Too Smart for Her Own Good

Annabeth has quite the personality! She was an early talker so she has an excellent vocabulary. She frequently puts two and three word sentences together. Just recently she learned how to say her own name! Previously when you asked her who she was she would call herself by her nickname "Boo Boo", now sometimes she'll say "Annabef".

When you ask her what her favorite color is she says pink. If you ask her if she has any other favorites she'll say purple.

She can count to four although she usually stops at three. When you ask her how old she is she says "two" and holds up two fingers. We started working on saying two and holding up two fingers awhile ago (just like we did with saying one last year). It took her awhile... holding up two fingers is a bit more challenging, but she finally got it!

The brothers have a bad habit of saying "don't be a jerk" to each other and we, obviously, need to work on that! The other day when she found out Eli had eaten the last few M&Ms she was quite upset. When I told her she couldn't have any she said, "Jerk. Mean." I can't remember now what I did that upset her a few days later but she said, "Rude!" I just about fell over. She's not even two!

She is great with names too. Not only does she know all her family members (which are more than the average number!), she knows all the neighbor kid's names as well.

When I am hanging up laundry (which is quite often) she likes to stand next to me and tell me whose shirt I am putting on the hanger. I haven't stumped her yet! She also knows which swim suit belongs to each person and loves to point to each one hanging up and say whose it is.

Annabeth also takes after her mother and likes to stick to a schedule. She knows when it's meal time or snack time and nap time or bed time. Speaking of bedtime, she is a great sleeper, going down about 8pm every day and sleeping until just after 7am each morning. She goes down from nap at 1pm and usually wakes up between 3:30 and 4pm.

She is like her sister in that she likes to look at herself... in the mirror, in photos, and especially in videos. She also likes shoes!

She enjoys brushing her teeth, combing her hair, putting on chapstick and deodorant, flossing, and putting on any kind of lotion. I'm sure she would love to put on makeup if she ever saw anyone putting it on. As of right now she doesn't even know it exists!

She is also a momma's girl. She insists, sometimes to the point of plopping down on the floor and crying, that only Mom can put her in her high chair for meals.

She is pretty bossy for a seventh born child. She has no problem telling the boys what to do!

I'm hoping she will be an early one to potty train. She tells me when she goes. She'll even say, "change you" which translates to "change me". We bought a potty chair so we have it when she's ready. She loves to sit on it but has yet to actually go. Well, actually, she went on the floor next to the potty chair once! Pretty close!

She is a good helper. She loves to help start the dishwasher and wipe things up with a "rag". She often runs of with my dish cloth to wipe things. When she doesn't have that she asks for a wipe. I love when we holler for her to come help and she yells, "Coming!".

She is quite the book worm. She has books that are her favorites. She usually doesn't want to read anything else for about a week when she finds a new book to love. Some of her favorites include: Here Come the Teletubbies, Good Night Moon, Llama Llama Red Pajama, and Just Like You. She memorizes the pages pretty quickly and then likes to "read" the book to you. She knows to be careful with paper pages (as opposed to board books) and will say "rip it" when she really means be careful not to rip it.

Honestly, I don't even know how many words she knows. A lot. Probably more than any of our other kids at this age. It is kind of nice that she is able to so clearly tell us what she wants. The other day she asked for a drink but she told me which cup to use and asked me to put ice in it first. She's smart and demanding!

We are looking forward to her birthday in a few short weeks!