One busy busy busy little girl.

In the last four months, Miss Lilla Grace has done a boatload of growing. In the physical sense yes. She’s longer, heavier, wears a bigger size diaper and her hair seems to be growing longer on the front of her head than anywhere else. And since she’s blessed with my cowlicks, it’s nearly impossible to keep out of her face. But all that aside, what’s really changed is her personality. It’s gotten bigger. Brighter. Bolder. Allow me to elaborate.

BIGGER

Her smile lights up the house. She has an audacious little nature and is very independent. She says hi to anyone that pays attention to her and her curiosity puts Curious George to shame. Every morning we go into her room, she greets us with roll call, pointing at things wanting to know what they are,”Ah-dat?” It’s amazing to see the little wheels turning inside of her head.

BRIGHTER

I know they soak things up like a sponge at this age but wow, Lilla must have a Guinness record size sponge in her head. She shakes her head no (a lot) and yes. Though we’re pretty sure she only understands the meaning of “no” when she’s in her high chair and some sort of food she doesn’t like (that day) is headed in the general vicinity of her mouth.

Her vocabulary has expanded to include more words – “Hi there,” “Daddy,” “Mine (our least favorite of her words),” “Deddy (Penny),” “Deese (Please),” Ouch,” and “Does (Toes).”  She also has her own little language that she chants around the house, “Gobbledee Gobbledee Gobbledee.” I think of all the words she knows, that one is my favorite. With baby Henry upstairs she’s quickly learning that she needs to be quiet around the baby. So she now shushes herself whenever you say the word “baby.”

And last but not least, she does animal noises. She roars for a lion, says “roof roof” for a dog, beats her chest for a gorilla (perhaps my favorite one), moos for a cow, neighs for a horse, “hoo’s” for an owl, tweets for a bird, and hisses for a kitty cat. We taught her that one because Trent & Sarah’s cat is satan’s spawn.

BOLD

She still refuses to say “Mommy” when asked but does now say it when she wants something. It’s almost always recited with a bit of a whine. She just started walking. Yay! She’s still a little shaky. Pretty much looks like a drunk sailor with every step but she’s determined. She also likes to scream in public. Not like tantrum scream (although that has happened once or twice), but scream to make sure she’s heard. Mainly out of excitement. We recently took Lilla with us to an engagement party of old coworkers of mine and she was definitely the life of the party. She literally put on a show for everyone there. Whether it was crawling or “Gobbledee Gobbledee Gobbledeeing,” she had nearly every kidless adult at that party thinking to themselves for a moment, “hmm maybe kids aren’t so bad.”

So there you have it. A lot has happened in the four months since I last posted. I’ll post some videos after this one. But take a look at the photos to see just how big our little nugget is getting. We are so proud to be her parents. And unbelievably blessed.

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