So many things to say about the lil misses.
First, she’s a princess. She’s got lots of sass and attitude to go around. And ever since she’s learned to talk, she hasn’t stopped.
She can say several words, like Mom and Dad (not Momma or Dadda), Up, Hi, Uhhh oohhhh, Ball, Ba-Ba (for bottle) and her favorite word “No!” uttered million times daily. But she makes up for by using her manners all day long. Hand her anything, do anything she likes, and she’ll say “Tank To!”
And here’s a few more she’s so close to perfecting: ma-aah (more), Katie (she can say it perfectly, just not consistently). And anytime there’s a bark or dog it sight – “Da-ah”. She gets so excited, unless it’s a big dog, and the excitement quickly turns to fear.
People oftentimes mistake her for being 18 months or older. Maybe it’s cause she’s already wearing 2T clothes, and is in the 90% for height and 97% for weight. There’s A LOT to love about her - ALL those 25lbs!
If you could ask her, Brooke thinks she's already 2 or 3. She’s always trying to do everything everyone else is—and easily holds her own in a group of kids. Maybe it’s cause she’s a girl, or the second child, or that she’s just incredibly smart – but she’s so quick to grasp everything that’s happening the in world around her.
Like one day she just folded her arms and prayed with us. And now, when she gets a plate full of food, she instantly folds her arms and get’s ready to pray, oftentimes reminding us. Shamefully, this isn’t anything we really ever taught her to do…but she still figured it out on her own. And it’s like that with EVERYTHING!
And there’s very rarely any walking, mostly just running these days. She's always got a little jive to her step, shaking her head in a half dancing, half running sort of way. And now, she learned how to spin in circles and loves to twirl herself around. She always finds a way to crack herself up!
She also loves to back her THING up! Whether it’s sitting on her bean bag chair, the first step leading upstairs in the kitchen (helping herself to a snack from the pantry), or making her way to the couch pillows [she insists on sitting on pillows, not just the couch]. And one day, even the sofa table!
Her pink chair is her FAVORITE! She loves to back-it-up and chill on her chair. What’s the funniest is when she’s not paying close attention and totally misses the chair!
And these two are SO cute together. When Brooke sees cousin Scarlett, her whole face LIGHTS up. She came running over to her, waves and says Hi!, and then plops herself down, and from there, nothin but giggles coming from BOTH of them.
Earlier that day, same exact thing. Besties for sure!!
Anything that can be climbed up, will!! I had to hide my set toddler chairs/tables, cause she LOVED to stand on the chairs, and then make her way up to the table.
Just the other day at the park - guess who booked it up the ladder to the top of the playground!! She was so proud, while we were terrorized. She couldn’t wait to go down the HUGE slide.
She still has a shoe fetish – and LOVES to have her shoes put on. She’ll usually insist upon it, cause she knows it means one thing, going OUTSIDE to play!
And the SWING! When we first go outside, she screams if I try to put her down. We have to go STRAIGHT to the swing first. And she’s just as chill as can be when she’s outside. Just a whole new baby, with this passive, soaking it ALL in kinda look.
Inside, it’s the I’M THE BOSS kinda attitude we get ALL the time. We’re still working on breaking her stubborn streak, but she just might just have more will-power than me.
When it comes to food, she's very opinionated. She typically likes most things, but there's certain foods she'll go crazy for. Like avocados. I put one in the cart -- and next time I turn around -- Brooke's mouth is gushing green full of avocado. Yup, she found that lil ripe avocado and had no problem biting right through the skin. The sales clerk tried to tell me I picked out a bad avocado...but turns out it was so delish she couldn't wait :) And she also has a strawberry addiction. She won't stop until see sees the container good and gone. Until then, she'll beg and insist on more, and would happily eat a whole container, if I let her, all by herself.
And she's also very particular how she eats. She tries to convince me she's big enough to eat at the table like the rest of us, but we still insists she eats in the high chair, and for good reason. But one battle we've let her win is eating with a spoon. She loves to scoop up yogurt or oatmeal with it -- and for some things, I still have to help her with. It's a very messy endeavor, but she LOVEs it!!
She also loves to get dressed. Or "play" in my closet. She'll take down one of my shirts hanging up and try to put it on. Quite hilarious. And necklaces/purses -- she'll find any and all accessories to get herself all dolled up. And she never complains when Tanner wants her to pretend play with her -- the cowboy hat is a recent favorite :)
But she also LOVES to give hugs and kisses. She’s so cute and cuddly, especially when she’s tired. She no longer has to be coaxed to sleep. She drinks her bottle (a HUGE fan of whole milk – no more of that “poison” formula that she strongly detested), and then simply wants to lay in her bed with her paci. She has a new love affair with her paci now that I’m not nursing her…I’ve been replaced :(
And since turning one, she’s also sleeps 100% through the night, no more waking up at 5:00am for a snack, but is WIDE AWAKE for the world before 7:00 am each day. And while there’s not much cuddling going on in the morning, her smile radiates the room and it’s still the best way to wake up.
