Quinn the "Twoager"

I have gotten bad about giving Q updates so here's an abriged version of what our life is like right now with this sweet, crazy toddler (I like to call her a twoager)...

Speech
The girl can talk...really well for her age apparently. I'm so thankful for an early talker (most of the time). Wink, wink. She is sort of a perfectionist about pronouncing things the right way so she's pretty articulate. She still says some really cute stuff though. She calls Maria from The Sound of Music "Murry-a", and Chic-Fil-A "Chickafay". Also, she can't say her "Ls" so they come out sounding like "Ys" a lot (i.e. "just a yittle bit" or "Yet it Go" from Frozen). Recently, we started working more on the Ls and she tends to over-do it a little...she's a perfectionist and she can't stand to say something the wrong way. (video below)

Imagination
Q likes to pretend more now than ever. She wants to be a certain princess and she wants us to be someone else. She gets pretty creative with the stuff she uses to play as you can see below with her princess dress and Elsa gloves (from Frozen). Her favorite toys are still her Little People friends, books, stuffed animals and her BFF, Ella (who she calls Sebastian half the time).

Snowed/Iced In
Speaking of Frozen, we've been snowed (iced) in a few days in the last month which made for some interesting days of finding stuff to do. We took Q to see her first movie, went to the aquarium, made popcorn and watched movies and just bundled up to play.

Mood Swings Galore
Poor Jeremy...bless his heart when Q gets to be a hormonal teenager and I'm, well, just me.

Questions...Oh the Questions
Sweet, curious girl is full of questions. When we are in public, she is always pointing and saying (loudly) what's his/her name? Who's that? What's he doing? Where are they going? That looks kinda like [insert name]? Many times, she'll ask when she knows the answer and she'll ask over and over and over and over. I finally just ask the question back and she answers. I'm waiting for the "why" phase that everyone talks about. I've started to get a little nervous in public that she's going to ask an embarrassing question about someone who might look or act differently. Austin is definitely the place for that...I see a lot of interesting conversations in our future. :)

Life is a Song
She still lives her life in a song. The funny thing is how random the songs are. She will have a song in her head that we haven't been listening to, but she might hear a word that sparks her memory. She is starting to match pitch better and better and she breathes rhythmically (musicians, you know what I mean). She doesn't pause to breathe...she'll breathe while singing by skipping a word. So cool! Below, she randomly starting singing Bob Marley. It happened to be a rough morning so it was kind of perfect!

Surprises
Q surprises us w/ her super-smarts all the time. Jeremy and I will look at each other and say "Did you hear that?" or "Did you see that?". Her memory is ridiculous...a little scary actually. Example: One day, she was complaining about the snack I gave her (after she asked for exactly what I gave her). I told her to be grateful and thank God for the food she has since there are children in Africa who don't have food and are hungry. It was sort of me spouting off while I was doing dishes and I didn't think she was really listening. That night, I was putting lotion on her and she didn't think I put enough in her hand. She always says "I want BIG lotion." I told her to be thankful for the lotion she had. Then she said "Cause children in Africa don't have lotion?" OMG! I died!

Likes Right Now

• Sound of Music, Cinderella, Fox and the Hound, Elmo, Curious George, Super Why, Daniel Tiger, Frozen
• Yogurt (only pink or blue...as she says it), banana and PB, PBJ sandwiches, apple sauce, soup, pizza, broccoli, green beans, bean burritos, avocado (a lot), chocolate Cheerios, eggs, animal crackers, Goldfish, Nutrigrain bars and ice. We can usually give her a cup of ice at a restaurant to chill her out. Oh, and when she pretends to cook, she always tells us she's making chocolate cheese soup. No clue.
• Dresses. She only wants to wear "princess dresses"
• Hiding
• When Mama and Daddy sing together
• Playing with my hair and telling me it looks like Elsa or Cinderella
• Ignoring her parents (we are working on obeying and listening ears)
• Playing with friends
• Washing her hands by herself
• Feeding Ella by herself
• Peeling oranges by herself
• Opening doors by herself
• Climbing in the car by herself
• Putting her shoes on by herself
• ...and the theme continues...Little Miss Independent

Dislikes Right Now

• When anyone does anything for her (Lord forbid it)
• When you talk to her or look at her the wrong way after her nap...so grumpy after naps lately
• Wearing pants (only dresses)
• Holding hands in parking lots
• Sleeping all night
• The breading on corn dogs (the best part?!)
• Meat (that isn't processed)
• Leaving the house...she always wants to just stay home
• When you don't mind her...bossy pants
• When we don't play the right song in the car
• When we sing to songs in the car w/out her permission
• Worms
• Inflatable bouncy houses

And now for few more photos that help to describe our beautiful, curious, strong-willed, smart and sweet baby girl.