Is she really 19-months-old?

Where is the pause button or slow button on life? ME's 2-year-mark is approaching way too fast (not to include the end of summer break, too). I have had so much fun spending time with my little girl this summer. I don't think I've had a day go by that I haven't laughed with, or at, her. Mary Elizabeth, thank you so much for being the sunshine in my life on this dreary, rainy day!

At the beginning of summer, ME fell off my parent's front door step (not even 6" high) when she saw my dad drive up. So she's had a pretty bad "boo-boo" on the right side of her forehead. You probably can see it a little better in previous posts. This past weekend, I went on my 1st girl's trip since being a mommy and left ME with her daddy. I wasn't even gone 24 hours and notice the condition I found her forehead when I got back. Drew claims that she fell out of the hammock that he was holding onto. I guess that's between them, and she survived. But now I'm wondering if I need to make her wear a helmet whenever she's left alone with other people. Or maybe she, unfortunately, inherited my clumsy gene. :)

ME sporting her new bow and bruise.

Also, in a previous post, I briefly mentioned how independent ME is becoming. Well, here is a picture to show the result of some of her independence.

"Ickkk!"

Things she's now doing:

• ME has kind of established her own morning routine. At the beginning of the summer, she would first cry when she woke up, then had to point to everything in her crib for me to name. Now it has changed to her yelling "Mama, mama" (kind of like in the tone of "Duh, I'm up, come and get me"). Then she has to turn off her sound machine. After that she insists on putting her shoes on and sticking a bow in her hair before breakfast. Let me tell you, her bedhead may be a little crazy, but at least she's trying to be a lady while eating breakfast.
• ME has also established her own "getting-out-of-the-house" routine. I've mentioned before that she loves purses, which she calls "Bye-Bye", and has to put at least one, if not more, on her arm to take to the car. She also points to the TV, marches in place, and says "off, off" until I turn it off. This has been a great help for my preggo brain!
• She has started adding conjunctions (I think that's what it is called) in front of her nouns. She points to different objects and adds "a" (sounds like "uh") before saying them. Her main ones are: "a door", "a ball", and "a bow". She kind of panics if she sees a door is open, then she'll point and say it over and over until you close it. If she sees a bow, she pulls her hair and says "a bow" until you put one on her.
• She relates "mmm" to food. If she gives the dogs a treat, she tries to shove it in their mouth and will say "mmm". If she sees you with a food container, a plate, etc., she points and says "mmm", even if there isn't any food on the plate.
• She's starting to clean up messes or realize when things are"ickkk" (aka dirty). I have this one dress with brown spots on it (in the picture below), and everytime I wear it, she points and says "ickkk", which sounds like she's hocking a loogie. I know, very attractive description! Today she took a dishtowel to try to wipe off the spots. Too funny! She even comprehended that the 101 dalmations were dirty when they were covered in soot and when Dora and Boots were covered in mud. That blew me away considering that cartoon dirt just looks like brown dots!


• Most importantly, she's really starting to take an interest in babies! She found a baby doll in her toy box and has started carrying it around underneath her right arm, kind of like a football in a headlock. She carries most things that are important to her (like her cup or crayons) in this way. I know it's not the most nurturing, but we'll keep working on that.