Smarty Pants

Every parent wants their child to be smart, right?

And of course, Todd and I are no exception. It really is amazing to watch as Gracie shows us all the things she is able to do and what she understands. Just as everyone always says...she really does learn something new everyday.

So here's why we think our child is smart:

We were doing our normal bedtime routine, but instead of Gracie randomly picking and pulling books down off her bookshelf for us to read, I decided to ask her to "find" certain books by saying the title - and SHE DID IT!!!

We are beyond proud of her!!!

She did this for the first time on June 15th - she was just over 16 months old. This video is from last night - she's almost 17 months old.

Crazy, huh!?!

Here's what she's up to these days:

• Loves her "night night" blanket and binky.
• Points to her nose, eyes, ears, hair, belly, hands, and teeth when asked (still working on knees and elbows).
• Uses sign language for milk, eat, more, bath, please, bird, airplane, choo choo train, and I love you (which is my favorite).
• Has 6 teeth - 4 on top and 2 on the bottom and the 7th one coming in on the bottom.
• Still does her "O" face and loves to eat spicy Buffalo Chicken Dip.
• Loves watching Elmo and her nursery rhyme videos while sitting in her pink chair.
• Loves being outside and picking up rocks.
• Puts her hand on her forehead and slides it down over her eye when we say "Oh...No"
• Squeezes her nose when we say "P U stinky".
• Walks backwards.
• Likes to be chased.
• Loves gadgets and to figure out how things work - just like her Daddy.
• Plays in and falls on top of the laundry when I'm washing and folding clothes.
• Can point to pictures of her grandparents, Uncle Jeff, and Aunt Katie (so cute).
• Loves to drink out of a regular cup, by herself of course.
• Feeds herself well with a spoon.
• Will play in the kitchen sink filling and dumping cups with water for an hour if we let her (hey, it gives me time to get the kitchen clean...well, sort of - depending on how much water is splashed and spilled).
• Seems to love being in the water and blows bubbles in her bath every night.
• Loves to sit in your lap to read books.
• Has started to like her doll babies.
• Tries to hop but doesn't get off the ground.
• Practically runs everywhere.
• Just started turning her palms up and holding her arms out when we say "where is it" or "I don't know".
• Says "Uh Oh". Da (for Daddy). Ta (for Tucker). Babbles and does "uhuh" with pointing for everything else she wants.

A little inside joke

My brother, Jeff, has been calling Gracie...

Helen.

Yes, Helen...as in Helen Keller!

Because she isn't talking and

uses some sign language.

And my Dad thinks the nickname is hilarious.

I think it's mean Uncle Jeff...funny...but mean!