and tells me that she loves me with NO prompting. Best feeling ever!
The other day, David asked her for a kiss, and she said that she "didn't have any kisses right now." I told her that she did because I could see one on her lips. She thought about that for a minute and then gave us kisses! I couldn't believe that worked!
Aubrey has always LOVED my brother, Joel. My brother Michael is pretty hit or miss with Aubrey, though. Sometimes it seems like it's mostly miss. Bless his heart; he tries so hard to win her love! When we used to ask Aubrey if she liked Uncle Michael, she would say no. We told her that wasn't very nice, so now she will say that she likes Michael "a little bit." Ha! But then sometimes she says that she liked Michael yesterday, but she doesn't like him today. She's such a girl!
Speaking of yesterday and today, Aubrey thinks every time she goes to bed and gets up, it's a new day. So, when she wakes up from her nap, everything that happened that morning was yesterday. We only let her watch one movie a day, and she usually watches it in the morning. She asks to watch another one when she gets up from her nap, and when I tell her that she's already watched one that day, she tells me that that was yesterday. She can't understand why I don't let her watch a movie some days!
Aubrey can count to 12 or 13 by herself. Once she gets to that point, she just starts repeating random numbers. The other day I decided that I should start working with her on this and teach her to count higher. (I've never taught her any numbers; We really don't know how she learned to count as much as she has.) So, after she got to 12, I kept counting, and she would repeat each number after me. We counted to 20, and after she repeated 20, she paused and said, "You didn't say twentyTEEN!" I told her that 20 was just 20. No teen. She didn't really buy that, though. She said again, "You mean twentyTEEN." ;) I have realized lately what a little sponge Aubrey is right now, and I decided that I need to take advantage of that and really be more purposeful about teaching her things.
She knows all of her colors, and that gets me in trouble now. She thinks that if she's wearing a pink shirt, she has to wear pink shoes. If I try to put her white sandals on her, she will tell me that those shoes "don't match because they're white, not pink." I'm trying to explain to her that white goes with almost everything, and that all pinks do NOT match each other ;)
Aubrey still has a crazy memory when it comes to clothes. We went to Bible Study on Tuesday, and David was asking Aubrey about who she played with in the nursery when he got home. She named several children, and then she started telling David what all of them had on. I couldn't remember all of the ones she told him about, but the ones that I did remember, she got right! That's just so crazy to me!
She notices when things are different before I do sometimes. David cleaned out my car the other day, and I didn't even notice right away because I was busy getting Jude and then Aubrey buckled into their carseats. While I was buckling Aubrey, she was looking down at the floorboard. She then asked, "Why is anything not down there, Mommy?" I looked, and sure enough, my car was clean! It cracks David up that our two year old is sometimes more observant than I am. Haha!
I think Aubrey has a great vocabulary and communicates very well. She does get a few words wrong right now, but I think it's cute and don't worry about correcting her at this point. I just think she will pick up the correct words on her own soon. An example of this is that she says "what" instead of "that." She says, "These are the shoes what Daddy put on me." This is really the only example I can think of, so there obviously aren't a lot of words that she messes up.
She is getting more and more self-sufficient. When we are at home, she goes to the bathroom all by herself. I go make sure she's all clean, but she usually doesn't even need my help. She likes to dress herself, and she LOVES to pick out her own clothes (although, I don't let her do that ALL the time ;). She is very specific about how she wants to wear her hair. Her FAVORITE hairdo is a ponytail. She asks to wear her hair in a ponytail every single day. Sometimes I let her, but other times I tell her that I want to be able to see her pretty curls :) She still has never had a haircut!
I love watching Aubrey learn and develop into more of a "little girl" and less of a "toddler." When I start to get sad about Jude getting so old, I look at Aubrey and remember how every stage is the BEST stage. I sometimes wish that I could just freeze time and keep my children exactly as they are now for a while, but then I remind myself that if I had done that a few months ago, I would be missing out on this. And this with my children is the best stage yet!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Why?
This conversation that I had with Aubrey this morning perfectly sums up the stage that she is in. What stage is that? The "WHY?" stage!!!
Aubrey: "Mommy, why did those mean girls break Cinderella's necklace and her dress?"
Me: "Because they didn't want her to go to the ball."
Aubrey: "Why didn't they want Cinderella to go to the ball?"
Me: "Because they didn't want her to dance with the prince. They wanted to dance with the prince themselves."
Aubrey: "Why didn't they want Cinderella to dance with the prince?"
Me: "Because they wanted to dance with him. They were being selfish."
Aubrey: "Why were those mean girls being selfish?"
Me: "Well, because they were mean."
Aubrey: "Why were they mean?"
Me: "I don't really know, Aubrey." (Looking back, I'm thinking this probably would have been a good opportunity to have a deep theological discussion with her. Maybe next time! ;)
Aubrey: "Why don't you know?"
Me: "I just don't know."
Aubrey: "Why you just don't know?"
At that point, I changed the subject and tried to distract her. Thankfully it worked this time! She is not always so easily distracted :) This line of questioning could have literally gone on all day if I had let it. It's cute sometimes.... and sometimes it's tiring! Haha!
On a similar note, Aubrey is completely into all things related to Disney Princesses these days. My mom just gave her the Cinderella DVD, so that is her favorite at the moment. She also LOVES Aladdin. All week, Aubrey has insisted that David is Aladdin, she is Jasmine, and Jude is Abu (the monkey). I'm Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) apparently. What is hilarious is that she calls us these names pretty consistently. I was folding laundry this morning, and Aubrey held up a piece of clothing and said, "Aurora, is this Aladdin's underwear?" Ha! And she will ask me every afternoon if "Aladdin" is almost home from work. The FUNNIEST, though, is when David and I catch ourselves referring to Jude as Abu even when Aubrey isn't in the room. I mean, he does kind of sound like a little monkey when he talks ;) Ha!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wardrobe Woes
Well, I figured it would happen at some point; I just didn't expect it to be so soon. I thought I would have at least another 10 years before it started. What am I referring to? Wardrobe drama with my daughter. Yes, getting dressed and deciding what Aubrey is going to wear each day has now become a MAJOR ordeal at our house. It usually involves weeping and gnashing of teeth. From both of us. How is Aubrey already this opinionated about her clothes at age two and a half??! What is my life going to be like when she is 13??!
I try to let her express her creativity and pick her own outfits when we aren't going anywhere. She likes to pick out some rather colorful ensembles. I'm sure you've noticed that she's usually wearing a pretty off the wall outfit in pictures that I post of her. In case you've forgotten, let me refresh your memory:
Pajama shirt and no pants outside
So yeah, Aubrey definitely has some say in what she wears around the house. However, I'm just NOT going to let my two and a half year old decide what she wears OUT of the house. Maybe I'm mean, but I like to think that I'm just protecting her from herself :) She'll thank me later, I know she will. She doesn't see it quite like that right now, though. I have just come to accept the fact that there is going to be a HUGE meltdown when it comes time to get dressed to go out. And it does not matter what I pick out for her to wear. She NEVER wants to wear it. Sometimes, I've already picked out her clothes and ironed them, and she decides she wants to wear something else. The thing that she wants to wear might actually be a "real outfit" that I would be ok with her wearing if I hadn't already ironed something else and gotten the shoes/bow to go with it (we're always running late and I just don't have time for a last minute outfit swap). So the next day, I decide that I'll let her wear the outfit that she was having a FIT to wear the day before. But it's too late. She is completely over that outfit and has her heart set on a different one. Different day, different favorite outfit, new meltdown. So, basically, I can't win!
Also, Aubrey will NOT keep her shoes on when we get in the car. I'm always having to put shoes and socks on when we get where we're going. I know this is pretty common, though. She doesn't really care for bows anymore, either. She used to LOVE bows, but now she rarely wants to wear them. She will tolerate them for a little while, but she usually ends up ripping them out of her hair and totally messing up her hair. She then looks like she has bed head after ripping a bow out of it! Ha!
Seriously, Aubrey has recently developed some VERY strong ideas about what she does and doesn't want to wear. The child changes clothes no less than 5 times a day. Sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) there is a pile of clean "baby laundry" in the floor of my room waiting to be put away. I can just never stay on top of this because really the only time to fold laundry is when my little "helper" is sleeping, otherwise my neatly folded piles end up strewn all over the place and not so neat and not so folded. However, it's kind of hard to fold and put away laundry when the kids are sleeping if the laundry needs to be put away in the kids' rooms. Plus, I feel like I literally do a HUGE load of Aubrey and Jude's laundry every other day. (Have I mentioned that we're potty training and that Aubrey changes clothes 5 times a day?) So, Aubrey usually has a nice little stack of clothes to choose from conveniently located right in the floor of my room. This makes it very easy for her to slip in there and do a quick wardrobe change whenever the urge strikes her. And it apparently strikes her a lot.
I try to let her express her creativity and pick her own outfits when we aren't going anywhere. She likes to pick out some rather colorful ensembles. I'm sure you've noticed that she's usually wearing a pretty off the wall outfit in pictures that I post of her. In case you've forgotten, let me refresh your memory:
Pink on Pink
Mismatched BOY pajamas
Pajama shirt and no pants outside
Christmas shirt in April with random pajama bottoms
Just clashes
So yeah, Aubrey definitely has some say in what she wears around the house. However, I'm just NOT going to let my two and a half year old decide what she wears OUT of the house. Maybe I'm mean, but I like to think that I'm just protecting her from herself :) She'll thank me later, I know she will. She doesn't see it quite like that right now, though. I have just come to accept the fact that there is going to be a HUGE meltdown when it comes time to get dressed to go out. And it does not matter what I pick out for her to wear. She NEVER wants to wear it. Sometimes, I've already picked out her clothes and ironed them, and she decides she wants to wear something else. The thing that she wants to wear might actually be a "real outfit" that I would be ok with her wearing if I hadn't already ironed something else and gotten the shoes/bow to go with it (we're always running late and I just don't have time for a last minute outfit swap). So the next day, I decide that I'll let her wear the outfit that she was having a FIT to wear the day before. But it's too late. She is completely over that outfit and has her heart set on a different one. Different day, different favorite outfit, new meltdown. So, basically, I can't win!
I'm kind of speaking lightly and jokingly about all of this, but it really is stressful. I used to love picking out Aubrey's clothes and getting her dressed and fixing her hair and putting her bow and shoes on. Now it's something I pretty much dread, because I know what an ordeal it's going to be. I'm also having to teach her that throwing fits when she doesn't get her way is never acceptable behavior. It seems silly that something as simple as clothes has now lead to major disciplinary issues. I want to give her some independence, and that's why I do let her wear whatever she wants around the house, and I try to work with her and pick stuff that I think she likes. But, at the end of the day, she just has to learn that she can't be in charge of everything, and if it takes something like clothes to teach her that, well, I guess that's just how it's going to be. I'm also having to crack down on the number of times a day that she can change clothes. Of course she changes clothes if she has an accident, and I let her change when we get home if I have made her wear something that she hates. I just can't stay on top of the laundry if she changes 12 times a day!
Also, Aubrey will NOT keep her shoes on when we get in the car. I'm always having to put shoes and socks on when we get where we're going. I know this is pretty common, though. She doesn't really care for bows anymore, either. She used to LOVE bows, but now she rarely wants to wear them. She will tolerate them for a little while, but she usually ends up ripping them out of her hair and totally messing up her hair. She then looks like she has bed head after ripping a bow out of it! Ha!
So, all that to say, we're having some trouble in the clothing department at the Howie house. I'm praying that this isn't a sign of things to come in her teenage years. Maybe she is getting all of her wardrobe angst of of her system now and it will be smooth sailing from here on out? Maybe? Am I the only one with a two year old who is this opinionated, or is this normal??
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Faith like a Child
We had some severe weather here on Monday. I know that's shocking [not!]. It's a storm a week around these parts ;-) You can only imagine how much I'm enjoying that. Anyway, the storms hit while David was still at work this time, and that's pretty much terrible in my book. The only thing I hate more than tornadoes/bad weather is being home by myself [with the kids] in tornadoes/bad weather. Ughhh. I really tried to remain calm and composed and act like an adult so as not to terrify Aubrey. I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself :-) Aubrey and I had some pretty cute conversations during the bad weather, and I wanted to "write them down."
At one point, the kids and I were sitting on the couch watching "the weather." I kept referring to it as the weather, so Aubrey thought the bad weather was on the TV only. I was on the phone with my mom, and I said, "Ahhhh, I just hate this weather!!" Aubrey went and turned the TV off, and I told her to turn it back on so that I would know what was going on. To which she replied, "But Mommy, you don't like it!" I thought it was so sweet that she was trying to turn it off because she heard me say that I didn't like it.
A little while later, I was explaining to Aubrey that some bad weather might come to our house and that it might thunder and rain and that we might even have to go sit in the bathroom. I told her not to be afraid though, because Jude and I would be in the bathroom with her and that God would be with us and that He was stronger than the bad weather. She then asked me where God was. I said, "God is everywhere. He is right here with us right now. Isn't that great?!" She looked around and pointed to the TV and said, "Is he right there in that weather?" I told her that He was there, too. I repeated that God is everywhere. She seemed to accept that and said, "Ok, Mommy." She was watching the TV real closely after that, and a minute later she asked me again where God was. I thought she was just repeating the same question I had already answered, so I went into the whole "God is everywhere even though we don't see Him" speech again, but Aubrey cut in and said excitedly, "OH! There's God!" I looked at the TV and realized that, when she asked me that question, they were showing some weather maps, and when she cut in, they had gone back to showing the meteorologist. It dawned on me then that Aubrey thought the METEOROLOGIST ON TV WAS GOD! Oh my goodness. That made me laugh in spite of my terror over the weather. I quickly said, "Oh no! That's not God, Aubrey. His name is David, and he is just a man." Aubrey replied, "Oh, his name is David like you call Daddy David." Haha! Well, yes. But she was right back to asking where God was if that man wasn't God. I told her that God was right there with us. She kept saying that she couldn't see Him. I tried to explain that He doesn't have a body and we can't see Him, but He is with us, and He can hear us. She finally just gave up and said, "I don't know where He is, Mommy." It was so cute, and I said a little prayer right there that God would work in her little heart and give her understanding and faith.
We did end up having to go into the bathroom for a little while, and I suggested that we say a prayer and ask God to protect us. I started praying, and Aubrey cut in and prayed too, which I love. After the prayer was over, Aubrey said, "God is going to protect us, but when my Daddy gets home He won't need to protect us anymore." Ha! I have no clue where she comes up with these things. I told her that Daddy was strong but that God was even STRONGER! :-)
Thankfully, we made it through the whole experience in one piece. And I think Aubrey is now thoroughly confused about where God is :-) I love having conversations like these with her, even though I feel like my answers to her questions are completely inadequate. Hopefully little seeds are being planted in her heart and those seeds will take root and grow one day soon :-)
At one point, the kids and I were sitting on the couch watching "the weather." I kept referring to it as the weather, so Aubrey thought the bad weather was on the TV only. I was on the phone with my mom, and I said, "Ahhhh, I just hate this weather!!" Aubrey went and turned the TV off, and I told her to turn it back on so that I would know what was going on. To which she replied, "But Mommy, you don't like it!" I thought it was so sweet that she was trying to turn it off because she heard me say that I didn't like it.
A little while later, I was explaining to Aubrey that some bad weather might come to our house and that it might thunder and rain and that we might even have to go sit in the bathroom. I told her not to be afraid though, because Jude and I would be in the bathroom with her and that God would be with us and that He was stronger than the bad weather. She then asked me where God was. I said, "God is everywhere. He is right here with us right now. Isn't that great?!" She looked around and pointed to the TV and said, "Is he right there in that weather?" I told her that He was there, too. I repeated that God is everywhere. She seemed to accept that and said, "Ok, Mommy." She was watching the TV real closely after that, and a minute later she asked me again where God was. I thought she was just repeating the same question I had already answered, so I went into the whole "God is everywhere even though we don't see Him" speech again, but Aubrey cut in and said excitedly, "OH! There's God!" I looked at the TV and realized that, when she asked me that question, they were showing some weather maps, and when she cut in, they had gone back to showing the meteorologist. It dawned on me then that Aubrey thought the METEOROLOGIST ON TV WAS GOD! Oh my goodness. That made me laugh in spite of my terror over the weather. I quickly said, "Oh no! That's not God, Aubrey. His name is David, and he is just a man." Aubrey replied, "Oh, his name is David like you call Daddy David." Haha! Well, yes. But she was right back to asking where God was if that man wasn't God. I told her that God was right there with us. She kept saying that she couldn't see Him. I tried to explain that He doesn't have a body and we can't see Him, but He is with us, and He can hear us. She finally just gave up and said, "I don't know where He is, Mommy." It was so cute, and I said a little prayer right there that God would work in her little heart and give her understanding and faith.
We did end up having to go into the bathroom for a little while, and I suggested that we say a prayer and ask God to protect us. I started praying, and Aubrey cut in and prayed too, which I love. After the prayer was over, Aubrey said, "God is going to protect us, but when my Daddy gets home He won't need to protect us anymore." Ha! I have no clue where she comes up with these things. I told her that Daddy was strong but that God was even STRONGER! :-)
Thankfully, we made it through the whole experience in one piece. And I think Aubrey is now thoroughly confused about where God is :-) I love having conversations like these with her, even though I feel like my answers to her questions are completely inadequate. Hopefully little seeds are being planted in her heart and those seeds will take root and grow one day soon :-)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Aubrey Funny
Tonight we took dinner to a family who recently had a baby. David was at karate, so my mom came and rode with us just for fun and so she could see the kids. On the way there and back, Aubrey talked our ears off, as usual. At one point, she randomly said the following:
"Gramzie, sometimes Mommy spanks Daddy."
My mom threw me a look like "What am I about to hear and do I really want to hear it?!" Haha! She said, "Oh really?"
And Aubrey said, "She spanks him if he doesn't wear pants to his office."
Well, yes, I guess that actually would call for a spanking. You just never know what is going to come out of that girl's mouth!
"Gramzie, sometimes Mommy spanks Daddy."
My mom threw me a look like "What am I about to hear and do I really want to hear it?!" Haha! She said, "Oh really?"
And Aubrey said, "She spanks him if he doesn't wear pants to his office."
Well, yes, I guess that actually would call for a spanking. You just never know what is going to come out of that girl's mouth!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
2.5 part 2
by David Howie
Carrie forgot a few things that Aubrey is doing at her 2.5th birthday, and of course I have a different perspective on some things. At age two and a half, Aubrey is also...
...very precise. Example conversations include:
- "I like your red shirt." "That's a dress."
- "Let's rinse the soap off." "That's called shampoo."
And many more. I love it.
...happy to see her daddy. When I get home from work, she comes running to the door giggling. It's the most amazing thing ever.
...a great big sister. She loves Jude. She'll lay by him on the floor and tickle him. She's very helpful in fetching things for him like his paci, a toy, or an extra diaper. And she loves having him sit in her lap. It's super cute.
...a Beauty and the Beast fanatic. She got the DVD for Christmas and didn't watch it at all for months. She's not much of a tv girl - too active. But when we were all sick, we put in the DVD. Carrie said, "You think she'll last 15 minutes?" I think she watched it like 5 times over the next 3 days. Yesterday she watched it 3 times. It's nice to have something to take her attention and keep her quiet, but we don't want her to be a tv zombie. Plus I hum "Be Our Guest" to myself at work now. I comfort myself with the fact that she's so into the movie because we started with reading the book to her.
...an outdoor lover. She's always ready to go outside. It's about the only thing she likes more than watching Beauty and the Beast. She likes to play on the deck and walk on the sidewalk. She's good about not going in the street. She's much more wary of Knightly now. She used to be fearless, but now she understands what it means to be knocked down by a crazy dog.
...a little big bigger than average. She's about 29 pounds and 36 inches tall - both 55th percentile.
...my precious little girl. Don't grow up so fast.
Carrie forgot a few things that Aubrey is doing at her 2.5th birthday, and of course I have a different perspective on some things. At age two and a half, Aubrey is also...
...very precise. Example conversations include:
- "Look at that red car." "That's a truck."
- "There's Gramzie's car." "Gramzie has a van."
- "Don't poke your finger in Jude's eye." "That's a thumb."- "There's Gramzie's car." "Gramzie has a van."
- "I like your red shirt." "That's a dress."
- "Let's rinse the soap off." "That's called shampoo."
And many more. I love it.
...happy to see her daddy. When I get home from work, she comes running to the door giggling. It's the most amazing thing ever.
...a great big sister. She loves Jude. She'll lay by him on the floor and tickle him. She's very helpful in fetching things for him like his paci, a toy, or an extra diaper. And she loves having him sit in her lap. It's super cute.
...a Beauty and the Beast fanatic. She got the DVD for Christmas and didn't watch it at all for months. She's not much of a tv girl - too active. But when we were all sick, we put in the DVD. Carrie said, "You think she'll last 15 minutes?" I think she watched it like 5 times over the next 3 days. Yesterday she watched it 3 times. It's nice to have something to take her attention and keep her quiet, but we don't want her to be a tv zombie. Plus I hum "Be Our Guest" to myself at work now. I comfort myself with the fact that she's so into the movie because we started with reading the book to her.
...an outdoor lover. She's always ready to go outside. It's about the only thing she likes more than watching Beauty and the Beast. She likes to play on the deck and walk on the sidewalk. She's good about not going in the street. She's much more wary of Knightly now. She used to be fearless, but now she understands what it means to be knocked down by a crazy dog.
...a little big bigger than average. She's about 29 pounds and 36 inches tall - both 55th percentile.
...my precious little girl. Don't grow up so fast.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
2.5
My sweet little baby girl is two and a half years old, as of today! That really blows my mind. I cannot believe that she is half-way to being THREE. I really feel like we literally just had her second birthday party about a month ago, and now we're half-way to another one. In honor of her half birthday, I wanted to "write down" some things that she's up to these days now that she is practically grown ;-)
At two and a half years old, Aubrey...
...Is potty training! We've been working on it all week, and she is really doing great! We're still figuring out the best way to go about it, so I'll post more details when we have it all figured out. (What am I saying? We'll never have it all figured out!) :-)
...Is super attached to her "baby Belle." You'll notice the doll in most of these pictures. She is a little Belle doll (from Beauty and the Beast), and Aubrey got her for Christmas. She decided that Belle is her new best friend recently. That doll goes just about everywhere with us. She just LOVES Belle. She tries to "blame" things on Belle, which is so funny to me. Sometimes if I tell her to do something that she doesn't want to do, she will say, "But Belle doesn't want to." Ha! Of course she doesn't get away with that ;-) 
...Still sleeps in her crib. She climbed out of her crib once several months ago, and I thought for sure that the crib days were drawing to a close. She hasn't climbed out since, though, and I'm SO thankful. Mommy just isn't ready for that transition just yet! She sleeps great, but she has been waking up earlier and earlier lately. She usually gets about 12 hours of sleep a day, including her nap. 
...Has strong opinions about what she likes to eat. She can usually tell me exactly what she is "in the mood for" for a meal. Sometimes I let her pick what she wants (like for breakfast or lunch), but other times she just has to eat what I give her. Or NOT eat it, as is usually the case ;-) In the nursery at church, they get a little snack, and they sometimes give them little gummy snacks. Aubrey loves those things and begs for "yummies" all the time. I got her some little fruit chews for special treats to have at home, and she thinks that is just awesome. Her favorite thing to drink is "yemonade" (lemonade). 
...Talks non-stop. We have real conversations now, and I just love that. I think it's so fun that she has a mind of her of own now and can express her own opinions. She doesn't just repeat phrases that she's heard us say; she comes up with things all on her own now, and it's HILARIOUS. I told David the other day that I really feel like she is my little companion now. I've always enjoyed her company since the day she was born, but it feels more like I have a little buddy here with me everyday (as opposed to a baby who doesn't provide a whole lot of [verbal] feedback). It's so fun!
...Knows her colors. She gets blue and green confused sometimes, but she is very good at identifying colors. Of course her absolute favorite color in PINK. She tells me frequently, "Mommy, I love pink." She also loves purple and red :-)
...Loves to point out when things "match." If we both have on blue jeans, she will put her leg up to mine and say, "Look! They match!" She will do the same thing if we're wearing the same color. If we're both barefoot, she will put her foot next to mine and say, "We both have 'naken' (naked) feet!"
...Enjoys reading books. She loves it when we read to her, and she picks out which book she wants us to read to her before nap and bedtime. She has little names for her books, and she can recite pages from memory on her favorite books that we read the most often. I'm so glad she enjoys books and hope she always loves to read. 
...Loves playing with her Legos! She will sit and build "towers" with her Legos for the longest time. I love them, too, because they are a nice quiet toy ;-) She builds "arks" for us, and she usually does some kind of pattern with the colors. She's quite artistic with her Legos. Ha! 
...Reminds me to pray and thank God for her food if I forget. I love this. She will also randomly thank God for things. I love to hear her talk to God. I pray that the Lord is working in her heart even now to draw her to Himself. I hope that she loves the Lord more than anything and never remembers a day when she didn't love and talk to Him about everything. This is our greatest prayer and hope for our children. There is nothing I want more than to know that my children are His.
This little list really doesn't even scratch the surface about how funny and cute and smart we think Aubrey is. She and Jude are the apples of our eyes, and we think everything they do is spectacular. (Except the temper tantrums and disobedience of course! ;-) Second only to my salvation, Aubrey really is one of the biggest blessings in my life (along with David and Jude), and I am humbled and blessed to call her my daughter! Happy HALF birthday, sweet Aubrey! I love you so much! :-)
At two and a half years old, Aubrey...
...Is potty training! We've been working on it all week, and she is really doing great! We're still figuring out the best way to go about it, so I'll post more details when we have it all figured out. (What am I saying? We'll never have it all figured out!) :-)
...Is super attached to her "baby Belle." You'll notice the doll in most of these pictures. She is a little Belle doll (from Beauty and the Beast), and Aubrey got her for Christmas. She decided that Belle is her new best friend recently. That doll goes just about everywhere with us. She just LOVES Belle. She tries to "blame" things on Belle, which is so funny to me. Sometimes if I tell her to do something that she doesn't want to do, she will say, "But Belle doesn't want to." Ha! Of course she doesn't get away with that ;-) 
...Still sleeps in her crib. She climbed out of her crib once several months ago, and I thought for sure that the crib days were drawing to a close. She hasn't climbed out since, though, and I'm SO thankful. Mommy just isn't ready for that transition just yet! She sleeps great, but she has been waking up earlier and earlier lately. She usually gets about 12 hours of sleep a day, including her nap. 
...Has strong opinions about what she likes to eat. She can usually tell me exactly what she is "in the mood for" for a meal. Sometimes I let her pick what she wants (like for breakfast or lunch), but other times she just has to eat what I give her. Or NOT eat it, as is usually the case ;-) In the nursery at church, they get a little snack, and they sometimes give them little gummy snacks. Aubrey loves those things and begs for "yummies" all the time. I got her some little fruit chews for special treats to have at home, and she thinks that is just awesome. Her favorite thing to drink is "yemonade" (lemonade). 
...Talks non-stop. We have real conversations now, and I just love that. I think it's so fun that she has a mind of her of own now and can express her own opinions. She doesn't just repeat phrases that she's heard us say; she comes up with things all on her own now, and it's HILARIOUS. I told David the other day that I really feel like she is my little companion now. I've always enjoyed her company since the day she was born, but it feels more like I have a little buddy here with me everyday (as opposed to a baby who doesn't provide a whole lot of [verbal] feedback). It's so fun!
...Knows her colors. She gets blue and green confused sometimes, but she is very good at identifying colors. Of course her absolute favorite color in PINK. She tells me frequently, "Mommy, I love pink." She also loves purple and red :-)
...Loves to point out when things "match." If we both have on blue jeans, she will put her leg up to mine and say, "Look! They match!" She will do the same thing if we're wearing the same color. If we're both barefoot, she will put her foot next to mine and say, "We both have 'naken' (naked) feet!"
...Enjoys reading books. She loves it when we read to her, and she picks out which book she wants us to read to her before nap and bedtime. She has little names for her books, and she can recite pages from memory on her favorite books that we read the most often. I'm so glad she enjoys books and hope she always loves to read. 
...Loves playing with her Legos! She will sit and build "towers" with her Legos for the longest time. I love them, too, because they are a nice quiet toy ;-) She builds "arks" for us, and she usually does some kind of pattern with the colors. She's quite artistic with her Legos. Ha! 
...Reminds me to pray and thank God for her food if I forget. I love this. She will also randomly thank God for things. I love to hear her talk to God. I pray that the Lord is working in her heart even now to draw her to Himself. I hope that she loves the Lord more than anything and never remembers a day when she didn't love and talk to Him about everything. This is our greatest prayer and hope for our children. There is nothing I want more than to know that my children are His.This little list really doesn't even scratch the surface about how funny and cute and smart we think Aubrey is. She and Jude are the apples of our eyes, and we think everything they do is spectacular. (Except the temper tantrums and disobedience of course! ;-) Second only to my salvation, Aubrey really is one of the biggest blessings in my life (along with David and Jude), and I am humbled and blessed to call her my daughter! Happy HALF birthday, sweet Aubrey! I love you so much! :-)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Random Ramblings
-Yesterday was a fun day! Ashley was in town for a quick trip, and, since Sarah Denley is currently on bedrest, we met at her house for lunch. It was so fun and especially exciting, because Ashley announced that they got a referral that morning! That means they have a sweet baby boy waiting for them in Korea! We were so thrilled for them, and it was exciting to hear the news in person and "hot off the press." Fun fact: their baby boy and Jude are almost exactly the same age! :-) Anyway, we were joking yesterday about how every time Ashley comes to town, there is "baby news." Last time she was here, SD announced that she was pregnant with baby Graves, and this time Ashley had the baby news. I told David that the pressure is on for me to have some kind of baby announcement the next time Ashley comes. He said she better not be coming for a while then. Ha! I'm sure I'll wear him down eventually ;-) Haha!
-Today has been rainy and overcast, which is actually my favorite kind of weather. Except when there are tornado watches. Which there are tonight. Ughh. I hate spring in the South, because I can't even enjoy a good rainy day without worrying about dang tornadoes!
-Jude has been sleeping pretty good in his bed. He's been waking up at 3:20 the past few nights, though. It's a little tricky to get him back to sleep. That's still an improvement over how he was sleeping in our room. He was waking up several times a night then, and I was feeding him at least once. I haven't been feeding him until the early morning lately. Naps are still hit or miss, but they are MUCH more frequent than they were a month ago, so I'm trying to remain positive. I've learned that if Jude doesn't get his morning nap, I might as well hang it up for the day. That's tough, because if we do anything (lunch, errands, Bible Study, park), he will almost definitely not get a morning nap. Today we went to Bible Study, and he doesn't really nap in the nursery. He got a little catnap in his seat because we ran to Kroger afterward. I've pretty much spent the entire rest of the afternoon trying to get him to nap. I've tried letting him cry, rocking him, walking around with him, nursing him, and just letting him sit in my lap. He just finally went to sleep a few minutes ago, and I bet he'll be up in 20 minutes. It's frustrating, because he is SO exhausted he can barely hold his eyes open, but he just won't give it up when he gets overtired. Poor guy. Anyway, the sleep situation is definitely not perfect around here, but it's much improved.
-Aubrey makes me laugh so much these days. She is so vocal, and she's LOUD. We were in Target the other day, and a mother and a little girl walked by us. The little girl was wearing a cute little outfit and soccer cleats. Aubrey asked me VERY loudly why "that girl" was wearing boy shoes? Haha! The mom kind of gave me a dirty look :-/ Aubrey isn't the greatest at sharing. I think this is partly her age, and partly the fact that she doesn't really have to share her stuff with anyone at home (yet!). We've really been working with her on sharing, and anytime she does give a toy to Jude or something like that, we make a big deal out of it and tell her how great it is to share. So now, if another child has a toy that she wants, she thinks she can just go grab it and yell, "You need to SHARE!" at the child. Oh boy. So now, we're working on teaching her that SHE needs to share and not worry about other kids. This parenting stuff can be hard! ;-)
-I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in about 2 weeks. It wasn't fun. And I had to go by myself because Rebekkah is out of town, so that made it even worse. I need to crack down though, because we're going to the beach in a couple of months!! I'm SO excited about it! We're going with the Arants and taking all the kids, so that should be an adventure! I can't wait to see how the kids like the beach. Anyway, my goal is to be at least presentable in a bathing suit by the time we go. It's funny the way your goals change after having kids. I don't even expect to look good; I just don't want to look gross. Haha :)
-I guess I should go try to do at least one productive thing today before Jude wakes up. Happy Tuesday!
PS - So much for doing something productive. Jude was awake before I could even publish this post. Oh well!
-Today has been rainy and overcast, which is actually my favorite kind of weather. Except when there are tornado watches. Which there are tonight. Ughh. I hate spring in the South, because I can't even enjoy a good rainy day without worrying about dang tornadoes!
-Jude has been sleeping pretty good in his bed. He's been waking up at 3:20 the past few nights, though. It's a little tricky to get him back to sleep. That's still an improvement over how he was sleeping in our room. He was waking up several times a night then, and I was feeding him at least once. I haven't been feeding him until the early morning lately. Naps are still hit or miss, but they are MUCH more frequent than they were a month ago, so I'm trying to remain positive. I've learned that if Jude doesn't get his morning nap, I might as well hang it up for the day. That's tough, because if we do anything (lunch, errands, Bible Study, park), he will almost definitely not get a morning nap. Today we went to Bible Study, and he doesn't really nap in the nursery. He got a little catnap in his seat because we ran to Kroger afterward. I've pretty much spent the entire rest of the afternoon trying to get him to nap. I've tried letting him cry, rocking him, walking around with him, nursing him, and just letting him sit in my lap. He just finally went to sleep a few minutes ago, and I bet he'll be up in 20 minutes. It's frustrating, because he is SO exhausted he can barely hold his eyes open, but he just won't give it up when he gets overtired. Poor guy. Anyway, the sleep situation is definitely not perfect around here, but it's much improved.
-Aubrey makes me laugh so much these days. She is so vocal, and she's LOUD. We were in Target the other day, and a mother and a little girl walked by us. The little girl was wearing a cute little outfit and soccer cleats. Aubrey asked me VERY loudly why "that girl" was wearing boy shoes? Haha! The mom kind of gave me a dirty look :-/ Aubrey isn't the greatest at sharing. I think this is partly her age, and partly the fact that she doesn't really have to share her stuff with anyone at home (yet!). We've really been working with her on sharing, and anytime she does give a toy to Jude or something like that, we make a big deal out of it and tell her how great it is to share. So now, if another child has a toy that she wants, she thinks she can just go grab it and yell, "You need to SHARE!" at the child. Oh boy. So now, we're working on teaching her that SHE needs to share and not worry about other kids. This parenting stuff can be hard! ;-)
-I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in about 2 weeks. It wasn't fun. And I had to go by myself because Rebekkah is out of town, so that made it even worse. I need to crack down though, because we're going to the beach in a couple of months!! I'm SO excited about it! We're going with the Arants and taking all the kids, so that should be an adventure! I can't wait to see how the kids like the beach. Anyway, my goal is to be at least presentable in a bathing suit by the time we go. It's funny the way your goals change after having kids. I don't even expect to look good; I just don't want to look gross. Haha :)
-I guess I should go try to do at least one productive thing today before Jude wakes up. Happy Tuesday!
PS - So much for doing something productive. Jude was awake before I could even publish this post. Oh well!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Sweet Conversation
Yesterday, David found a turtle in our backyard, and he let Aubrey look at it and "play" with it for a while. (She didn't actually play with it -- apparently she was real unsure about it and just kind of looked at it.) After a while, we took it out of the backyard and released it somewhere where our dog couldn't get it. Aubrey couldn't understand why we were letting the turtle go, and we told her that we were sending it back to it's family because they probably missed it.
Well, today we were outside, and she asked about the turtle. I reminded her that it went back to it's family. I asked her if she knew who her family was.
She said, "You and Daddy and Jude!"
I replied, "Aww, that's right, and we love you so much!"
She just smiled and said with no prompting, "Thank you God for my family!"
It was the sweetest thing I have ever heard and almost brought me to tears. I said, "That is SO SWEET, Aubrey! Thank you God for Aubrey!"
And then Aubrey said, "That's SO sweet, Mommy!"
Love that little girl :)
Well, today we were outside, and she asked about the turtle. I reminded her that it went back to it's family. I asked her if she knew who her family was.
She said, "You and Daddy and Jude!"
I replied, "Aww, that's right, and we love you so much!"
She just smiled and said with no prompting, "Thank you God for my family!"
It was the sweetest thing I have ever heard and almost brought me to tears. I said, "That is SO SWEET, Aubrey! Thank you God for Aubrey!"
And then Aubrey said, "That's SO sweet, Mommy!"
Love that little girl :)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Talking and Talking
I think Aubrey has officially entered the stage where she is going to start saying things that embarrass me to death. She just says whatever pops into her head, and she says everything loudly. We were in Target tonight, and there was a lady in a wheel chair. A teenage looking boy was pushing her around, and Aubrey remarked (in a very loud voice, of course), "Mommy, look at that little boy in that big stroller!" We saw them again later, and she said, "There's that little boy (it was a woman) in that big stroller again, Mommy!" I tried to hustle her in the opposite direction every time I saw them coming after that. Haha!
When we were in the car tonight, Jude was blowing raspberries in his car seat. Aubrey was very concerned about the fact that he was spitting. She kept telling him in the bossiest tone you can imagine, "Stop spitting, Jude!" Or, "Stop spitting right now! You can only spit outside, Jude!!" (She knows that from experience!)
I told her to give me a kiss today, and she said that she couldn't kiss me on the lips because she was sick and had germs. I said I thought she was well. She said she had a cough, and I reminded her that she hadn't been coughing lately. Oddly enough, right about then, she was seized by a (fake) coughing spell. Ha!
And finally, who knew a crib could be such a danger zone!? The poor girl "hurts" herself constantly while she is in her crib "trying to go to sleep" for her nap. It's just the strangest thing. She calls me up there about every 30 seconds to kiss her forehead, her hand, her leg, etc. I think someone is becoming a little expert on stalling naptime! ;)
Aubrey keeps me laughing, for sure. She's got plenty of personality, and I wouldn't have it any other way!
When we were in the car tonight, Jude was blowing raspberries in his car seat. Aubrey was very concerned about the fact that he was spitting. She kept telling him in the bossiest tone you can imagine, "Stop spitting, Jude!" Or, "Stop spitting right now! You can only spit outside, Jude!!" (She knows that from experience!)
I told her to give me a kiss today, and she said that she couldn't kiss me on the lips because she was sick and had germs. I said I thought she was well. She said she had a cough, and I reminded her that she hadn't been coughing lately. Oddly enough, right about then, she was seized by a (fake) coughing spell. Ha!
And finally, who knew a crib could be such a danger zone!? The poor girl "hurts" herself constantly while she is in her crib "trying to go to sleep" for her nap. It's just the strangest thing. She calls me up there about every 30 seconds to kiss her forehead, her hand, her leg, etc. I think someone is becoming a little expert on stalling naptime! ;)
Aubrey keeps me laughing, for sure. She's got plenty of personality, and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
the little things
by David Howie
I was getting Aubrey ready for bed tonight like usual, and she was extra full of it - just running around and playing. I managed to get her teeth brushed and then I was changing her diaper. I was literally like up to my elbows in "it". Aubrey was just laughing and laughing.
Aubrey: I'm not sad. I'm not sad.
Me: You're not sad. That's good.
Aubrey: I'm happy. I'm happy.
Me: I'm glad you're happy.
Aubrey: I'm happy.
Me: Why are you happy?
Aubrey: Because you love me.
Oh. Wow.
I was getting Aubrey ready for bed tonight like usual, and she was extra full of it - just running around and playing. I managed to get her teeth brushed and then I was changing her diaper. I was literally like up to my elbows in "it". Aubrey was just laughing and laughing.
Aubrey: I'm not sad. I'm not sad.
Me: You're not sad. That's good.
Aubrey: I'm happy. I'm happy.
Me: I'm glad you're happy.
Aubrey: I'm happy.
Me: Why are you happy?
Aubrey: Because you love me.
Oh. Wow.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Aubrey-isms
Aubrey is as funny and cute as ever! She keeps me laughing everyday, for sure. Here are a few cute things she had said and done lately:
-David started this thing where every time he would change Aubrey's diaper, he would say, "Hello, clean diaper!" when he got the new diaper out and put it on her. Now, she thinks diapers are called "hello clean diapers." She uses it as a title rather than a greeting. Ha! When I get her out of the bath, she is quick to tell me that she needs a "hello clean diaper!" She offers to get a "hello clean diaper" for Jude frequently. The funniest is when she is being whiny about getting her diaper changed, and she says in the most pitiful, sad voice you can imagine, "I don't want a hello clean diaper." TOO hilarious!
-Aubrey is very opinionated. It's rare that that girl doesn't have an opinion about something, especially clothes. It seems like she never wants to wear what I consider to be her cutest clothes. Of course, I'm not letting my two year old completely control her wardrobe at this point, so I do make her wear her cute clothes ;) Yesterday, she decided to get opinionated about my clothes too. I put a thick, comfy sweater on to go run errands, and Aubrey said, "Why you wearing that, Mommy? I don't like it!" Ha! She said that several more times while we were out shopping. Lovely.
-Aubrey does still have a crazy good memory when it comes to clothes. You may remember I blogged about that a while back. I was getting her dressed today in a sweater dress that she had only worn once several weeks ago. The first time she wore it, David was the one picking out her clothes, and he paired it with jeans and her cowboy boots. So today when I was pulling the dress over her head, she asked me where her jeans and boots were. I didn't know what she was talking about at first, but then I remembered. I told her she was wearing it with tights today ;)
-Aubrey loves for things to be in the proper place. She is way more Type A than her mother. Haha! She knows where things go, and she can usually remember where she has left her stuff. Sometimes when Jude spits up on the floor, if I'm in the middle of doing something else, I'll just leave it for a minute and plan to clean it up when I finish what I'm doing. This doesn't work for Aubrey. She wants it cleaned up immediately. She will even clean it up herself if I'll just hand her a paper towel. Ha!
-She has really gotten into talking on the phone. Anytime I'm on the phone, she wants to talk to whoever I'm talking to. Especially if it's David. She will carry on real, lengthy conversations, and it's hilarious to listen to her side of the conversation. I never know what's going to come out of her mouth. She also walks around with my old cell phone deep in conversation with various members of the family.
-She has a great imagination, and I love watching her play and pretend. She talks to her babies and eats and drinks imaginary food and "tea." It's so sweet to watch.
-Aubrey LOVES reading books. She has a few favorites and she can recite pages out of the books that we read most often. One of her favorites is called The Going to Bed Book. There are several different animals in the book who are all getting ready to go to bed. One of the animals is a lion. He is on most of the pages, but there is one pages where the animals are coming down some stairs, and the lion isn't on that page. She asked me where the lion was when we were reading that book the other day, and I told her I didn't know where he was. She said, "He's prolly still upstairs." Ha! I thought that was very logical of her ;)
-Aubrey thrives on routine. When we're getting ready for her nap, she wants to do the exact same things she does before getting ready for bed at night. For example, she wants to turn the lamp on to read a book, even though it's daylight and the lamp really isn't necessary. That lamp is on at night, and she wants it on before her nap, too! And that's fine with me.
-If I need to take a shower while Aubrey is awake, I take her into the bathroom with me and close the door. The other day I was getting ready to get in the shower and I had turned the water on. Aubrey was staring at the running water, and I could tell her little wheels were turning. She asked me, "Is that where Daddy takes him's clothes off and gets in that rain?" Ha! Well, yes. Yes, it is.
-Aubrey is pretty fascinated by the fact that I feed Jude milk from my "tummy." She came up with that, and I don't correct her. Recently, she was walking around with a hair spray top (totally RANDOM) and I noticed that she had it up her shirt. I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was "getting Jude's milk out of her tummy." Oh my. This cracks me up because a.) I have obviously stressed to her that it is JUDE'S milk that comes out of my tummy, and b.) she has clearly seen me pump a few times ;)
I just love watching Aubrey's personality develop. She has a big personality, for sure, and I LOVE it. It's fun to see the ways that she is different and similar to David and me. She is like us in lots of ways, but she is also very much her own person. It will be neat to see Jude's personality develop, too. I can't wait to see if Aubrey and Jude will have a lot in common or if they will be opposites. Either way, we love them both dearly, and being parents to these precious children is SO much fun!
-David started this thing where every time he would change Aubrey's diaper, he would say, "Hello, clean diaper!" when he got the new diaper out and put it on her. Now, she thinks diapers are called "hello clean diapers." She uses it as a title rather than a greeting. Ha! When I get her out of the bath, she is quick to tell me that she needs a "hello clean diaper!" She offers to get a "hello clean diaper" for Jude frequently. The funniest is when she is being whiny about getting her diaper changed, and she says in the most pitiful, sad voice you can imagine, "I don't want a hello clean diaper." TOO hilarious!
-Aubrey is very opinionated. It's rare that that girl doesn't have an opinion about something, especially clothes. It seems like she never wants to wear what I consider to be her cutest clothes. Of course, I'm not letting my two year old completely control her wardrobe at this point, so I do make her wear her cute clothes ;) Yesterday, she decided to get opinionated about my clothes too. I put a thick, comfy sweater on to go run errands, and Aubrey said, "Why you wearing that, Mommy? I don't like it!" Ha! She said that several more times while we were out shopping. Lovely.
-Aubrey does still have a crazy good memory when it comes to clothes. You may remember I blogged about that a while back. I was getting her dressed today in a sweater dress that she had only worn once several weeks ago. The first time she wore it, David was the one picking out her clothes, and he paired it with jeans and her cowboy boots. So today when I was pulling the dress over her head, she asked me where her jeans and boots were. I didn't know what she was talking about at first, but then I remembered. I told her she was wearing it with tights today ;)
-Aubrey loves for things to be in the proper place. She is way more Type A than her mother. Haha! She knows where things go, and she can usually remember where she has left her stuff. Sometimes when Jude spits up on the floor, if I'm in the middle of doing something else, I'll just leave it for a minute and plan to clean it up when I finish what I'm doing. This doesn't work for Aubrey. She wants it cleaned up immediately. She will even clean it up herself if I'll just hand her a paper towel. Ha!
-She has really gotten into talking on the phone. Anytime I'm on the phone, she wants to talk to whoever I'm talking to. Especially if it's David. She will carry on real, lengthy conversations, and it's hilarious to listen to her side of the conversation. I never know what's going to come out of her mouth. She also walks around with my old cell phone deep in conversation with various members of the family.
-She has a great imagination, and I love watching her play and pretend. She talks to her babies and eats and drinks imaginary food and "tea." It's so sweet to watch.
-Aubrey LOVES reading books. She has a few favorites and she can recite pages out of the books that we read most often. One of her favorites is called The Going to Bed Book. There are several different animals in the book who are all getting ready to go to bed. One of the animals is a lion. He is on most of the pages, but there is one pages where the animals are coming down some stairs, and the lion isn't on that page. She asked me where the lion was when we were reading that book the other day, and I told her I didn't know where he was. She said, "He's prolly still upstairs." Ha! I thought that was very logical of her ;)
-Aubrey thrives on routine. When we're getting ready for her nap, she wants to do the exact same things she does before getting ready for bed at night. For example, she wants to turn the lamp on to read a book, even though it's daylight and the lamp really isn't necessary. That lamp is on at night, and she wants it on before her nap, too! And that's fine with me.
-If I need to take a shower while Aubrey is awake, I take her into the bathroom with me and close the door. The other day I was getting ready to get in the shower and I had turned the water on. Aubrey was staring at the running water, and I could tell her little wheels were turning. She asked me, "Is that where Daddy takes him's clothes off and gets in that rain?" Ha! Well, yes. Yes, it is.
-Aubrey is pretty fascinated by the fact that I feed Jude milk from my "tummy." She came up with that, and I don't correct her. Recently, she was walking around with a hair spray top (totally RANDOM) and I noticed that she had it up her shirt. I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was "getting Jude's milk out of her tummy." Oh my. This cracks me up because a.) I have obviously stressed to her that it is JUDE'S milk that comes out of my tummy, and b.) she has clearly seen me pump a few times ;)
I just love watching Aubrey's personality develop. She has a big personality, for sure, and I LOVE it. It's fun to see the ways that she is different and similar to David and me. She is like us in lots of ways, but she is also very much her own person. It will be neat to see Jude's personality develop, too. I can't wait to see if Aubrey and Jude will have a lot in common or if they will be opposites. Either way, we love them both dearly, and being parents to these precious children is SO much fun!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
25 Awesome Months of Aubrey!
Aubrey is 25 months old today! She is just SO grown up! She talks literally all the time, and she really is ALL toddler now. There is hardly even a trace of baby left in her :-/ It's kind of sad, but I also just LOVE the big girl she is growing into. When I hear her sweet little voice and see all the things she is learning and am able to actually carry on real conversations with her, it's hard to be sad that she is so grown up. I really believe every stage is the BEST when your child is in it! Anyway, in honor of Aubrey's 25 month birthday, here are some cute little "Aubrey-isms."
*Aubrey is SUCH a sweet big sister. She just loves Jude, and it makes me SO happy to see her interact with him. If Jude is crying when we are in the car, Aubrey will tell him over and over,
"It's ok, Jude. Don't cry." When he stops for breath, she gets so excited and says, "Jude's happy now, Mommy!" When he starts crying again she says, "Him sad again." Too sweet!
*Aubrey refers to Jude as "Aubey's boy." Sometimes when he cries, she asks me what's wrong with Aubey's boy. Other times, when I try to pick Jude up, she puts her hand on his stomach and tells me, "That's AUBEY'S boy!" Well, maybe so, but "Aubey's boy" has to eat! Haha.
*Aubrey can count to 10. David and I have no idea where she learned this, because neither one of us taught her, and she doesn't watch TV or DVDs. We're thinking she must have learned it from one of her books, but we can't think of one that we read her that teaches counting. Anyway, someone obviously taught her to count to 10, but she leaves out 4 every single time. So weird!
*Aubrey loves it when we read to her. She has a couple of books that are her favorites, and she can flip through the books herself and says phrases from the story. For example: We have a Bible Story book that she really loves, and one of the stories in the book is Zaccheus. She flips through that story and says, "Where is Jesus?" and "Zaccheus is TOO LITTLE!" Except it sounds like she is saying "Jesus is too little." Uh oh. I always feel the need to break out singing, "My God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty..." when she says that. Ha!
*Sometimes I call Aubrey by her first and middle name. When I call her Aubrey Noel, she usually looks at me and says, "No Noel." If I ask her what her name is then, she says very definitely, "AUBEY."
*In the back of one of her books, there is a photograph of a woman who looks like a grandmother holding a little girl in her lap reading this book to her. Aubrey always points to the grandmother-looking lady and says, "Mommy." So, I pointed to the little girl and said, "Aubrey." Aubrey shook her head and told me, "That's NOT Aubey." So now, every time we see that picture, Aubrey immediately tell us that that is NOT Aubrey. But the grandmother is still Mommy. Thanks a lot.
*When we get home from somewhere and are pulling into our driveway, Aubrey usually says, "That's Aubey's house!" The other night we were in the car driving home, and Aubrey asked where Daddy's house was. She then answered her own question by saying, "It's at home."
*David and I decided to really buckle down on getting Aubrey to say "sir" and "mam" when she responds to us or other adults. This is something we really want her to do because we think it's so important to teach her to be respectful. Anyway, David has been way more diligent on correcting her than I have. It's just not something I think about a lot. We don't punish her when she forgets to say it - we just gently correct her by saying, "Yes, sir" or whatever the appropriate response is. She has finally started catching on and saying it without being prompted every time. It is pretty obvious that David has been more diligent about this than me though, because, when I ask her something, her response lately has been, "yes, sir." Except, it sounds more like "Yes SOOO" when she says it ;) I really don't have the heart to correct her!
*Aubrey has been going through a super picky stage lately. I feel like she barely eats anything. I try not to stress too much about it. She does eat; she just doesn't eat as much as I think she should. The other night we were eating out, and we had gotten Aubrey broccoli and fruit as her sides. She ate all the fruit but refused to touch the broccoli. I jokingly told her to dip her broccoli in the fruit juice and then eat it. She proceeded to do just that, and she ate every single bite of her broccoli! She then dipped her hamburger in the fruit juice too, but it didn't work as well - the bite came right back out. Ha! I was just thrilled she ate her veggies!
*She still takes one good nap everyday, and I am so grateful for that! It seems like she is taking longer and longer to fall asleep at night though. She just talks in her bed for the longest time after we put her down. The other night, it was after 11 before she fell asleep! The next day was rough because she was a G-R-U-M-P! Let's hope she doesn't make a habit of that!
I could go on and on about Aubrey because I really think every single thing (well, almost everything) she says and does is adorable. She is just such a JOY and I can't imagine life without her. I love that, not only do I love her dearly because she is my child, I also just genuinely enjoy being around her. She is so fun and precious!
(I have been planning on trying to take some cute pictures of Aubrey and Jude together because it occurred to me the other day that I have NO pictures of both of them smiling and looking at the camera. I was going to do it today, but when we got home from Bible Study and lunch, Aubrey's face was smeared in chocolate from a cookie and Jude was asleep. One of these days I'll get a picture of both of my children, I hope! Anyway, that's also why this post is lacking any pictures.)
*Aubrey is SUCH a sweet big sister. She just loves Jude, and it makes me SO happy to see her interact with him. If Jude is crying when we are in the car, Aubrey will tell him over and over,
"It's ok, Jude. Don't cry." When he stops for breath, she gets so excited and says, "Jude's happy now, Mommy!" When he starts crying again she says, "Him sad again." Too sweet!
*Aubrey refers to Jude as "Aubey's boy." Sometimes when he cries, she asks me what's wrong with Aubey's boy. Other times, when I try to pick Jude up, she puts her hand on his stomach and tells me, "That's AUBEY'S boy!" Well, maybe so, but "Aubey's boy" has to eat! Haha.
*Aubrey can count to 10. David and I have no idea where she learned this, because neither one of us taught her, and she doesn't watch TV or DVDs. We're thinking she must have learned it from one of her books, but we can't think of one that we read her that teaches counting. Anyway, someone obviously taught her to count to 10, but she leaves out 4 every single time. So weird!
*Aubrey loves it when we read to her. She has a couple of books that are her favorites, and she can flip through the books herself and says phrases from the story. For example: We have a Bible Story book that she really loves, and one of the stories in the book is Zaccheus. She flips through that story and says, "Where is Jesus?" and "Zaccheus is TOO LITTLE!" Except it sounds like she is saying "Jesus is too little." Uh oh. I always feel the need to break out singing, "My God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty..." when she says that. Ha!
*Sometimes I call Aubrey by her first and middle name. When I call her Aubrey Noel, she usually looks at me and says, "No Noel." If I ask her what her name is then, she says very definitely, "AUBEY."
*In the back of one of her books, there is a photograph of a woman who looks like a grandmother holding a little girl in her lap reading this book to her. Aubrey always points to the grandmother-looking lady and says, "Mommy." So, I pointed to the little girl and said, "Aubrey." Aubrey shook her head and told me, "That's NOT Aubey." So now, every time we see that picture, Aubrey immediately tell us that that is NOT Aubrey. But the grandmother is still Mommy. Thanks a lot.
*When we get home from somewhere and are pulling into our driveway, Aubrey usually says, "That's Aubey's house!" The other night we were in the car driving home, and Aubrey asked where Daddy's house was. She then answered her own question by saying, "It's at home."
*David and I decided to really buckle down on getting Aubrey to say "sir" and "mam" when she responds to us or other adults. This is something we really want her to do because we think it's so important to teach her to be respectful. Anyway, David has been way more diligent on correcting her than I have. It's just not something I think about a lot. We don't punish her when she forgets to say it - we just gently correct her by saying, "Yes, sir" or whatever the appropriate response is. She has finally started catching on and saying it without being prompted every time. It is pretty obvious that David has been more diligent about this than me though, because, when I ask her something, her response lately has been, "yes, sir." Except, it sounds more like "Yes SOOO" when she says it ;) I really don't have the heart to correct her!
*Aubrey has been going through a super picky stage lately. I feel like she barely eats anything. I try not to stress too much about it. She does eat; she just doesn't eat as much as I think she should. The other night we were eating out, and we had gotten Aubrey broccoli and fruit as her sides. She ate all the fruit but refused to touch the broccoli. I jokingly told her to dip her broccoli in the fruit juice and then eat it. She proceeded to do just that, and she ate every single bite of her broccoli! She then dipped her hamburger in the fruit juice too, but it didn't work as well - the bite came right back out. Ha! I was just thrilled she ate her veggies!
*She still takes one good nap everyday, and I am so grateful for that! It seems like she is taking longer and longer to fall asleep at night though. She just talks in her bed for the longest time after we put her down. The other night, it was after 11 before she fell asleep! The next day was rough because she was a G-R-U-M-P! Let's hope she doesn't make a habit of that!
I could go on and on about Aubrey because I really think every single thing (well, almost everything) she says and does is adorable. She is just such a JOY and I can't imagine life without her. I love that, not only do I love her dearly because she is my child, I also just genuinely enjoy being around her. She is so fun and precious!
(I have been planning on trying to take some cute pictures of Aubrey and Jude together because it occurred to me the other day that I have NO pictures of both of them smiling and looking at the camera. I was going to do it today, but when we got home from Bible Study and lunch, Aubrey's face was smeared in chocolate from a cookie and Jude was asleep. One of these days I'll get a picture of both of my children, I hope! Anyway, that's also why this post is lacking any pictures.)
Friday, August 27, 2010
My Little Fashion Queen
Aubrey has been doing the craziest thing lately. I've been meaning to write a post about it, partly because I think it's so funny and I don't want to forget about it, and partly because Aubrey is brilliant and I want you all to know. Ha!
Aubrey remembers outfits.
What I mean by that is that she remembers what outfit she wore on occasions that were big deals to her. The first time she did this was after David's sisters had come to visit shortly after Jude was born. Aubrey had a blast playing with her little cousin, Caroline, and apparently it made a big impression.
Ever since that day, whenever Aubrey sees that shirt she says, "Play Caroline shirt." The first time she did it, I had no idea what she was talking about at first. Finally, a light bulb went off in my head and I asked her if she meant that that was the shirt she wore when she played with Caroline. She nodded her head yes.
Then just the other day, I was getting her dressed. She started pulling on her dress and said, "Aubey dress hospital." Yall, it was the dress that she wore when she came to the hospital to meet Jude for the first time!! This was 5 weeks after Jude was born! I couldn't believe it.
A couple of Saturdays ago, Aubrey woke up early and David took her to Wal-Mart with him. She has only been to Wal-Mart a handful of times in her her life. I'm a Target girl. Anyway, she has not stopped talking about "Wa Wa-Mart" since. Apparently, going to Wal-Mart with Daddy was a big deal to her. Yesterday, there was a pile of her clean clothes on the floor waiting to be put up (don't comment on my housekeeping skills - haha) and she was going through the pile. She found the shirt that she wore to Wal-Mart that day and said, "Shirt Wa Wa-Mart." Oh my gosh! Do yall think that is crazy or is it just me? I know I'm her mom and I think everything she does is brilliant, but come on!
This is hilarious to me because I have always had this weird thing where I remember what I was wearing for certain occasions for YEARS after the fact. Not because of pictures. I'm talking about occasions that weren't huge deals, but for some reason just stuck in my head. I don't think it's anything spectacular that I remember that sort of thing, but I'm not less than 2 years old either.
We know she didn't get this trait from her daddy. When she says this stuff, David looks at me and asks, "Is that really what she was wearing?" Haha! She gets most of her other smarts from him though, I promise.
Aubrey remembers outfits.
What I mean by that is that she remembers what outfit she wore on occasions that were big deals to her. The first time she did this was after David's sisters had come to visit shortly after Jude was born. Aubrey had a blast playing with her little cousin, Caroline, and apparently it made a big impression.
Ever since that day, whenever Aubrey sees that shirt she says, "Play Caroline shirt." The first time she did it, I had no idea what she was talking about at first. Finally, a light bulb went off in my head and I asked her if she meant that that was the shirt she wore when she played with Caroline. She nodded her head yes.Then just the other day, I was getting her dressed. She started pulling on her dress and said, "Aubey dress hospital." Yall, it was the dress that she wore when she came to the hospital to meet Jude for the first time!! This was 5 weeks after Jude was born! I couldn't believe it.
A couple of Saturdays ago, Aubrey woke up early and David took her to Wal-Mart with him. She has only been to Wal-Mart a handful of times in her her life. I'm a Target girl. Anyway, she has not stopped talking about "Wa Wa-Mart" since. Apparently, going to Wal-Mart with Daddy was a big deal to her. Yesterday, there was a pile of her clean clothes on the floor waiting to be put up (don't comment on my housekeeping skills - haha) and she was going through the pile. She found the shirt that she wore to Wal-Mart that day and said, "Shirt Wa Wa-Mart." Oh my gosh! Do yall think that is crazy or is it just me? I know I'm her mom and I think everything she does is brilliant, but come on!
This is hilarious to me because I have always had this weird thing where I remember what I was wearing for certain occasions for YEARS after the fact. Not because of pictures. I'm talking about occasions that weren't huge deals, but for some reason just stuck in my head. I don't think it's anything spectacular that I remember that sort of thing, but I'm not less than 2 years old either.
We know she didn't get this trait from her daddy. When she says this stuff, David looks at me and asks, "Is that really what she was wearing?" Haha! She gets most of her other smarts from him though, I promise.
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