Oden Adventures

We were in Oregon for Vianne's twenty-one monthiversary (1/8/14), and it was raining, so I just took a few snapshots indoors while she was distracted with her milk (she even stopped to say "cheese" several times, which infinitely beat chasing her around the yard at home).

What I've heretofore reported on Vianne is escaping me, so forgive me for repeats.  Vianne is an adorable little helper these days.  She loves (read: insists on) carrying out the bag from the diaper genie when I empty it; loves helping to unload groceries from the car; loves to be in the midst of any outdoor activity like watering plants or raking leaves; and usually will respond to requests for help picking things up (even if they often get dumped right back out again...).  She also has developed a very sympathetic side and likes to ask, "What's wrong?" and if she senses someone is sad or frustrated or not feeling well, she likes to give their head a pat and say, "Oh, [insert name]!" and give out extra hugs and kisses. 

She is very attentive to vehicles and always points out fire trucks, buses, motorcycles ("Jon!"), airplanes, and helicopters in particular.  She rarely hears a noise without wanting to know, "What's that sound?"  Another favorite question is "Where('d) Daddy (or whoever's left the room) go?"  She also for quite some time has gotten a kick out of calling people "Silly [insert name].  She also does a lot of fake laughing, crying, sleeping, and coughing these days because she seems to enjoy the attention they attract.  The sleeping is adorable.  The crying, not so much.

She is starting to learn to count and recognize some alphabet letters.  She still loves to color, loves playing with all her fun new toys from Christmas, loves to "read" her books - more than let Mama read them to her.  She still loves "Bob and Yarry", and Peppa Pig and Mickey Mouse & friends (she looks up at the sky and says, "Oh, toodles!" often throughout the day).

Another pet phrase is "Dinner soon!"  I told her one evening we would have dinner soon, so now whenever she wants to eat, she says "Dinner soon!" even if it's 7:30 in the morning or around noon, and sometimes even if it's 10 minutes after she just ate.

In other speech cuteness, k's and hard c's are t's right now.  So milk = milt, our friend Cammie = Tammie, Christmas = Tristmas, Costco sounds a bit like Tattoo, okay = otay, school bus = stool bus :-).  She also calls Target "Targer", Margot "Marner", and Miriam "Mirmer", in her attempt at two-syllable pronunciations.  She's actively exploring possessives and plurals at the moment, with relative accuracy ("It's mine!" and "Cookie mans").