Lyla's 2.5 pics

Earlier this month Lyla turned 2.5 and I've been meaning to do her pictures but just hadn't gotten to it. Yesterday she looked SO cute for church that I had to snag a few photo's before church started and her hair started to fall out :) So we jumped out of the car, had a 2 or 3 minute photo shoot, and walked into church. Here they are...

Lyla ...

• is a GREAT big sister to Ruby. She loves making her laugh, giving her her binki, helping to change her diaper, helping to put her down for a nap and greets her when she wakes up. If she steals a toy from Ruby, she'll definitely replace it for another toy. And Ruby just adores her big sister.
• Is starting to become more girly. I asked her what shirt she wanted to wear the other day and she insisted on wearing a dress and putting cute clips in her hair.
• Is becoming very independent. She always wants to buckle her carseat, do "potty business" by herself, push the cart at the grocery store and put items in the basket, and she even pulls out my pony tail and tells me she'll "fix it" and then try to put it back together.
• speaking SO WELL! Sometimes I forget that she is only 2.5 but she will put together long sentences that actually make sense. But sometimes she'll blabber a sentence as if that was also supposed to make sense. She's funny.
• Is getting good at learning her colors.
• Is ALMOST done with potty training (except for during the night). She went two steps forward, took a step back, and is starting to head forward again. Go Lyla!
• is so TALL and SKINNY! I think last we checked she was 38 inches and she weighs about 27-28 lbs...only 7-8 pounds more than Ruby.
• She loves to sing and will often make up words to the tunes of songs she knows (ie: she will sing "London Bridge is Falling Down" and just plug in the phrase "cut my hair" or something to the sort, over and over again).
• She LOVES to dance.
• Loves to swim.
• Loves books, music, pictures, and movies.
• Loves animals.
• Can be a really good and compassionate friend.
• Loves helping with household chores.
• Occasionally will fall down and automatically yell out "I'm okay mom!", even if I didn't see it.
• Really enjoys using the phrase "right now" or "right here". Last night Lyla went downstairs to the common area of our apartment building and I told her that she needed to "come upstairs right now" and she just said "No, I'm staying right here!" while shooting me a very stern look. It's scary how much she imitates me.
• She has been sooo cuddly lately and I am LOVING it!
• She is a total goofball.

And I just want to write down a quick funny story that happened a couple months ago that I don't want to forget about...

Lyla has been picking up on a lot of the things we have been saying lately. So the other night we had some friends over for pizza and games and Lyla was walking around and playing with her friends and some toys. Then we see and hear her pretending to talk on the phone saying "Oh crap" over and over again as well as "I hate you!". I was mortified!! Nate and I both say "Oh crap" at home and I'll say "I hate you" when I am joking around or if I am being teased. Then, as if that wasn't embarrassing enough, she drops everything she is doing, walks over to the table, stands on a chair, picks up a two liter bottle of Root Beer and just starts chugging! We were all so shocked and just laughing so hard. It was definitely a reality check that she sees and hears EVERYTHING we do!

I love my Lyla!