My little sunshine

My little peanut is 23 months old today. Has it really been almost 2 years? Am I really planning a second birthday party already?? Wow. I never truly understood the phrase "time flies" until I had a child.

I love the phase that Anna is in right now. She is absorbing everything and learning so much so fast. She talks like crazy and has become quite the little mimic. Having a phone conversation with Anna listening in the background is very interesting, as Anna will repeat everything I say. She is putting more complete sentences together now. You can see her little brain working as she tries to convey her thoughts correctly. She really is quite smart. She knows her ABC's and her colors, she can count to 11, and she knows the basic shapes. She knows many songs and will sing them to herself all the time (her favorites being Old McDonald and Twinkle), but of course it is difficult to get her on camera singing. I did catch a little of "You are my sunshine" today, so of course I had to post it!

My child is incredibly analytical. She is definitely not a fearless one, but given enough time to study the situation, she will try almost anything. The playground slides are a good example. When she is at an unfamiliar playground, she will sit and watch the other kids for about 20 minutes before she goes down a slide by herself, but once she has been to that particular playground she will run and play without hesitation.

Anna has started to do some imaginary play. She loves to play with her dolls. She will swaddle them in a blankie, feed them, burp them, and rock them to sleep. She takes them on walks around the yard in the old-fashioned buggy stroller (a hand me down from Trav's sister). She also loves her teddy bear, which she has named Brownie. Most of all, though, she LOVES horses! My mother-in-law has 4 horses in a pasture behind her house, and Anna adores those animals. She constantly talks about riding KC, her favorite horse. She will stop whatever she is doing if there is any mention of a horse, whether it be in a book, a TV show, etc. She has a collection of toy horses that she has to cart around wherever she goes. She has named each and every one of them. Future rodeo queen? Veterinarian? Or just horse lover?

I am so blessed to have such a good child. (I'm actually kind of scared to ever have another one...I can't possibly be this blessed twice!) She entertains herself for quite a while, she listens well, she is fairly obedient, and actually asks to go to bed at night. "Binky, blankie, bed? Nuh-night, mommy. Kisses!" (Seriously...what kid does that?) Plus, she is adorable to boot.

Now, if we can just get rid of the binky by her birthday...