Happy 18 Months My Little Perfect!

I call her my perfect because I think she is just that. :O) I think that of all my kids but I am not sure I could call them all the same word...it'd get confusing for them. ;)

 My BABY is now a year and a half old. She is less and less of a baby all the time. We all adore her. I think her brothers and sister more then ever now that she plays with them quite a bit. She does silly things that keep us giggling all the time. The thing about her and especially at this age is the amount of joy she radiates. You cant be sad or grumpy when Genevieve is around. You just cant. She walks up to you just overflowing with cuteness and joy...she is adorable. She is confident, obedient, curious, smart, happy, a consistent mommy's girl, she LOVES to eat and would eat constantly all day long if I let her, she loves to swim and run and jump and she loves music and dancing. Her wave is the cutest thing you have ever seen - seriously my favorite thing she does. she loves kids and if she sees someone close to her size she immediately tries to be friends with them. I think we might have a social butterfly on our hands. When she hears music she lights up like a firefly. She LOVES babies: real and dolls. I love watching her reaction when we see a baby at the store. I love how she gets the little doll stroller ready with a baby doll buckled in and everything and pushes her baby all over the house coming to each of us to show us her baby. She loves shoes and wearing dresses...I never have to wrestle her into clothes when its a pretty dress and never shoes...she loves shoes. She gives really sweet cuddles and she leans forward not to give a kiss but to get one....99% of the time she expects a kiss and doesn't really think she should have to give them in return so if you get a kiss from her its a big deal. She gave one to me the other day it was literally and figuratively sweet as her mouth was covered with fruit-loop crumbs. I loved it no matter how sticky it was. ;) She is shy of strangers but quickly her curiosity over shadows her shyness and she is just as cute as can be and as BUSY. Did I mention how BUSY she is? Well she is very busy. :O) When I am not calling her Perfect I might be calling her "My Mischief Maker" or "My Tornado" because a path of destruction, I mean exploring and play, ;)  follows behind her at all times. Its getting to the point where I cant really let her play without my supervision...don't love that part too much. At least she is cute to watch and play with. ;)

She is not talking very much in English but her "baby talk" is very developed. She has complete conversations with people with nothing being said in English. It worries me a little that she isn't using real words much but its still pretty adorable. Besides Ben all my kids were pretty slow talkers so we'll see how long it takes her to develop her speech, hopefully not too long because I want to hear more and more of her thoughts. With all her childlike cuteness there is a deep intellect to her, this maturity that is easy to miss with all her giggles and putting on my make up three times a day but its there and I want to hear her thoughts more fully to get to know that side of her a little more.

She loves doing little actions to songs so we'll sing the popcorn popping song or the itsy bitsy spider and she loves to do the movements with us. It is so cute how fun it is for her.  On Sundays she has to help lead the music...she loves music. She has been going to nursery for the past two weeks and loves it. The nursery leaders love her too because she is so happy and cute to have around. When we get to church she walks right over to the nursery room and wants to go to nursery as soon as we get there...needless to say sacrament meetings are a bit long for us these days. :)

Yesterday she threw her first real tantrum. I was a bit shocked. She kept climbing onto the counter/bar and grabbing handfuls of her brothers' and sister's cereal. She had a bowl for herself but she wanted theirs not hers. I kept putting her back in her chair and showing her the bowl for her. That's when she climbed back on top of the counter picked up her bowl and poured it out on the counter and then threw the bowl. She then proceeded to wave her hands in her spilled cereal frantically in defiance. I picked her up washed her off and set her down on the ground while I went to work cleaning up the mess...when the little rascal climbed back up the counter and plopped right down in the mess. I was getting aggravated. I told her firmly that she cant climb up on the counter and sit in milk. I cleaned her up yet again and set her down on the floor she was screaming as I set her on the ground and she marched over to our basket we put our shoes in and she pushed it out into the room and then pushed it over and started to scatter the shoes. At that point I was so shocked by her little tirade I couldn't help laughing. I guess she is stubborn and has a temper too!  You learn something new everyday.

This morning when I got back from my run Stewart and I were about to kneel for our morning prayer and I could hear her awake in her crib. I went and got her and she was just beaming and giggling and talking to us about little things we couldn't really understand and she knelt with us dragging her giant blanky and folded her arms so cute while we said prayers. Then she leaned forward for a kiss from me and then her daddy and beamed at us giggling. Stewart remarked that he was so glad we have her in our family because she is our little sunshine. And she really is.

I think one of  the best ways to capture her cuteness is in pictures so enjoy these cute pictures of my little perfect. I tried to have her sit still for them but she is not the type to sit still so these are action shots of the two of us going on a walk together....she's a doll. :O)  I am so glad she is my daughter. She keeps me smiling all day long,  she's a joy.