Learning to Count

This is a picture of Matt reading to Taylor on Mother's Day.

I often work with Taylor on counting. She likes to start with "3" and go directly to "7, 8." She likes 7 and 8 and usually always keeps them together. She rarely starts with "one." She occasionally counts from "6" to "12." I was very surprised the first time she did that!

Today we were at the store and she had some little fruit snacks she was snacking on. She was counting them. Then, I realized she was counting in Spanish..."cuatro, cinco, seis." I know it was 4-5-6 in Spanish, but not sure if I'm spelling that correctly. All that "Dora the Explorer" is paying off. Taylor loves to watch Dora. We DVR many episodes so we have them available. She will say, "watch Dora." Then we say, "Do you want to watch Dora?" And she says, "Okay." As if it were our idea.

Sunny days at home with Taylor...

Yesterday, Taylor was looking out the sliding back door. She then came running, "rain, mommy, rain....come see." The neighbor had their sprinkler on, Taylor thought it was rain. Daddy took her outside to see the sprinkler. She enjoyed walking around, "walk grass" she says. Apparently, she ran in the neighbor's sprinkler too.

Later, I went outside to spray the weeds. Daddy took Taylor inside. Daddy said, "where's mommy?" Taylor said, "there is...foun mommy." While she and daddy were watching out the window daddy told me Taylor said, "love you mommy." That was the first time she said it all by herself. I was so sorry I missed that.

Today while we were getting ready to go outside and play Taylor said, "I love you mommy." I was so happy to see her little smiling face and hear those words.
I was trying to clean a Little Tykes kitchen for her and she was playing with her ball and a little wagon. She would stop when I said stop and she never went into the street. She would want to walk away and she would say, "bye bye...be right back." She did get in trouble once for going where I told her not to, but after that, when I would say "no" and tell her to stay where I could see her, she would come back. We are making good progress in minding.
At nap time, she kept saying, "go nigh-night" and wanted into her bed. This not our usual routine. I kept checking on her and would make her Eeyore sing. She would say, "bye-bye" to me...it was so cute. She was trying to go to sleep all by herself with all her blankets and Eeyore. Eventually, she called for me and then I was able to cuddle her off to sleep.

Happy Mothers' Day

Here's Taylor walking around in the mud. She says, "go fast." She likes to go fast! Matt on one of his favorite toys. I know he has fun, but I'll never stop worrying about him. He lives in his own house, and I'm still always telling him to be careful. After church, we met up at our property to go for a nice little hike and enjoy the views. Matt rode is dirt bike up the mountain; we drove our truck. It was pretty muddy! Taylor didn't mind getting dirty. She loves any opportunity to get outside to go for a walk.
It was when we were leaving that we got our truck stuck. Yes, the right front tire, all the way up to the bumper, and up against a little tree (that Ben now wishes he would have taken out last summer). This, of course, freaked me out a little. I just figured the truck would be a permanent fixture, right there where the driveway would someday be. Apparently, I forget who I am married to sometimes. He's never stuck, just momentarily challenged. This was no big deal for him. I went down the mountain and waited while Ben got the truck out. He said it was very stuck and I wouldn't have liked watching him get it out. I can only imagine since the truck was covered in mud when he brought it back. I guess it's these little adventures that make life fun and I don't need to worry as much as I do.

Fort Sherman

The sun came out so we put on our shorts and went to the park. Taylor loved this slide. I started by following her...running up and down and all around the playground. We met two little girls who were able to climb up the stairs and go down the slide without any help. I found out one was a week older and the other a week younger than Taylor. Their moms were waiting patiently at the end of the slide. So, when I let her, it turns out Taylor could climb up and slide down all by herself too. She had so much fun!
Then, she found the sand. This too was fascinating!
We then went for a little walk, as it started to cool off. I am so blessed that this is how I get to spend my days!

Falls and Park

This picture was taken during the "flooding" we had due to all the run off. It was raining this day when we went to see the falls, but we think it was worth it.
Spring is here and the snow is melting. We have recently gone to the falls to watch the water and play a little at the park.
There is a nice little path to view the dam which has been open and flowing strong. Taylor really enjoys the walk.
She doesn't care too much for the swings, but she's smiling in this picture.
She really likes ducks and thought this duck would be fun to play with. We didn't think the duck would want to play. Since Taylor didn't agree with us, we left shortly after this...bye, bye duck.

"Brush a teeth"

I recently put a stool in the bathroom so Taylor can reach the sink. She loves to brush her teeth and wash her face. She says, "brush a teeth." When she's done she says thank you and hands me her tooth brush. She also brushes every night with her daddy.

Taylor's favorite heels...

Taylor will quietly take a toy and go into my closet. I always know where she is, because...well...that's what I do. She doesn't seem concerned that it is dark and that she is alone. I will quietly open the door to see what she's doing or wait for her to call, "mommy." Well, she has found her new favorite shoes. She goes for them each time now. This was the first time. I was very surprised to see her emerge in these....
I couldn't believe it as she walked out of the room, down the hall, and into the living room, as if this was no big deal. This was the last picture I took, because I had to switch to video. She's too cute walking around in my high heels.

She likes her "pretties"...

These are from her 18month pictures. She had similar ones taken at 6months, although then she was in the hat box. I'm not sure if you can tell, but her little toe nails are painted pink. Taylor likes to go through the nail polish, as well as most everything else in the cabinet. She will pull out the nail polish and say, "toes." I usually put a clear coat that dries quickly over her pink polish. She knows this, so if I just try to do a quick coat, she says, "more" and points to the other polishes.

She loves to dress up. We have collected several bracelets and necklaces and she will put them all on at once and take her babies for a walk around the house.