All About Gracie!

(Note: I've been working on this post for several weeks, but I'm finally gonna publish it! I keep remembering more cute things about Gracie, but I figure it's better to post what I have rather than keep adding stuff forever without posting it!)

It's only been like a year since I did a post about what Gracie's up to, but I figured I'd do another one, just for fun. ;) She brings us so much joy, and her little personality is so fun. Here goes!

VERBAL SKILLS
Obviously, she talks really well and pronounces most words correctly, but she has a few words she puts her own "spin" on, and it is so adorable. Here are a few of them:
butterflies - bufferslies
outside - iteside
pretending - betendin'

She constantly amazes us with the things she says (see the "Gracie-isms" sidebar to the right for some of the funny ones) and how much she understands. She has a great imagination--I've been many different characters opposite her, including Beast, Flounder, Scuttle, Prince, Gracie, Nana, Daddy, Dori, Marlin, Mother (from Peter Pan), Michael, Wendy, and so many others I can't even remember! It's cute how much she gets into it, and even remembers the lines to quote (and prompts me on the exact lines I need to say, when I need to say them, with corrections if necessary).

We've been really trying to encourage her to use kind words to ask for things, rather than demanding things, so now when she wants something she says, "Please may I have a _____?" It is so adorable; the only problem comes when she asks for something she can't or shouldn't have--it's so hard to say no!

PHYSICAL SKILLS
Gracie is busy all the live-long day. She's not mischievous or anything--she just always has to be DOING something. It gets a little old around dinnertime, or when she starts narrating what we're doing because she has nothing else to do, but besides that it's pretty endearing. :)
She loves pouring things from one container to another (like little toys, coins, etc., or watering the grass outside). She also loves playing at the park and can go on pretty much all the toys by herself now. She can do a mean somersault (she learned that one a while ago, but I don't think I ever wrote about it) and has been potty-trained since August-ish, including staying dry through the night; I finally packed away the Pull-ups in January because she never had accidents, so she's been sleeping in panties since then. (Yeah, that seems like a long time to keep using the Pull-ups, now that I write it here, but with a new baby and Dave's doctor's visits and such, I was afraid she might regress and start wetting the bed. But she didn't! Woohoo!)

THINGS SHE LOVES

(Gracie likes to say things are her "favorite", but it really means whatever she's doing right then; when she's eating Goldfish crackers, that is her favorite food; when she's eating pizza, that is her favorite food. Below are some of her real favorite things.)

birthdays (enjoys everything about them--the presents, the singing, the cake, blowing out the candles, etc.)

* Funny birthday story: March 2 was Dr. Seuss's birthday (didn't ya know?), so I told Gracie about it and we sang happy birthday to him. Then at bedtime, I asked if she wanted to read "Green Eggs and Ham" because Dr. Seuss wrote it, and it's his birthday. She said, very seriously, "No, he's not here. We just betended sing happy birthday to him. We will read Chameweone [The Mixed-up Chameleon] book." I felt a little silly.

craft projects

coloring, especially with markers

taking a bath

painting

having tea parties/tea picnics (party is on her table, picnic is on a blanket on the carpet)

1st sisters' tea party!

foods: cereal (Mini-Wheats, Cheerios, and Kix), waffles, pancakes, peanut butter sandwiches, burritos, grapes, apples, pineapple (pronounced "pipe-apple"), chicken nuggets, macaroni (macanoni) & cheese, and pizza (well, and candy, of course)

seeing pictures and watching videos of herself (see the end of her video in this post for proof of this)

reading books; her current favorite is The Mixed-up Chameleon by Eric Carle
watching movies (she watches way too many movies, but I'm working on that one) current favorite is Finding Nemo, but she also really got into a Shark Week documentary we all watched together last week. (I know, we're horrible people, letting our child watch shark documentaries. She LOVED it, though, and asked to watch it again when it ended.)

finding shapes and colors in the world around her

cleaning the house with a spray bottle and dish towel

getting mail - about every week since Dave's chemo started, my mom has been sending Grace a package filled with fun little things like bracelets, balloons, socks, hair clips, etc., and Gracie has LOVED it. She always wants to go with me to get the mail and see if there's a "packutch" from Grandma Nelson in it.

"going to bed" all day long; makes a bed on the couch, lays down, closes eyes, wakes up, REPEAT

the rain

being a big sister - Gracie is the sweetest big sister I've ever seen; she never gets annoyed when Katie cries, she just says, "Mommy, please help my little sister!" in a very concerned voice. Also, she wants to do everything that Katie does (which will be reversed within a year or two, I'm sure), and it always cracks me up to find her doing something like this:

ALL GIRL
Grace loves having her hair look pretty, but doesn't usually like the process. She is really good about sitting still while I do her hair, though.

She enjoys getting her toenails and fingernails painted (especially to "smatch" mommy's).

She loves all things “Disney princess”. She has clothes (shirts, shoes, underwear, nightgown, socks, etc.) with Princesses on, a Cinderella tea set, Cinderella sunglasses, Princess figurines, purses, dress-up clothes, a clock, coloring books, crayons, storybooks, etc. The only thing cuter than her having those things is the fact that we purchased very few of those items; her Nana (Dave's mom) and Grandma Nelson (my mom), who love that she is a girly-girl, have given most of them to her. :)

Tiana nightgown from Grandma Nelson

OTHER

She is becoming a very good listener; we went through a rough patch for a while, where she wasn't listening to what we said, but she is getting much, much better :)

She is very affectionate and is always giving kisses and hugs and saying "I love you!"

She recently learned what "matching" means, and loves to find things that "smatch" each other; she loves to “smatch” her sister by wearing clothes that match Katie's. (They also have to push their tummies together to show how they match, or it’s not official—Gracie’s rules.)

She is fascinated by flashlights (and has been for quite some time), so Dave bought her a little one of her own a while back (mostly to save the batteries in our other ones). She LOVES it and carries it around all day showing it to us. Plus, during the same shopping trip when he bought it, they also found a fun blue ball that she can put on top of the flashlight, causing the ball to glow. That’s pretty much all it takes to make her happy, and it’s adorable!

I guess I’ll end on that note, because that sums up how great Gracie is. The wonderful thing about her is that she is just happy to be alive and finds joy in pretty much everything! There are very few of her toys that I have had the heart to “put away” because she honestly plays with everything and takes nothing for granted. We are so lucky to have her and love seeing her grow and develop more each day! We love you, Gracie!