My Little Cuties

My little cuties are always doing something to make me smile.

Brooke is just a sweet little thing. There is just something about her that emanates sweetness and goodness. I can't help but smile every time I look at her - and of course that makes her break out in a big grin. She is starting to coo and giggle more also. She has started the "putting everything in her mouth" phase. I'll find her sucking on her fingers, blankets, clothes and whatever else Aubrey has stuck in her hands. I'll have to keep a close eye on that last one!

Aubrey has struck again! She put this little spoon in Brooke's hand Saturday morning. It only took Brooke a few attempts before she was able to get it into her mouth. I was pretty impressed with her hand eye coordination!

Brooke was playing with her blankie while we were getting ready for church and just looked so cute!

Aubrey is in full blown 2-ness. One minute she is the cutest little thing on the planet and then the next she is pushing us to our limits. Luckily she is cute and sweet more often than not. She is imaginative, creative, routined and has a mind of her own. Pretty much just like her parents! At least we know where she is coming from when she has to have things just so. And when she is so focused on what she is doing she doesn't want to stop for anything. It's hard to know where to give them room for some growing independence and where to draw the line. Hopefully we'll figure it out before we mess her up too much!

She also has a fear of smoke detectors. I can't figure that one out. She will cry while in bed and when we come see what's wrong she'll just repeat "smoke detector" over and over or say "hiding from smoke detector". Strange. She also has begun sleeping on the floor by the door at nap time. It is actually right under the smoke detector - but Jeff thinks she can't see it from there so that's why she goes there. Not quite sure what to do about this problem. We obviously can't take out the smoke detector. And there is nowhere in the room to move the bed that is out of view of it. Hopefully she'll grow out of this one soon!

I found Aubrey in her room with her leg full of her big kid underwear.

A little bit later I saw her walking down the hall with both legs full of underwear and her holding them up as she walked! Funny kid. Maybe it's her way of preparing to be potty trained! This last week Aubrey has once again gained some interest in going on the potty. On Wednesday, while we were getting her ready to take a bath, she told me she had to go poo poo. She does this every once in a while - but hasn't actually gone in months. I didn't have too much hope that anything would happen. But a few minutes later she actually had gone! So the next day, she said the same thing as we were getting ready for her bath. This time she only went pee. I got all excited for her and she looks at me and says, "Aubrey want brown poo poo not yellow." She totally cracks me up!

Aubrey's play has become much more orderly this last week. As you can see she put all of her block towers in a row. (Aunt Summer should be able to relate to that!) In the picture she is pointing to her towers and asking me to take a picture. Her little parties that she is always throwing has gone from big piles of stuff to lining up dishes and food with animals behind them. She's also been lining up her crayons and markers. Grandma Buell said that she also had to make sure all of the marker tops were in the upright position. I am liking the structure - even though it takes up as much floor space and the same amount of time to clean it up - it doesn't feel quite so messy.

Oh and I can't forget - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! We hope that you have a fabulous day and enjoy your Il Divo concert!