"I don't want those two options."

I've decided to try something new with my Aubrey updates. Rather than have a long list of randomly placed bullet points, I've split the post up into categories. Here goes.

Toddler Talk

• She loves to call things "fabulous." She also calls things "creepy," though she rarely uses that word correctly.
• She always says "last year" when she means "yesterday."
• She calls them "chocolate chippy cookies."
• She says "snack" instead of "smack." Example: "Let's snack each other with the pillows!"
• She will randomly say, "Up to? Up to? Up to?", quoting Sleeping Beauty. It's the part when Aurora asks the three fairies what they're up to, and they all say in succession, "Up to?"
• She also talks about people pricking their fingers, like Aurora. Only she says, "She pricked her finger on a steering wheel." No amount of correcting her has fixed this (but I'm kind of glad).

Funny Girl

• At dinnertime, she'll sit at the table and begin saying the prayer before Daniel and I have even sat down. Sometimes we don't even know she's done it until we sit down, ask her to pray, and then hear her say, "But I already said it!"
• When Daniel told her to point her toes, she said, "There they are, right next to my feet!"
• She calls Carter "chubby baby." One time she started calling me "chubby Mommy." I found that less cute.
• When she eats yogurt drinks, she like to match the color of the straw to the color of the outfit the monkey on the bottle is wearing.
• Sometimes, when we tell her to do something, she'll start to get upset but then say a reluctant, low-pitched "okay" when we insist. I find it hilarious.
• Sometimes, when I suggest something to do, she says in a grave voice, "No, I don't think that's a good idea." Sometimes she says we might get hurt if we do it.
• Today she got out her toy keys and said, "Look, my keys!" And I said, "What do your keys open?" She responded, "Ummm... the door!" Being silly I said, "Is one of those the key to my heart?" Her response was awesome. She said, "Oh, let me see!" and proceeded to put the key up to my chest. Then she asked, "Can I cut you open? Can I cut you open?" in a low, silly voice that might have been a bit creepy...

Sassy

• If you tell her it's time for breakfast/lunch/dinner/bedtime/quiet playtime/whatever, she'll shout, "No, not now!"
• One time when she asked for my phone and I said no, she said, "Mommy, it's not nice to take phones from little girls!"
• When I do something "wrong" or not the way she wants it done, she says, "I already told you [insert instruction she never gave me]!"
• She's definitely in a shouting stage. She shouts when she doesn't get what she wants and sometimes just screams at the top of her lungs. She also throws things. I'm not a fan of these behaviors. We're working on them.
• She sometimes tells us we're going the wrong way when we're driving. She also tries to tell us which direction to go.
• When she asked to watch videos one time and we had already said no, Daniel said, "You have two options: You can help me cook or you can go play with your toys." She responded, "I don't want those two options."
• She has started to be anti-bath. I'm not sure why, but I don't like it. She used to be excited for them, but now she freaks out if we say she needs one. She says, "No, I'm not yucky!"
• She gets stuck on certain Book of Mormon people when we read, and she gets upset if they're not mentioned. The big one is King Benjamin. After we read about him, she wanted every story to involve him. When Daniel says we're talking about a certain person, she says, "No, I want King Benjamin!"
• Unfortunately, she's gotten more picky about food. Things she used to love and eat really well, like pork chops, she'll now refuse to even try. Arg...
• When she keeps harping about something I've already answered her about, I'll say, "I'm not going to talk to you about this anymore," to which she responds, "No, I want to talk about this!"

Sweet

• She always runs to me when a video or show she's watching scares her. I love it. Sometimes she shouts, "I'm scared!" while she does it.
• She's getting a lot better about saying "sorry." In fact, she says it readily and quickly to me, both when she needs to and when she really doesn't. Last night, while we were putting her Little People back in her castle, she said, "Oh, sorry I knocked Sofia over." It's pretty cute.
• She says the cutest prayers! She always starts out, "Thankful for Mommy and Daddy and Carter," and she often says, "Thankful for all the things we do." She also mentions going to see Grandma and Grandpa or Nana and Papa. Yesterday she said something about Halloween and wearing costumes. 
• The other day, I found myself staring off into space worrying about something. She came up to me with genuine concern on her face and said, "What's wrong, Mommy?" So sweet (and perceptive).
• She reportedly went up to a girl in nursery and said, "Can I please play with you?" Parenting win!
• The other day, I cut myself shaving. I put a bandaid on it to keep the blood off my clothes. When she saw it, she said, "My head hurts; I need a bandaid." When I explained I couldn't put one where her hair is, she said I could put it on her leg like mine and that it would help her head feel better. It was so cute, and she kept it on for a few days.
• She loves helping, which is super sweet. She helps empty the dishwasher, make food (I let her dump pre-measured ingredients in), go get things for me, and even feed Carter. Recently she's gotten excited about helping me clear the table after dinner. I'll be sad when this phase ends!
• She likes to hold Carter's hand and kiss it/hold it against her cheek. She also likes to knock him over and scratch him though, so...

Fun and Games

• Her favorite bedtime story is about an elephant who wants to climb a hill but is too scared, so he dresses up like his favorite Disney princess (it changes from night to night) to feel brave. After awhile, the shoes hurt, so he takes them off. Then the dress makes him hot, so that goes too. Then the wig is itchy, so he removes it. Finally he reaches the top of the hill and realizes he didn't need the outfit to be brave; he could do it on his own. Then he usually runs into the princess at the top of the hill. It's a story I told once several weeks ago, and it has become the requested story every night since. I had to teach the story to Daniel for when it's his turn to put her to bed.
• She's always singing and making up songs. She usually uses the tunes to songs she already knows and changes the words. Often, they're Christmas songs, like Jingle Bells and Away in a Manger.
• She also loves the "finger family" videos on YouTube ("Daddy finger, Daddy finger, where are you? Here I am. Here I am. How do you do?" repeated with Mommy, Sister, Brother, and Baby fingers). They're super annoying, but it is pretty cute when she puts something (like a marker cap) on each finger in succession and sings it herself.
• She's getting much more into coloring. She's more interested than she used to be, and she's getting better about coloring in the lines (though she still has a very long way to go, haha). She doesn't really draw things, but I think that's fine. Right?
• She knows all of her letters and the phonetic sounds they make. She can mostly count to twenty (she needs help on the correct order after 15), and she can do it just fine counting from 20 to 29. We haven't taught her 30, 40, etc. yet. She has also gotten so much better now about counting objects. She used to just touch each object multiple times or skip objects and count to ten no matter how many there were. Now she grasps the concept. She also can hold up her fingers to indicate numbers. It always takes her a second to get it right, and her concentration while doing it is pretty adorable.
• Her favorite movie right now is Sleeping Beauty, unfortunately. The one thing that makes me feel better about that is the fact that she loves it because of the dragon at the end. Whenever I say we can watch a movie, she says, "I want to watch Aurora!" Sometimes I can get her to switch to something else, but not as often as I'd like. She also loves Finding Dory and Lilo and Stitch.
• She's gotten into playing real games. So far she can play Go Fish, Old Maid, and Memory. She also likes to "play" one of our games that has a panda and bamboo stalks you can build.

Fun Fact: Her favorite color is purple.