Hi Honey!

I blog about our sweet daughter often, and that's because she is so sweet and cute and when you have kids, they seem to be the most exciting thing to report on anyway. Now that she is in the toddler stages, there seems to be new things to report everyday.

These days she is really into babies. Babies don't have to be dolls though. She treats many things like babies. Dolls, elmo, small plastic horses, Rapunzel barbie, trolls and stuffed animals are all babies from time to time. Her favorite things to do are to feed them, and tuck them into bed. Right now she is tucking herself into bed with them. She uses all sorts of things for blankets. Actual blankets, towels, arm protectors from the couch, and bits of fabric laying around the house. She tucks them in sweetly and says "night night" while smothering them in long kisses. It's great seeing her be so sweet with these inanimate objects.

Repeat and mimic. She has entered the sponge years. Trent and I both really need to watch our actions and words carefully these days, because Ila likes to act just like us, and she sure as heck wants to say whatever we're saying. Thankfully nothing terrible has come out of her mouth and that could be because 1. we never say anything we wouldn't want our kids to say or 2. she can't enunciate well enough to make clear what she is saying. We all know that the first couldn't be right, so the second it is. We stomp, she stomps, we raise our voices, she raises her voice, we say something sweetly, she says something sweetly, we hug, she hugs, we kiss, she kisses. On and on it goes.

A few days ago I said something to Trent, and I said "honey" instead of "Trent" or "daddy." Ila then walked up to him and said "hi honey." It is so cute, because she says it PERFECTLY. She's also shown me that I call Trent "honey" quite often, because if I say it, she does too.

Ila also likes to "help mommy." Her favorite ways to help mommy are unloading the dishwasher and putting the clothes in the dryer. I was surprised to find that her help is actually helpful and she gets so much satisfaction from it. It's also a time of learning. She knows all of the dishes names now and reminds me it's time to do laundry by dragging the dirty clothes baskets from the bedrooms. She wants to help mommy with a lot of other things that mommy does not want help with (like sewing and cooking on the hot stove) yet, but we'll get there in due time!

In some ways she is growing up too fast. She asks for beer from time to time and is interested in watching movies and going to town. She has a love for shoes, getting her picture taken, lemon drops, and being chased by boys (well, just her daddy, but still!). We certainly cherish this time with Ila.