Tabs may be petite, but if you haven't figured out she has quite the personality.  Now that she talks all of the time, and mainly in complete sentences, we have been able to see even more of that fun little girl come out.  She can be shy around you if she hasn't met you in awhile, but give her a little time and space and she'll certainly come around.

She loves to show off.  If you are sitting on the couch talking with others, so slowly start taking the toys out of her toy chest and hold them up so you can see them.  Pretty soon if you aren't taking enough interest in her then she'll start dancing around.  It's quite amusing.

Then there's her laughter.  It's contagious I tell you.  It's hard not to laugh even if you are in the worst of moods.  There's been more than one time where this has happened to me.

Tabs also loves to help.  Mainly it's in the cleaning realm where she will pick up her toys the instant you ask her.  In fact, she's been known to get mad at other kids at school when they don't help.  But, then she also loves to help her friends at school.  The other day the teachers told me that she was trying to help another, littler friend up the stairs and showing her how to do it.  I guess Tabs is an expert in it with all of the stairs in our house.  The teachers have told me that some days she's a little mother hen.

Her talking really shows her personality.  At school as we are leaving she loves to say goodbye to everyone...especially her teachers.  There's one gal at school, while not her teacher, absolutely adores Tabitha.  The past few weeks as school she has started saying her  name (and it's not an easy one).  So, as we are walking out Tabs will say "goodbye K.....".  All of a sudden that gal will stop what she's doing, Tabs will run to her and give her a giant bear hug.  Every time this gal says it melts her heart.  I love that my little girl makes others feel so good.

I'm such a proud mommy to have a wonderful little girl!

Her serious look

Cheese!  "I'm 2 years and 1 month old and just now fitting in 18 month pants, but still wearing 12 month shirts"

Painting

Tabs found the paint the other day.  I keep it in a locked cabinet, but when she found it she knew exactly what it was even though we have used it only one other time.  Throughout dinner all she could talk about was painting her arm with it.  So, to entice her to eat her dinner (or maybe bribe is the more appropriate word here), I told her we would go outside and paint...on paper that was.

I didn't end up keeping her masterpiece (shhh...I didn't tell her that).  Although I found this really cool website (thank you Pinterest) that lets you talk pictures of the artwork and then it loads it into a book format and you can print your book.  A great way to keep artwork without having to keep it.  I am going to try that because each week we come home with A LOT of creations from school.

Behold the creations of the next Monet....

Working hard

Concentration

"Mom, I paint my arm"

Singin' in the Rain

Rainy days have been few and far between here over the past few months.  So, the other morning, despite the rain having ended, we felt it was appropriate for Tabitha to put on her raincoat and rainboots and have some fun outside (well, as long as we could before going to daycare). 

All she can talk about now is her boots.

The piggies

Ah....behold Tabitha's toes.  The tiny little things that they still are.  Still small enough that it makes nail trimming time a precarious event.  However, for a little girl they are wonderous--especially if they are painted.

About three weeks ago, I went in and got a manicure.  When I arrived home Tabitha and James were oohing and aahing over them.  That's when Tabs asked if her toes could be painted.  I stalled and said that we could do it after her pictures the next day.  I was able to stall it a day longer, but finally one night I gave in as I decided I could listen to her ask anymore.  We started with a big toe...something easy.  As I started she screamed that it hurt.  Really?  Hum....ok.  I was able to finish and went to the other big toe.  Again, screams of pain.  This was interesting, but I gave up.  Two out of ten toes completed.  Not bad...20%.

Over the next few weeks her painted toes was all that she could talk about.  "My pink toes".  "Where's my pink toes?"  She even proceeded to show her teachers at school her toes.  Just the other day I was able to complete the set.  She sat well and I was able to get all ten toes painted.  Finally!

Ahhhh...now she wants her fingernails painted.  Think she's a girly girl or what?!

Walnuts

Fall brings cooling weather, shorter days, falling days, and WALNUTS!  If you have ever visited our yard before we have a Black Walnut tree.  It's a very beautiful, mature tree that provides a lot of shade, but also provides us a mess in the fall.  Between the squirrels eating the walnuts and and dropping walnuts it can get quite messy.

A few weeks back we had a big branch come down.  There really hadn't been a storm; however, sometimes the walnuts get to be too many and too heavy for the branch.  It's a good thing we weren't eating dinner as it came down on the deck.  James was able to get the branch all cut up, but it left quite the mess of walnuts.

So, with that mess, but the mess of other walnuts in the yard, I enlisted my big helper to clean up.  Let's just say that this girl has some cleaning/neatness genes in here, because she sincerely enjoys cleaning up.  We each grabbed a bucket and got picking up.  In no time Tabitha had filled her entire bucket with walnuts.

Quite the task ahead of her

Examining them

The entire bucket was filled!

The babies

As we've mentioned before Tabitha loves her babies.  Each night she proceeds to sleep with many of them, and on top of that add in a few rubber duckies, a couple of blankets, and perhaps a few books.  I am not sure there is space for her to sleep, but somehow she finds room.

If she wakes up happy, that's the only thing we care about!

More dance moves

On Saturday we went to a Children's Book Festival not far from our house.  It was a great time with lots of activities, books and music.  We got there early and were able watch the first musical act.  A very cute and energetic kids band.  Tabs played shy for quite awhile.  They were only on stage for about 30 minutes and it took her 20 minutes just to warm up to the idea that she should get up and dance.  Once the little girl next to her started her dance moves, Tabs decided it was time too.  She danced pretty much non-stop then for the next 10 minutes to make up for it.

Here's some of her finest moves...

 

Sit back and enjoy the scenery

Yes, sometimes it feels like this blog is devoted only to Tabs.  So, I thought that it was time to showcase some of James' talents.  Ever since we got a fancy camera several years ago, he enjoys taking photos and is really good at it.  Here are some of my favorites during his recent trip to Arizona.

The end of summer

Summer has officially come and gone now.  I am certainly looking forward to fall, changing of leaves and cooler weather.  Despite all of the things I look forward to in the fall, I will miss our lazy Sunday afternoons just relaxing on the patio.

Here are some fun pictures from earlier this summer....

Waiting for daddy to come home one Sunday afternoon

Snacktime!

Always climbing on something...this time it was mommy

Relaxing and taking it all in.

"My Tattoo" said Tabitha one day as she put a sticker on her arm.  Oh....the things she says!

Playtime or mealtime??

Sometimes by the end of a meal, Tabitha is tired.  She's had a long day at school and somehow dinner has topped out at an hour (she's a SLOW eater).  There are times, because she takes so long to eat, when I let her have a cookie and while she's eating that I do other things.

One day I gave her a cookie and some water.  Figuring it was just water, I would leave the top off of the cup and let her have at it.  As I would come to learn that was a mistake.  She decided one night that it would be more fun to put her hands in the water, then play with the cookie and then rub her hair.  I was a left with a water, chocolately mess in the hair.

Good thing it was bath night!!

 

At the park

We love to spend time at the park.  Going up stairs, climbing on things, and definitely having fun going down the slide.  Here's to hoping that there are at least a few more months of parktime left this year!

She loves swinging!

Getting to be so big and doing things herself (note...mom quickly dropped the camera to be by her side the rest of the way up)

"Baby" frequently comes and plays too

Climbing!

Exploring

Time for a snack!

Doctor's visit

Late in August we went in for Tabitha's two year doctor's visit.  Time has just flown by to say the least.  It seems not that long ago that we were taking her in for her one week visit.  She has grown (sometimes slowly,  but recently it has been quickly), developed new skills and just changed so much.

This doctor's visit was a milestone.  In her first year, you were at the doctor's office for regular check ups every two months, then every three months.  Soon it became every six months.  Now that she is two, she's gotten all of the immunizations that she needs until Kindergarten and so, like the rest of us, only needs to be seen one time per year.  (However, with all of the sickness that gets passed around at daycare, I'm sure we will be back before that time)

We are so lucky to have a happy, healthy little girl who loves to play, read, and just have fun!

First doctor's visit at 6 days old

Two year old doctor's visit.