16 and 17 Months...oops.

Oops. I missed a month. Things have been so busy and there are evenings when I would honestly rather just sit on the couch and stare into space than look at my computer after a long day of work.

Anyway, here are some fun things about Q the last couple of months.

Chatty Girl
We've really been encouraging Quinn to use her words instead of pointing and whining. That usually leads to a sweet "please" with sign language as well. She says SO many words right now and she's pretty good at mocking us when we ask her to say something. Some of her favorite words are: Mama, Daddy, Ella, Booda (Ella's nickname), all grandparents' names (although Nannie Mae is Ninnie and Granny is Gicky), apple, cheese, milk, swing, slide, outside, moon, hat, shoes, socks, bubbles, most body parts (the cutest is elbow), happy, hello (when she holds the phone to her ear), banana (which is "moona"), flower, twinkle, row, Bible, Noah, school, church, flag (she's obsessed when she sees flags while we are driving down the road), and many more! When she hears us making coffee or using the microwave she automatically says "hot!" and she has started to say "up" when she's next to our bed. One of the funniest things she says is "Eh edda?" (in a high-pitched, inquisitive voice) which is "Where is she/he/it?" So cute!!

Making Connections
Q's a smart girl. She makes connections now. For example, when I say school, she says her teachers' names. When I say Ella, sadly she says "no,no!". She also tends to associate people with others (like husbands and wives). When I say bath, she says "bubbles".

Little Perfectionist
Poor Quinn. She will probably struggle with this her whole life. She wants things to be just right and she will sit and work on something until it is or she gets frustrated and starts whining. Examples include: putting her shoes on (which I usually have to help her with), putting Easter eggs back together, making sure her baby's blanket doesn't have any folds or wrinkles, washing the bathtub crayon off the side of the tub, getting food particles off her clothes or hands, getting leaves off her slide before she plays and more. Sadly, I think she comes by this honestly from Mama and Daddy. I'm actually laughing at myself right now because I'm formatting the blog post to make sure spacing and photos are perfect. Geeze!

 "I will get this egg back together."

 "Do not help me with these bubbles."

 "I will get the wrinkles out of this blanket."

Eating Well
We started to notice Quinn would suck down a whole cup of milk and then not eat much. So, we've started waiting on the milk and she has been eating better. She isn't a super fan of some veggies but she'll eat peas, carrots, corn and broccoli pretty well. Lately, she hasn't been interested in meat. I can tell she also gets bored with the same stuff, so I try to switch it up every now and then. She loves: cottage cheese, apple sauce squeezable packets, avocado, Goldfish, beans, banana, cheese, oranges, scrambled eggs (I usually hide spinach in them) and of course anything I'm eating. On a side note, I haven't been ordering for her at restaurants because we end up sharing a lot.

Baylor girls having some Rudy's sausage.

Bossy Pants
We drive into the garage after work and school and I say "let's go see Ella" to which Quinn immediately says "No, No!" Poor dog. Oh, and she has been saying no, no to some friends at school too. Should be interesting to see how this progresses.

If Looks Could Kill...
If you haven't noticed already, there's no mistaking Quinn's Daddy is Jeremy. Not only does she look exactly like him, she can give the same, stoic, serious looks he does. I call it Jeremy's lawyer face and Quinn's got it down.

Um, yeah, that's the look.

 

Hugs and Kisses

My favorite thing in the world! The best part is that she is so fair about them. If more than one person is around, she make sure everyone gets a hug and kiss and not just the person asking for it.

Trying to give kisses to this bird at the Domain.

Hugging the VS dog.

Bedtime Routine
My favorite thing in the whole wide world is our bedtime routine. Since I only see Q for about 2 hours a day, the time I spend w/ her is precious. At night, Jeremy usually bathes her and I get to read to her and sing songs. She is very particular about the books we read and songs we sing. She calls "Jesus Loves Me" "Bible" (I guess since it says "the Bible tells me so"). Her way of telling me which song she wants goes like this:

Me: Quinn do you want to sing "You Are My Sunshine"?
Q: [adamantly shakes head no]
Me: Do you want to sing "Mr. Rabbit"?
Q: [adamantly shakes head no]
Me: Do you want to sing "Wheels on the Bus"?
Q: [laughs and puts her head on my shoulder]

Then when I start to sing, she sits up and plays with my face, messes w/ my collar and plays w/ my ears. I love this part of my day and I know I'll miss it one day when she is older.

Independent Girl
Just like most toddlers, Quinn wants to do a lot by herself and she will not hesitate to let you know. She also has what I call a diva walk that shows her independence by swinging her left arm. For a while there, she insisted on having her jacket or hoodie on w/ the hat on. That with the sunglasses made her look like a little thug baby, but it was pretty cute. She has also started to climb into the car seat by herself and we wouldn't dare help her.

She insisted on putting her headband in herself.

Favorite Toys/Games
Some of her favorite toys and games right now include: necklaces, baby w/ blanket, kitchen dishes (she likes to wear her little apron and stir and give us a taste), books, Mama's makeup brushes, our shoes and other things she's not supposed to play with like picture frames and coffee table books that can tear. She also loves being outside and wants to go outside every day when we get home and I put Ella out. Confession: sometimes, I just leave the back door open and let her roam around. Don't worry...I can see her from the kitchen.

Toddler Fun
Just like every other stage, Quinn definitely epitomizes the toddler age very well sometimes. Hence the photos below...

Eyes Wide Open
Quinn still is not a great napper. She would much rather stay awake and keep herself busy. Now that she is more active, that awake time has made her a little fussier so that's been fun. Night sleep is and always has been great, so I really can't complain. There have been a couple of times when Jeremy or I just lay on her bedroom floor until she goes to sleep and there have been a couple of nights when Jeremy has had to soothe her (if I go in, it never works) but other than that she's great. (Knock on wood.)

Well, that's all I can think of for now. It's amazing how much changes in a couple of months. Just for fun, here's a little comparison...

Easter 2013

We had such a fun Easter weekend! It all started with Quinn's school Easter hunt and party. I made little treat bags w/ rabbit marshmallows for her friends and Oreo Truffle balls and bunnies just for fun. She was very protective of her Easter basket and did not want Ella to get into it.

On Saturday, we headed to our church's Easter Eggstravaganza where they had a petting zoo, bouncers (which Q is too small for), train rides, face painting, the Easter bunny and of course an egg hunt.

Quinn is definitely still at the age where she was just taking it all in, a bit overwhelmed. I don't know if it's her age or her personality, but she loves just standing around and watching other kids. Oh, and she can give some pretty serious looks. We met up w/ Brad, Jen, Declan and Keeva and watched Declan power his way through an inflatable obstacle course. I suppose next year Quinn will want to dive in.

She was not a fan of the Easter bunny or the creepy looking Easter chicken that was there. Maybe next year.

Jeremy decided the chicken looked like it had bitter beer face. 

We had a blast in the petting zoo! Q wasn't really scared of the animals and she gave sweet love pats to the ones I could grab. I felt kind of sorry for them! They were just running around the pens trying to get away from screaming kids. Somehow I managed to grab a bunny and a pig (gross) and Q loved it!

Probably my favorite pic from the day...love the sweet, toddler curiosity.

After the petting zoo, we walked around for a while and Quinn played with a pinwheel for about 15 minutes while we watched all the crazy kids dance to the bunny hop and chicken dance. Then, we finally got to hunt eggs w/ Quinn's age group.

Quinn was hilarious. She picked up a couple of eggs and then she got very distracted by the fact that one of the eggs came apart. So, she missed out on all the other eggs while she was trying to get the one back together. Oh sweet Quinn...our little perfectionist. We can't move on until everything is in its place.

Best face ever...I wouldn't get near Q's eggs if I were you.

Not impressed, but she still had fun!

After the Eggstravaganza we had a nice brunch at Maudie's and then went home for a long nap. That night Jeremy and I went out to celebrate his birthday from last week and Q had some quality time w/ Nannie Mae. The Easter Bunny came early at Nannie Mae's house so she brought Q a basket w/ some cute outfits and pajamas and of course two more books.

Easter Sunday was a blast too! The Easter Bunny brought Quinn her first Peeps, a bucket and tools to take to the park, bathtub crayons, a bathtub book and a cute summer outfit. Quinn was most interested in the book...shocking! Pawpaw came in town and we all went to the 9:45 service. It was an awesome service and it always makes me so happy when they incorporate old hymns with more contemporary stuff.

After church we hung out on the plaza and let Quinn show off her PRECIOUS Easter outfit. We also got to say hi to our friends Matt, Kathy and Harper. We took a ton of pics with a new camera that I won through a social media contest a while back, and then got home and they were gone. I wanted to cry. So, we have no family photos from Easter, but oh well.

That afternoon, we headed over to Nannie Mae's to have lunch and meet up w/ Auntie Em and Taylor who drove in from Waco. Nannie Mae and Auntie Em took Q for a long walk and she fell asleep in the stroller so she got a pretty good nap in. Needless to say, she went to sleep pretty easily that night after a busy day.

I'm so thankful for the celebration of Easter and the risen Lord! Happy Easter!