We have a smart 26 month old.  We’ve known this for awhile, due to Pediatrician appointments where they tell us that she’s advanced and way ahead, but it’s still shocking to watch her comprehend and remember things so easily.  We’re learning that not much is outside of her reach.

A few months ago, we taught her to know the difference between her left and right.  She gets it correct 100% of the time now.  She’s been able to count to 20, say her ABCs, know all her colors, know shapes, quote entire books, say the NT books of the bible, and communicate in paragraph form with us since well before she turned two years old.

What’s the newest thing on the list of her knowledge . . .

Spelling!

When we don’t want Abi to get too excited or disappointed about something, if we decide to not to it (like go to the P-A-R-K  or to take a B-A-T-H), we spell it out to each other.  Sometimes, if I’m spelling, Jonathan doesn’t even know the word, and vice versa.  So, it completely shocked us when the other day . . .

I asked Jonathan: “You want some D-E-S-S-E-R-T?”
Abi: “Oh, I want some.”
Me: “You want some what?”
Abi: “Dessert!  Please may I have dessert?”

Wow, I’m pretty sure we had never spelled out dessert before.  How did she do that!?

I was thinking about that at lunch today and thought it might’ve been a fluke, so I tested her.

Me: “Abi, what does D-O-G spell?
Abi: “Dog!”
Me: “Okay.  What does D-U-C-K spell?”
Abi: “Ummm, umm, Duck.”

I tried B-U-G next, but she said Pig.

She just catches on to things so quickly.  Hopefully her love of learning will turn out to be a good thing.  Sometimes I feel like it’s a blessing . . . and a curse (as Monk would say).

Any neat stories about how your kids wowed you?

Do you Swagger?

“Wanna make you smile; wanna be your sunshine!”

What’s the greatest chicken restaurant, Emily????  Um, that’s right . . . Chick fil a.  They’re the best because . . .

1. their chicken is yummy!
2. their shakes are even better
3. they have awesome service because “it’s [their] pleasure”
4. the founder is a cool Christian
5. they do tons of promos where you can get free food!

Friday, July 9th is Cow Appreciation Day.  If you dress like a cow from head to toe, you’ll get a free combo meal.  If you just wanna sport a few items, you can get a free entree.  Go to the link to see some ideas of how to dress up.

So, Jonathan went to get breakfast with Gary (Melody’s husband).  I made the outfit, but my favorite touch was the udders, so he could milk it for all it was worth (pun intended!).  We’ll all be going for dinner tonight, so I’ll update the post later.

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Also, on July 11, you can get a FREE 7.11oz Slurpee from 7/Eleven!  We’ve done this for the past 2 years, and they let us get as many as we can hold. :)  As always, call your local 7 Eleven before you go to make sure they’re participating.

You’ll love this if you’re a parent.  And if you know my older brother, pause it at 2:24, and tell me if it looks like him.

“Cluck, cluck, cluck.  You touch my chicken, I beat you up . . .”

Abigail is always saying funny and cute stuff.  Just an hour ago, she told me, “Mommy, you’re my BEST friend.”  Awww.  And not two seconds ago, she asked, “Oh what happened Mommy?  Let me kiss you.  [Kiss].  That feels you better.”

(too cool)

And then, there are times when she’s clever.  The other day, we were out swimming and taught her about the dinosaurs on her pool.  We asked her to say Stegosaurus.  She said, “Um, I can’t because I’m too busy.”  Wow, in the amount of time it took you to say you’re too busy, you could’ve said said word.

(silly girl)

Or there are times when she’s random and says things like, “Hey Daddy, I wanna tell you something.  I make milk with my boobies.”

We knew the day would come sometime for her to start saying “inappropriate” phrases.  Two Sundays ago, I was in the nursing room with Lydia, and when I came back into the church auditorium, Jonathan informed me that Abigail had asked, “What’s wrong with that man’s head?”  That man . . . was bald.

(look how innocent)

The next Sunday, she asked again, “What’s wrong with that man’s head?” when one of the ministers got up to speak.

Rachel posted about her daughter acting inappropriate.  And I’d like to know, what has your toddler or child said or done in public to embarrass you?

**Also, Happy FIRST Birthday to our sweet niece Harper!**

I’m thinking of starting a page on the blog of cute/funny things that Abigail has said.  I want to remember them, and with this pregnancy brain, that’s getting hard to do.

So, I’ll just leave you with a funny conversation Abigail had with our dog Sabra this morning.

Abi: Sissah, go potty.  Hurry up, Sissah.  Come in near.  Do you see the snow?  It’s white.

[I call Sabra inside from the snow.]

Abi: Sissah has snow on her hair.  You wanna clean it?

Me: No, it’s okay, it’ll just melt.

Abi: But Sissah’s wet.  Sissah, you want me dry you?  [She opens the hutch door to get out a kitchen hand towel.]

Me: It’s okay; the wet will go away.  Thank you, though.

Abi: Okay.  It’s okay, Sissah.  It’s alright.  Snow will go away.

~~~~

Later on, I saw a boogie in Abigail’s nose, so I asked her if she wanted to blow her nose.

Abi: Noooo, Abi keep the booger in the nose.

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And last night, Jonathan was brushing Abigail’s teeth when she started clicking her tongue,

Abi: :Lah nah lah nah lah.  I’m singing a song about Abi’s tongue.

Pretty sure she’s the cutest 23 month old EVER!

• This might be one of your longest sentences: “I wish the Uncle Daniel and the Uncle Josh were here.”
• You have started saying things that we have said (only days after we first said it) like: When you were feeding Sabra her dog food, you said, “It’s good to share, Momma.”  And when you were playing with something I told you days before that you shouldn’t play with, you said, “It’s dangerous for little girls.”
• Lately, you’ve been taking 1+ hour(s) to fall asleep some nights.  You just lie in bed talking and talking and talking.  Here’s one thing you said that made us laugh, “Abby is trying to get out of the crib.”  Also, after GramB’s birthday party, you yelled in a demonic voice, “Happy Birthday GramB . . .” about 100 times.
• Can count to 10 every time perfectly (which is in the video).  We’re working on 20 now.
• You’re getting so much better with your colors.  You always know orange, yellow, red, and green.  You normally call blue “black.”
• You have conversations with yourself.  You’ll says things like, “I’m going to the living room.  Wanna come?  Oooooookay.” or “This polar bear is white.  That’s right, Sissah (what she calls Sabra).”  or “Abi wants to get the box; I can’t a reach it.  Oh, Abi help.”
• We still love to hear you pray every night.  Here’s part of your prayer from last night, “Dear God, Thank you for the two doors over there.  One, two, three . . . Yeah.  That’s right!”
• You’ve memorized several of your books, like “The Monster at the End of the Book”, “Brown Bear” “Jamberry”, and “Safari Animals.”

Here’s her video below (If you’re reading in RSS, you’ll probably have to go to the site to see the video.  If you don’t have facebook, and you want to see the video, let me know.).

Go here to take the “Is it a Boy or a Girl?” poll.

My brothers and I always stayed up late to watch Late Night with Conan O’Brien.  We’ve always loved him.  There is no one funnier than he.  And luckily, the husband has good taste in comedians, too, and he prefers Conan to all the rest.  I’m sure you’ve heard the latest news about Jay Leno (UGH) trying to take the Tonight Show back from Conan.  But have you seen this video, where Jimmy Kimmel cracks on Leno during his interview?  Love it!

Also, I’m sure you’re aware of the playoffs for the Superbowl.  Well, I’ve always been a Packers fan, mostly because of Brett Favre.  But now, he plays for the Vikings, so I’m cheering for them.  Below is a video of him leading his team in “Pants on the Ground.”

By the way, Happy Halloween!

Did I get you, . . . again??  Bwah-ha-ha!

I’ll try to get pictures up of our costumes in the next few days.  Have a safe, happy, fun Halloween!

Remember when I posted this video about a Wedding Entrance.  Apparently “The Office” thought it was cool, too, and they copied it!  Awesome.

So, if you’re an Office fan and haven’t seen “The Office: Niagara, Part 2,” then warning: this is an except below.  Be sure to pay attention to 2:15; Jonathan and I laughed for about a half hour after seeing that part.  Gotta love Dwight.  And yes, I got a little teary eyed during the whole thing.  I like to blame it on the evil pregnancy hormones, but yea for PB&J finally getting married!