Little Big Girl

This little girl big girl is growing up so fast. She amazes us with how quickly she picks up on things and how much she already knows. I don't even know where to begin so I guess I'll just start listing some things she's doing these days...

• She counts. Usually if you start her off by saying "one..." she goes on, "twwwwwwwoo, treee, fur, fiiiive, six, she skips seven (seven is kind of hard), eight, niiiiiine, tin!"
• She recognizes letters and numbers. A lot of them. Her favorite letter is R. Not sure why. And her favorite number is two. Maybe because that's how old she'll be soon??
• Animal sounds are so much fun. Moo-ing, oinking, woof-woof-ing, meowing, quacking, who-who-ing (owls), caw-caw-ing (birds/seagulls/anything that flies), sssss-ing (snake), baaa-ing... those are all favorites. She can say cat, puppy, pig, cow... and airplane. Not sure that counts in this category, but it's something that flies and something she points to in the sky. It's funny. And speaking of transportation, yelling "car!!" is a favorite too... specifically my car, so she can watch Ellllllllmooooooo.
• She tells us what she wants. And is very vocal if we don't quite understand, or we don't quite give her what it is she actually wanted. "Cup!" OK. Give her a cup of milk. "Juice!" Oh, OK. Say please? She will pat her belly, her sign language for please. Good enough. Say thank you? "Tank tu gebadabudahh" - ?? That last word? We aren't sure what it is, but there's always something added to the end of thank you... weird.
• She throws away trash like it's the most fun game ever. It's so adorable. (and helpful! especially when it's a dirty Aiden diaper or something!) Next, Eric will be  teaching her to grab him a beer or something.
• Every morning, it's "Hi dada!", and as he's walking out of her room she yells down the hall, "HI mama! HI baby! HI woof woof!" It's her routine and we love it. Same goes for bedtime, but it's "buh-bye" to everyone.
• She loves the water. We took her to the beach and to the pool this weekend (rough life this little girl has!), and she just has no fear. She jumps right into the waves, walks right into the pool and wants to go further and further.
• "Color!" "Oussssideeee" "Bubbles" "Up!" (for you to pick her up) "Ouch" (for couch) - these are some of her favorite things.
• Of course, "Elmooo" "A-Pooh" "Roo" and "Baby" are her favorite stuffed animals, and she'll bring you each and every one of them, line them up, and then go put each one back too.
• Speaking of lining things up, she is a pro at stacking blocks. She does it very carefully, methodically, and pats each block on the top after she stacks it, kind of giving it praise for staying put.
• She runs. Everywhere. All the time.
• She knows so many body parts. Where they are, what they are called, and will also point them out on other people or stuffed animals. She brushes Pooh's teeth while we brush hers at night before bed, and brushes Elmo's hair while we brush hers. It's adorable.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things, I just want to put as many things down in writing as I can. I know these days will fly by us and we will soon be looking back, wondering, when did she start becoming such a little person?? I think we're already getting there...