16 months!

Kudos go to the husband and I for keeping this kid alive for 16 months! I mean, really, that's insane. 16 months? We almost have a one-&-a-half year old! Crazy, folks. And she's turning into the most fantastic & entertaining little thing, too. She seems so much older than she is, which is so fitting considering she's my child. Ask anyone who knew me as a child - I was a diva, "4 going on 24" my family would say. I imagine Brooke will be just like that, with possibly even more personality (an almost-scary thought.)

It's incredible how much she changes month by month. Here's a quick recap this month:

- We have a monkey on our hands! We started tumbling class about 4 weeks ago. I'm shocked at the progress she's made in just 4 weeks. She is so much braver now, willing to try anything. She climbs and practices her balance and jumps on a trampoline (all with Mom as her spotter, of course.) She even pulls all 31 lbs of herself up on a chin-up bar, using that super-human strength she seems to have been born with. We can see a huge change at home, too. She's climbing all over the place!
- Appropriately enough, Brooke and I went to the Children's Museum for the first time, the perfect place to practice all her climbing skills! She got to play with all 4 of her cousins in the adorable Kids Town, complete with a grocery store, post office, diner, etc. They played at this giant water table, ran all around the gated toddler area (with a castle & a slide,) and threw balls all around in this big cage. She had so much fun!

- The purse obsession has been taken to a whole new level. She got 4, yes 4, new purses for Easter. She now has 6 and it is not uncommon for her to be carrying around all 6 at once. There are purses everywhere now!
- I'm proud to say she has become very polite lately. She can now say "thank you" pretty clearly and she says it in the sweetest little girly voice. She uses it all. the. time. Like, she'll hand you something and tell you thank you (for holding it for her, I guess?) I told her this morning that if she overuses it, people won't think she's being sincere!
- The morning nap is history. She just has one 1.5-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. So sad :(
- Somebody had her first (and second and third...) ice cream cone this month.

- I'm not even going to try to list all of her new words this month because it's ridiculous. She's a big-time mimic now, trying to repeat everything she hears. This has helped her develop even more sounds, which has translated into a ton of new words. I understand almost everything she says, but Daddy sometimes needs a Toddler Translator. Some of our favorites? "Vacuum", "cracker", "cupcake", and, of course, the oh-so-sweet "thank you". She does have trouble with R's and S's, though. Have you ever heard of a child changing these into G's? She wears "gocks" on her feet, things often get "guck" (stuck), and she loves to "gock" in the rocking chair. Hilarious.
- She has started to sing along to the Dora theme song. She picked up on this quickly, as we don't watch Dora all that often. The best part is when she imitates Swiper's "Oh, maaaan!"

A few more random pics I never got around to posting!

To sum up: Brooke is awesome and I take a lot of vertical pictures.