Brooke Lately

*I'm tempted to start this post complaining about how I'm still getting used to my new phone and its camera features but realize that will make me sound 20+ years older than I am. Instead, I'll apologize briefly for my lack of new photos of Brooke lately and will say in my defense that I don't think it's entirely my fault.*

Disclaimer aside, I don't have an over-arching theme for this post and instead just wanted to make some notes of what Brooke's been up to.


Overall, she continues to be a pretty compliant and easygoing toddler. Who's two. Of course, the times that she chooses to assert her independence seem like they're always in the hallway at church or while we're out to dinner where lots of people can see. She's in her bed about 12 hours a night, but we often still hear her talking or singing to herself as late as 10 or 11. I think this may have started in Florida when we shared a room with her and would let her get up and play at that time. She's just so much fun when she's slap-happy! Her afternoon naps usually last between 2-3 hours. We'll see how all this changes when we put her in a toddler bed in the coming weeks.


Her vocabulary is kind of exploding and she cracks me up daily with some of the things she says. Here are some examples:

"Torry, hon, I tan't pay white now." (Translation: "Sorry, hon, I can't play right now.") - this was said as she was 'talking' on her toy phone. Wonder where she heard that? Mom guilt.

"He haned up on me!" (Translation: "He hanged up on me!") - also said in reference to her toy phone. I think she got that from the times that Lexi has accidentally hung up on her.

"Don't taut to me yike dat!" (Translation: "Don't talk to me like that!") - said with her hand out and full attitude when I told her she couldn't watch tv. Matt and I will say that line to her when she's disrespectful to us. This comment from her was followed with an explanation from us about how Moms and Dads can talk to their kids however they want. And then we laughed pretty hard.

"Reyax, Ozzie, it's otay." (Translation: "Relax, Ozzie, it's okay.") Ozzie gets pretty fired up when there's action of any kind outside our windows and she's learned the magic words.

"It's otay. It an attident. No bid deal." (Translation: "It's okay. It was an accident. No big deal.") Said when she spilled her water when we were out to dinner the other night. She gets a little worked up about mistakes so I was glad to hear her self-calming.

"Tan we doe home now? I wat to doe home." (Translation: "Can we go home now? I want to go home.") Said right after above spilling incident. I think it was the first time I'd seen her embarrassed and aware of it. Seeing her grow up is so bittersweet.

"Is eweyting otay in hewe?" (Translation: "Is everything okay in here?") Said at a friends' house. The moms were in one room and the kids were in the other. Apparently that's my line of choice when checking on her and her friends playing.


We broke out the big girl underwear the other day, and while she didn't have any accidents in them for 4+ hours, she also didn't go in the toilet. Matt considers this "practically potty-trained", but I'm not so optimistic. My plan is to follow her lead for the next few months. Stay tuned.

We continue to be amazed with how lucky and blessed we are to have such a healthy, happy little girl and if it's possible, each stage of her growing is more fun (/challenging) than the next.

Here she is 'holding' her friend "Baby Evan" at the Super Bowl party. We'll work on her form in the next few weeks.