...And she's 21!!!

One little monkey jumping on the bed




Little Miss Arden Brielle is 21 months old today, and it's a perfect time for a little update.



She has changed so much and her vocabulary has exploded these past three weeks. Some things she says are:

Boppy (Pappy-my dad)
Dada
Mama
B (cousin Briggs)
Ashie (Ashley)
baby
peas (please)
tain to (thank you)
Meow (cat)
dah (dog)
horsie
ot (hot)-I typically touch her food with the back of my hand, and if it's hot, I tell her, so she walks around randomly touching things with the back of her hand saying 'ot'
wawa (water)
ball
bike
boon (balloon)
Chee (cheese)
elvo/elbo (elmo)
cookie (cookies or cookie monster)
Pho (phone)
eat
apple
bye bye
see ya
bubbles
nonna (nonni-derek's mom)
pee pee
cah (car)
duck
shoe
book
beep
yeah
did it!

I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones she says daily. She pretty much tries to repeat anything we say, unless strangers are around watching and anticipating.



On September 8th, Arden peed in her potty. For about 2 weeks prior, she had been pointing to her diaper saying 'pee-pee'. She is scared to sit on the big potty, so I finally got her a little one. I haven't really pushed or tried it since, because we are going out of town and I didn't really want to be in the middle of potty training. She still says 'pee-pee' and points, but I just say 'yeah, did you go pee-pee?'


(enjoying her first ice cream cone-she has had ice cream before, but not her very own cone!)


Yesterday, she was trying to say all the names she knew really fast. She said, "Mama, Dada, Boppy, B..............Ashie. It was so cute, totally out of the blue and she said it REALLY fast.
I got her a play kitchen last week and she absolutely loves it. She is constantly opening and closing all of the doors/drawers and rearranging.
Her favorite toys are baby dolls (her absolute favorite is from Nonni and Grandpa) her purse from Boppy, her baby stroller (best $5 I've ever spent) and books. She loves that stroller so much that she tries to take it when we go places. I usually can get get away without it, but a week ago, we were going to church and she HAD to have it. We were in the car waiting for Derek, and he comes out and her stroller is in the back seat beside her. He was slightly confused, but she was beaming.



Arden loves to watch Sesame Street and Caillou. She loves Elmo, but Cookie Monster may be her new favorite (cookie! cookie!)
A few days ago, we got a cozy coupe for $2 (so what, it may be missing a door, but it rolls just fine!) and all she wants to do is go in the garage and sit in it and beep the horn and turn the wheel. She doesn't exactly know how to push with her feet yet.

This child loves purses, shoes, credit cards and cameras. She is such a girl. She's even scared of bugs and screams when she sees them.
She carries all types of bags on her arm around the house. Anything that is close by with a handle becomes her purse. You will typically find credit cards and one of her cell phones inside. If anyone comes over and takes their shoes off, Arden is sure to have them on her feet. She has a favorite pair (pink converse with butterflies) that she MUST wear when going out. If I don't want her to wear them, I have to hide them and show her all of her shoes so she sees they aren't there.

She loves sneaking one of the cameras and holding it up to her face like she's taking pictures.

She is pretty much a chatter box at home, but doesn't say much around others. She does not like when kids get really close to her too quick or move fast around her. She likes to observe the situation first, then join in. She is very gentle, loves seeing babies, cats and dogs...well any animal...likes to drink water from the outside spigot, slides, climbing and swinging. She loves reading books, music, dancing and playing instruments.

Arden loves blueberries, in fact last month, she ate a whole pint of them at once, then we both shared a pound of strawberries. She has become a picky eater, but will drink anything, so I have started making her smoothies so she gets her fruits. If I use fresh fruit, I add a little ice, flax seed and milk. If I use frozen fruit, I skip the ice. I plan on adding spinach to them, but haven't yet.

She will eat broccoli sometimes, still loves avocado and chick peas, and just started eating tomatoes again. Cheese is her absolute favorite and she begs for it everyday, but I don't give it to her due to her constipation. When she does get it, she gets so excited and starts dancing.

She has a little wooden puzzle she loves and each time she puts a piece in the correct spot, she shakes her fists and says "did it!!"

She is really good about folding her arms and bowing her head for prayers. Sometimes I catch her trying to keep her head down while peeking out, it's so cute...then she might giggle a little.

There is one person outside of the family Arden loves to see and that's Courtney. She knows her name, though she can't say it yet. She spotted Courtney at church last Sunday and got so excited. She wanted to go see her, but I think she was too scared to walk by all of the people to get to her.



Two weeks ago we went to a kid's art place for the open play date. They had about 5 stations and some were cheesy (like the one with paper and stamps, yeah you just put stamps on a piece of paper. I don't know, maybe kids like it.) Arden's favorite was painting. She loves to draw and paint.

On September 8th, Arden had her first day of preschool



Doesn't she look so cute?! We are doing a one day a week preschool co-op with five other kids. She was so busy playing with all the neat new toys, she didn't realize I left and she never cried....until I came to pick her up and she tried to take a baby doll with her.
I love her so much and and I'm so grateful to have her in my life.