Ari Taylor 23 Months! (noooo! Too soon!)

Ari Taylor:: Miss Independent. Spirited. Adorable. Sweet. Sassy. Fiercely motivated. Strong. Spunky. Intelligent. Ari is growing right in front of us and I dont like it one bit. Tonight, I saw some teenage girls all circled together and my heart was heavy with trepidation for those future days. I just want my little girl to stay little.

She is learning so much lately. ABC's, numbers, colors, animals. We work with notecards for her letters and I can say with cautious confidence that she knows/recognize A-G. Still in love with Elmo and Sesame Street, Ari loves to color and use crayons and chalk on all the places she's not supposed to (walls, floors, furniture etc). Ari loves kitty cats (at the petstore next to Trader Joes), dogs, being outside, walking, playing with her tiny stuffed dog "Woof, Woof", reading books, playing "find you" with Ashlyn and me/Dan, sitting on Dan's lap using his computer mouse and much much more. Days are full of activities!

Ari is starting to use words and phrases to get her point across. Sure, she still screams and whines when she tries to get her shoes off and cant... but she is communicating so well! "Shoes, Off." "Dadda, push, cart." One of my favorites is when she wants something to eat, she'll say "Eat. Food. 'Nack. Pleessh. Ni-Ni (Thank you)." So that she covers ALL the polite basic phrases into one long sentence. That should cover it- Just give her food.

Speaking of food, Ari eats so much food! Our monthly budget is getting bigger because of her. She will eat anything, all day. Her current favorites: coconut meatball curry and paleo pumpkin bread. One afternoon, she was in the kitchen being quiet (which as all parents of toddlers know is bad news bears)...she had opened the junk drawer, somehow knowing the location of my secret stash of dark chocolate! I found her enjoying a piece or two of her own. "Choco-eat"

Ari loooved swimming in the water this past weekend. We had a blast watching her experience new things and spend time with family. So much is happening in her life and we are blessed to be able to watch it happen from her perspective.

Almost to two years. oh my. Tears.