Brooke 30 months (2 1/2 years)

Has it really been 2 and 1/2 years since you were born? I can't believe how fast time has gone. I have really enjoyed being able to stay home this last year and watch you grow.

You have gone from saying 2-3 word phrases to talking in complete sentences. Some of your funny phrases are: "I funny, mommy!", "No, no like that (sometimes insert "it's spicy")", "I silly", "Put my down", "Skip, Skip, Skip, la la lou...", "That be fun", "I brush my toothbrush."
Common mispronunciations include: diming room for dining room, cane cane for candy, ho ho for santa, biaper instead of diaper, sharp for knife, schmoon for spoon, corder for recorder. I know there are more, but this is all I could recall for the moment.

You are starting to be so imaginative. You love to play with your dolls and cooking in your kitchen. You love to swim, play at the park, go to the bounce house and are even getting brave enough to go up the big slide all by yourself. You love to color, make art, and hang it on your wall. You can draw circles, rainbows, and mountains instead of just scribbling.

You love to listen to the 'trumpet song' aka The Music Class CD. You know most of the songs in the book and can sing them by heart with correct inflections in your voice. Some of the songs include: Frere Jacques, A train is a-coming, and Muffin Man. Some of your other favorite songs to sing include alphabet, skip-to-my-lou, head-shoulders-knees-toes, where is thumpkin, happy birthday, itsy bitsy spider, patty cake, Jesus loves me, and row row your boat. You know more songs than what I listed, but these are your favorites and you usually sing them on a daily basis. You can recognize black and white keys on the piano and can correctly identify low versus high tones. You love to listen to daddy play the piano, trumpet, and guitar. You sometimes like to listen to mommy play her clarinet. You love to play the piano, drums, rattles, xylophone, and recorder.

You love to help mommy cook by stirring, pouring, or tasting ingredients. You like to pick out your own fork, spoon, cup, and plate when it is time to eat. You can drink from a cup with no lid during meal times with very few mishaps. You love ketchup and want to eat it with everything. I have a hard time getting you to eat vegetables, so I have to sneak them in foods. However, you will eat broccoli most of the time. You like most fruits. Your favorite foods are sweet potato pancakes, hot dogs, chicken, strawberries, bananas, pudding, hummus, and of course candy! You try to get candy by any means possible even telling me your baby dolls went pee pee in the potty.

Lately you have been testing my discipline limits especially in public. Most of the time you are well behaved, but if you are tired, hungry, or cranky we can run into issues. You have figured out how to wiggle your arms out of the car seat and I have had to stop on the side of the road or parking lot several times to fix it.


You know the most common shapes: circle, square, diamond, and star. You know all your colors and your favorite is blue. You can count to 13 and with help to 20. You commonly follow 13 with your own made up number eleventeen. You can recognize most of the letters of the alphabet. You still have trouble with C, D, F, Q, V, W, but you love to read your alphabet books. You are starting to recognize numbers. You love to do puzzles.

You are working on potty training and have some great days and some challenging days. We have switched to pull-ups full time and you wear a size 2t. I can tell you are getting taller because your 2t shirts are getting shorter and just this week I have bought you some 3t shirts. You wear size 6-7 shoe depending on the brand. Recently you have started dressing and undressing yourself. You will wear a barrette most of the time to help keep the bangs out of your eyes, but refuse to let me put a pony tail in your hair. If I can't get you to wear a bow, then I can usually convince you to wear one for Jesus.

You visited the dentist for the first time on 8/10/11. We did a trial run with your stuffed animals the day before. You played the dentist and brushed all your stuffed animals teeth.
You had a great check up, but didn't like the dentist looking in your mouth. You are still missing the 2nd molars on top and bottom and the dentist expects them to come in the next six months.

I really love how your personality is blossoming. I can tell you are going to have a caring sweet and sensitive side, but also possess a strong character. I cannot thank God enough for blessing me with you! You have taught me so much about life and how to be a mother. I look forward to seeing you grow up and develop, but I also try to cherish the way you are at this moment. That is why I write these milestone blogs! I will Always Love You, Brooke! Happy 2 1/2 Years!

This is your favorite shirt right now and you love to show off the cow teeth!