Halloween 2011

Isn't it crazy what a difference a year makes?  Last year Berkley didn't have a clue what was going on but this year she loved everything about Halloween!  She got excited about the pumpkins, witches, skeletons, and of course trick-or-treating!  Every day she wanted to wear a "happy halloween shirt."

Helping with the decorations

 I got festive this year and decided to try "dinner in a pumpkin."  It turned out pretty good, I think I'll make it a yearly thing.

 I also made a fun countdown... finished it on Halloween day so it will be ready to use on October 1st next year!

 Annual pumpkin carving with the Morbys.

 Lisa grew this banana squash in her yard!

My little carebear.  She does this goofy smile every time the camera is out.  (And then has to look at the picture immediately afterward of course.)

21 Months

Berkley turned 21 months old on October 21st.  Some things she's been doing for the past 3 months:

-Copycatting.  Not only does she copy everything we say, she copies our actions as well.  If I'm sitting against the wall with my legs crossed, she'll come sit next to me and cross her legs.  If I sit on my bed and put lotion on my feet, she has to sit on the bed and put lotion on her feet.  She even pretends to spit in the sink after brushing her teeth. 

-Zack decided it was time to face her car seat forward.  On her first birthday, the guidelines for a forward-facing seat were 1 year AND 20 lbs.  She wasn't quite 20 lbs so we left her rear-facing.  Shortly after that the guidelines changed to 2 years and 35 lbs.  She didn't know any different so we kept her rear-facing.  Until now.  Zack felt bad for her.  And to be honest, she loves it and it's more convenient for us too. 

-So observant.  Speaking of turning her car seat, she notices everything now.  She points out letters and numbers she sees, can spot a flag from 3 miles away, and tells me whether she sees a school bus or a city bus.  (She gets much more excited about school buses.) 

-Favorite tv show is still yo gabba gabba though she also likes sesame street, especially elmo's world.

-Favorite foods right now are dried mangoes and frosted mini wheats. 

-Loves music and dancing!  She knows the words to several songs.  She'll ask for music in the car and every time a new song comes on she says, "I yike this one!"  She even recognizes a lot of songs just from the first 2-3 notes of the intro (such as Take a Back Road by Rodney Atkins.)  Her favorite song is still Tonight Tonight by Hot Chelle Ray but she also enjoys singing Twinkle Twinkle, The Wheels on the Bus, and I Love to See the Temple. 

-Loves all shoes and slippers. 
-She pretty much has all of her books memorized and now she reads them to me.  We try to take frequent trips to the library.
-Her favorite toys are her stuffed animals, monkey and wocket.  She always has one or both of them with her and refers to them collectively as "monkey-wocket."  It's cute how she treats them like we treat her, hugs and kisses, pretending to change their bums, and telling us when they're hungry. 
-Her new love is the garbage truck.  We showed it to her one week and the next week we brought her to the window and she said, "Garbage truck!  Dump it out!" I was so surprised that she remembered. 
-She'll say, "Help you?" when she needs help, "change you?" when she needs a diaper change, "carry you?" when she wants me to pick her up etc.  

Most of the pictures we've taken from 18-21 months are already in other posts but here are a few randoms.

Dancing to yo gabba gabba in her slippers.

I think all parents love watching their children sleep.  They just look so precious.  Not to mention getting themselves into funny positions. 

This was supposed to be a before picture of her first haircut.  I couldn't stand her scraggly bangs anymore.  Unfortunately, she would not let the haircut happen.  I snuck it in a few weeks later though...

Bumcrack.  And yes, she does know that word. 
 

Although we don't have many pictures, we did take a lot of random videos over the past few months...

Her first ding dong...

 She now often chants "mommy mommy mommy!" or "daddy daddy daddy!" with a little fist pump.

Some singing and guitar playing before bed.  I especially like how she turns this first one into a medley.

This one was for Merrisa.  She taught Berkley a weird Voldemort noise.

The rest of these I took on the day she turned 21 months of her talking, singing, and counting just so I can remember what she's like at this age.  In pretty much every video she starts saying "Yook? Yook?" because she wants to watch the video before we're even done recording it.