the bright side: My sweet girl ...

With only about 30 days to go until Little Man arrives (assuming he decides to stay put that long) I've been reflecting and cherishing the few weeks Claire and I have together as "just us." In the midst of Claire and I being sick, trying to wrap up several projects for work and frantically wrapping up decorating and shopping for the little guy- I wanted to be sure to take a minute to blog about my 20-month old.

While she is a toddler and all that this implies, she is honestly a REALLY great little girl. Overall, she has maintained the same laid-back personality she's had since birth. She seems too big now and is such a sweet little person. She has a day now and then where she pushes the limits, but I'm thankful for my years working with children as it's made me realize what a sweet spirit Claire has.

She's been shaking her head "no" for quite awhile but after learning "nose" she quickly learned to say "no." Last Friday, almost all I heard all day was "No, no, no Mama!" About everything ... even sno cones.

Outside of that, she listens to me very well. She's patient and follows instructions (we'll see how long that lasts!).

She loves babies and has been really excited about some of the things we've brought home lately for baby brother. Sometimes, when we ask her where her baby brother is, she points to her own belly instead of mine. So when she knows I'm doing something or buying something for brother, she gets excited and points to her belly. Ha ha.

She still asks to go to bed or nap on a regular basis. She loves routine and finds getting ready for nap/bedtime fun. She has almost always fallen asleep on her own, rarely have we ever had to rock her to sleep before putting her in bed.

She loves to help me clean and pick up her toys. On Monday she noticed there were a lot of smudgy hand prints on one of the windows (guess whose?) and I watched in amazement as she went to get baby wipes and started cleaning the window.

Lately, it seems I'm usually the one who ends up getting hurt when we're playing. Getting whacked in the face with a hairbrush or taking a left hook to the eye ... I can only imagine the battle scars I'll have with two kids! But, when she can tell I got hurt she cocks her head to the side and makes and says "ooooohhh" and pats or rubs my arm. It's so funny.

She still loves people and thrives in crowds. She's always good for a smile, laugh or hug and will perform some of her favorite dance moves for perfect strangers just for a laugh.

She's a tree hugger - all on her own. She loves the trees in the backyard and frequently runs around hugging and patting each tree.

I haven't been feeling well at all the last few days and she's been very sensitive to that. She's been in the BEST mood, well behaved and very sympathetic. She's been giving me lots of hugs and pats. This morning she brushed my hair and gave me lots of hugs for about 20 minutes.

While we are struggling to learn to share with some of our best buddies, she loves playing with other kids.

We are head over heals for this little girl. She is constantly keeping us laughing and on our toes! We can only imagine the joy and laughter we'll soon share with two kiddos running around!

My poor Nikon hasn't seen the light of day for probably a month now. So here are some iPhone photos I manage to get as I chase around my lively toddler!