she's two and a half.

Liesel is growing. 

Everyday she's learning something new or advancing in some small (or big) way.

Recent advancements include: 

Potty trained! She has the occasional accident, but if I stay on top of it she's usually great. The only problem is that she talks about it constantly and in very public settings. Today in church she said (very loudly): I need to go poopy! Her stuffed animals are frequently using the potty and I often overhear her saying: If you need to go potty just tell me. You do such a good job going potty! 

She is quite the naturalist. She loves spending time outdoors and seems to have little/no fear of "critters" (as she calls them) and will pick up anything from beetles, to worms to snails to slugs. She has loved her bucket of tadpoles, chasing lizards and still talks about the chicks almost daily. The other day she saw a hoppy-bug outside (cave cricket) and went out to catch it. She carried it around the house and played with it for hours. She ended up loving it to death. Today she was swinging a slug on a swing. She also loves her garden (basil, cilantro and flowers in milk jugs outside) and hearing her say "cilantro" is about the cutest thing on the planet. She also loves picking flowers and watching ants. 

She is pretty bossy these days. She tells Hannah what not to do or what to do all the time. She kept trying to boss around Owen on the river (Owen, get in the water! Owen, play in the mud!) I think her intentions are good, she just needs to work on the execution of a request instead of demand. Overall, I think she is very sweet. She hasn't entered a violent phase yet, but she will sometimes hit the air in front of me like she wants to hit me but knows she shouldn't. She always tells me she's sorry and she is very empathetic when she sees one of us is sad. 

Liesel is a great eater and will even eat salad. She will not eat potatoes, beets, cucumbers (unless they're pickles) or cauliflower. I bought her a small ice cream cone from McDonalds one day when we were in Moab and now she requests one just about every time we go to town "you can eat an ice cream from Old McDonald's right?" We were at the grocery store and gave her the option of a cookie right then or an ice cream cone later. She chose the ice cream cone later. I was surprised with her mature choice! Unfortunately she fell asleep before we got her cone and when we got home, she was pretty sad that she had missed it.

The funniest thing to me is when she's really trying to throw a fit, but I keep making her laugh. She'll be trying really hard to throw a tantrum, but can stop cracking up. I absolutely love it. 

We love Liesel so much! She has discovered so many new things in just these few short months and her personality has blossomed so much. I wonder what we'll see and hear from her in these next six months! 

Recent Liesel funnies:

Brian while cutting tomatoes:

L: that knife is very very very dangerous. You have to be careful. You could cut your finger and be sick for three days.

B: that's right . . . who told you that?

L: Jesus told me that. 

I asked her to clean up her toys outside and I heard her yelling, "Help me Cinderella! Help me!"

Immitating my mom voice: "Hannah booboo you are just a (pause) . . . hickory dickory dock!"

Me: Where's Hannah?

Liesel: Hannah is just chillin' out playing with da dishes.

After a long stretch at the Needles:

L: Mommy! put me in the car and let's go! 

Me: I'm the mom and you're the child.

L: no I'm NOT the child! No I'm NOT!