Halston - 19 months

I should have started this a long time ago.  19 months and 13 days ago to be exact.  I wish I had started documenting our family's life when our daughter was born, but now is just as good a time as any to start, right?  Right.

So, what's Halston up to? 

• If you ask her what color something is, it's always 'purple.'  Or sometimes black. 
• She loves animals, especially dogs, cats (Boofy is still a favorite), squirrels, camels and hippos (she calls them 'hoe-poes' and it's adorable).
• She has some of her 'own' squirrels:  Ice, Molly and Blackie.  These are 3 of the many squirrels that live in our neighborhood and frequent our front yard.  Blackie got his name because he's black.  Duh.  Molly just came about rather innocently.  Ice, though...Ice is a bit funnier.  We were looking out the windows at squirrels one morning and noticed one had an injured front leg.  I said, "Halston, that squirrel has an owie!  What do you think we should name him?"  In her 18 month old mind owies need ice...so Ice he became. 
• She's learning shapes at daycare.   Her favorite seems to be oval.  At least, that's what she asks us to draw for her on the regular.
• Generally, H is a pretty good eater.  She loves yogurt and cheddar cheese, chicken (grilled or baked, she doesn't seem to care for breaded), rice, peas & corn, and any fruit, especially berries or grapes.  She'd live on cookies if we let her, but only gets them as a special treat. 
• She's learning her ABCs and started singing the entire alphabet on her own last weekend.  She also likes to sing Rockabye Baby or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. 
• SO. MANY. WORDS!  Knows almost every animal sound, plus Mommy/Daddy, fan, light, button, animals, Gardy, Ebbie, Boof, Johan (O-han), Grandpa/Grandma, Uncle, Isaac, Dalton, Chris (kiss), book, shark, nigh-nigh, love you (love oo), milk, grapes (gapes), berries (bewies), snack (nack), blankie (minky), NO, cuckoo, outside (side), bye-bye, bubble, apple, bunny, cracker, belly, chica, Please/Thank you (sometimes has to be prompted), baby.
• She'll follow some instruction...can throw things in the garbage when asked.
• Our awesome daycare provider started working on potty training Halston, and it's starting to catch on.  She'll use the potty a few times each day.  Still definitely needs diapers though, as she hasn't quite figured out how to know when she needs to go. 
• Halston loves music and TV!  Bad parent alert, I know.  She doesn't ever watch for very long, but we do usually keep it on when we're home.  She especially likes TV shows that have catchy toddler music, i.e, Thomas, Zou, Bubble Guppies, etc. 

Like any kid, Halston loves being active and playing outside.  She's fully embraced summer, and we've tried to take advantage of Minnesota's shortest season.  I'm trying to be more intentional about planning outdoor activities for her -- so far we've enjoyed a nature reserve with an awesome kiddie playground and Teddy Bear Park as well as a couple of trips to the zoo. 

Halston was recently in her godparents' wedding and was the cutest darn flower girl ever!  Her daddy had to walk up the aisle with her though, because she only wanted to hold his hand, not Dalton's.  The wedding was held on my grandfather's family farm, which was where Chad and I were married 5 years ago!  Halston got to go on her first tractor and 4 wheeler rides, which she thought was pretty awesome.  

My sweet girl has such a zest for life!  My hope for her is that she lives it to the fullest.