23 Months

Dearest Magnolia,

You are now 23 months! I can't believe you will have your second birthday next month!

You really surprised me yesterday. I call it your independence day. You suddenly decided to do so many things on your own. When you were hungry you went to the pantry and carefully looked for something you wanted then opened it and ate it. When I was doing things downstairs you wanted to go upstairs to read your books. I told you that was fine and you navigated the stairs all by yourself and came back and forth a couple of times to check out this new found freedom. Sometimes I'll open the front door and let you come in and out as you please. You always stay on the front porch drawing with your sidewalk chalk. Today I found you all the way down the front walk and ACROSS the cul-de-sac. You were in your diaper, tennis shoes, and carrying your sidewalk chalk bucket like it was your purse. You wanted to go see the big boys across the way riding their bikes. I couldn't believe you went that far that fast all by yourself! You also love my new push vac. You push it all over the house and today you learned how to turn it on and I let you vacuum with it on. You were a great help! :)

For a while you didn't show an advancement on your speech but we saw a huge advance in your comprehension. You are understanding SO much of what we say. You no longer say "no" to everything and now we get an honest answer. This past week however, you've started to say so much more. Yesterday you kept saying "are doing?" as in what am I doing? That made me laugh! You are saying short sentences now and repeat EVERYTHING you hear including something mommy shouldn't have said out loud. :)

You are so very sweet and give the best hugs around. You even hug all the trees in our backyard. You say hello to everyone and everything. You've finally become attached to things other than me. :) Your stuffed lamb or "lambie" as you call him is your favorite. You talk to him, hug him, and take him to sleep with you every night.

I took this picture of you yesterday. Those are the bags we take to the grocery store and you decided to carry them like mommy! You make me laugh a hundred times a day. You are such a blessing in our lives, we just love you to pieces! xoxoxo

Some of my favorite things about today:

1. Taking Magnolia to play in the water fountain.

2. Having a picnic with Magnolia on a huge blanket by the lake.

3. Revisiting my George Winston Autumn CD for the ride home, putting Magnolia to sleep.

4. Reading this adorable book to Magnolia this morning.

5. Drawing huge shapes outside with chalk and asking Magnolia to stand in the one I called out.

I'm so lucky to be her mom!

Magnolia has loved watching things grow in our garden this year. Lately she's been picking all the tomatoes but today I found her on the patio picking the grapes. Last week we picked the apples from our apple tree. She was so excited to do this since we watched them grow all summer.

Saturday night we went to our local FCC (Families with Children from China) event to celebrate Autumn Moon Festival. All the children were to bring a lantern to carry in a lantern parade. After our Chinese meal, and story of the Chinese Autumn Moon, they turned off the lights, turned on some Chinese music and the children paraded around the room with their lanterns. Afterwards we took a group photo. Magnolia was fine with it first and then she decided she was done with it (see below). I'm afraid my creative skills have hit the back burner recently as I sent her along with a pretty lame lantern made 5 minutes before we left. At least it looked pretty when it was lit up. :)

We've had gloomy skies for 5 days in a row but they finally cleared tonight. We went outside and got to see the beautiful Autumn Moon and for dessert we ate Moon Cakes. I love this new tradition in our lives. It's so simple and so beautiful. I'm so happy for all of the things that having Magnolia has brought into our lives and that we share together. Happy Autumn Moon Festival!

Some Favorites

I will admit that Magnolia and I are rarely separated. On this day however, we parted ways so I could go to my MOPS meeting and she could to to their daycare. I held my breath as she's never had a babysitter! An hour passed before someone came to get me and tell me that Magnolia needed her mommy. She was sobbing and nothing could soothe her. I was, however, very impressed that she lasted an hour. I took these photos of her before we left because it was such a big day for us both. She wore the backpack Nana got her filled with her water and snack.
One day I was in the kitchen while Magnolia played outside. I went to check on her when I found her walking across the driveway in my shoes!
Magnolia loves to wear my headbands and when they're not across her eyes like sunglasses then she pushes them up on her head like this. Makes me laugh every time especially since my sister and I used to do this all the time too!

Elizabeth & Rob

Remember these newlyweds? They came for a visit this weekend and we got to take them up north for the first time. They brought Magnolia's dog cousins, Molly & Trek. She was scared of them at first but quickly fell in love with them. It was so cute to see. On the way up to the island we stopped at a winery. They bring the grapes in from Napa Valley and make the wine there on the premise. They have such a nice tasting room and patio. The pictures below are of us sharing a bottle on the patio...what a beautiful day! It was so nice to see you Elizabeth & Rob. Thanks for coming!!!

We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend on the island with my parents, my sister, and her three gorgeous girls; Willa, Ellie, & Lily.

Hoping everyone is enjoying these last days of summer...