Shoes, socks, MONKEY!

Walking the monkey.

Trying to take the monkey on a ride.

Oh, she almost has it. This was a challenge to get herself and the monkey on the race car.


Well, I still don't have my camera but if I did here's what it would look like:



The camera was mailed out last Wednesday and still has not arrived. Why not? Huh!!! This is going to be the death of me. I have a tendency to obsess about things (such as the camera)...just a little flaw I have. But, this is also a flaw that allows me to get things done in a sort of military style. Once the "to do" list is made, I'm on a direct mission to get it all done and usually don't allow myself a break until complete. So, in the meantime, I continue to go back in my photo archives.

Before there was "horsey" there was "monkey". Lola loved several things during this phase....her monkey, socks and shoes. So why not combine all three and put the shoes and socks on the monkey. Man, this is genius! Lola was very particular about her monkey and very diligent when putting on the shoes and socks. She would pick out exactly which ones she wanted to put on the monkey each day. The monkey would play with us in the yard in the afternoons and Lola would take her for walks and attempt to take her for rides on the race car and then the monkey would go to bed with Lo. It was cute! But, the monkey is now in the past and Lola is really into horseys. Of course, we haven't been able to find the perfect small horsey for the little girl but we're on the search. In the meantime, she's loving her rocking horsey that her great grandmother, Memaw, got her for Christmas

I continue to mention over and over on this blog how challenging this toddler stage can be. Although there are so many challenges, little Miss Lola continues to bring us muchos joy every day. She never ceases to amaze me. She is constantly talking. Literally non-stop. Obviously, we don't always understand what she's saying (we just nod our heads and agree) but lately she's really started speaking much more clear and some of the words/sentences she's using actually make sense. Here are some of her new sayings:

• "OH NO!!!" She says this with a ton of drama. Seriously, you should see the expression on her face when she uses this term.
• "Outside hot" Hot has been a new word for Lola over the past couple weeks. If she touches food, bath water, etc that is too hot she'll say "hot". She says her "hot" with a bit of an accent...not sure which language...maybe French. Last weekend at the lake she was barefoot and stepped on some hot concrete....she suddenly stopped in her tracks, froze up and started screaming loudly "hot, hot, hot" (with the french accent). I had to run and grab her to save those little feet. It really was hot! During the rush to save Lo's feet, I actually burned my feet too. Now she's learned to put hot with other words. When we go outside she says "Outside hot" which is soooo true. Man, it has been hot, hot, hot!!!
• "Where'd it go?" - She says this with the cutest little tone and usually lifts up her hands and shrugs her shoulders when saying it. This little girl is very expressive when she talks. I also have a feeling she's going to be a big hand talker.
• "here'ya" or "mere'ya" (the second one actually means come here) - She says both as if she were herding cows...."here'ya, here'ya". Lo uses this term when she wants something or when she has something to give you or when she wants you to pick her up she'll say "here'ya". Not sure where the "ya" comes into play but it makes it all the more cute. On top of everything else, she's a demanding little thing!
• "Ha-ppy Bir -d-tay to you" - At school they celebrate birthdays for all the kids. I always know when it's a child's birthday b/c Lola sings "Happy Birthday to you" all the way home in the car and then continues to sing it through the night and sometimes even the next morning. She says the "to" part with just a tap of the tongue and usually puts two fingers up. I guess she thinks "to" is also "two". This may be her longest sentence to date.
• "Hi Lola" - When Lola looks in the mirror or sees a picture of herself she'll say "Hi Lola" to herself with a sweet little tone.
• "My God" - This is my favorite. I know it technically shouldn't be my fav but it is. More than once Lola has used this term when something doesn't go exactly her way and she says it as if she is overly exacerbated. Seriously, where did she get this??? Now, we obviously don't want her to use God's name in vain but when kids say something like this, you can't help but giggle. It's kind of like that famous scene in Jerry Macguire...you all know what I'm talking about.

It truly doesn't get much better than this!!!