Words, Words, and More Words

So, I reported on Grace's physical growth a couple days ago, but I definitely need to document some of the adorable things she has started to say. You might've noticed in the tulip photos that Grace is holding a little bottle in almost every shot. Those are her bubbles. She does NOT leave home without them. We have a bottle in the car, in her diaper bag, in the bathroom... you name it. "Bubbles" was actually one of her first super-clear words, and she still says it any chance she gets. Aside from some of the obvious ones (Mama, Daddy, bye bye, hi, etc.), some other oft-repeated words in Grace's ever-growing vocabulary include the following:

• "Buckees" (breakfast)
• "Tacos" (tickles)
• "Eas!" (Easter/egg/candy. Easter was pretty much the first time we really gave Gracie any significant amount of candy, so now anything that reminds her of that time is "Eas!")
• "Pazza" (pizza)
• "Spaggi" (spaghetti, her favorite)
• "Crackers"
• "Cookies"
• "Blana" (banana)
• "Cheeeeeese"
• "Fruuuuuuit"
• "Juuuuuuice"
• "Waler" (water)
• "Mo! Mo!" (more! more!)
• "I'm done" (accompanied by the sign for done)
• "Bonkie" (blankie)
• "Baby"
• "Bus!" (Gracie loves herself some buses. We'll be driving around town when all of a sudden, she'll shout "bus! bus! bus!" and point wildly at a bus on the road.)
• "Choo choo!" (train -- she has started to plug her ears when she hears a train whistle off in the distance)
• "Purple" (everything is purple, dontcha know)
• "Bed"
• "Potty"
• "Diaper"
• "Bye bye poopy/pee pee" (She says this when I change her diaper in the morning and when she sees the garbage truck picking up our trash.)
• "Up/down"
• "Hot/cold"
• "Please/thank you/sorry"
• "Pool"
• "Park"
• "Hoooooome"
• "Side" (outside)
• "Close" (pronounced like Glen Close)
• "mmmbise" (I wanna bite, please.)
• "Boo boo"
• "Two" (she's working on holding up her two little fingers)
• "My bella" (my umbrella, even though it's actually MY umbrella. We play a game on the drive home from daycare wherein Grace announces that it's her umbrella, then I say it's mama's umbrella, and so forth..."
• "Go, go, go!!" (usually shouted from the backseat when we're waiting at a red light or in traffic)
• "It's loud!" (when she wants us to turn the radio down in the car)
• "Bidle" (beetle and/or spider)
• "Teeth"
• "Shoes"
• "Sockies"
• "My boots" (her red cowboy boots, of course)
• "Bath"
• "Row, row, row" (She says this when she wants me to sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat while she's in the bathtub. She even does the rowing motion with her arms.)

And my favorite is when she snuggles up with me and tells me "back" because she wants me to rub her back. I've always rubbed her little back when I rock her to sleep, so I love that she asks for it.

One of my not-so-favorite words that she has started using a little too frequently (and with way too much conviction) is "No!" I appreciate her assertiveness, but there's a fine line between that and precociousness.

Of course, she knows the words for most animals as well as her body parts, and several of her toys. She calls Ron "Papa." We've been working with her to say "Grandma" but instead, she says "Mamaw" (one time, she referred to my mom as "Nana" because that's what Rubie calls her). She calls Mike "Mikey" and Ashley "Ashee." She (and everyone else) calls Brenden "B." She also knows how to say the name of our next door neighbor's little girl (Deli). She truly comes up with new words every day. It's so awesome!

OK, so back to the photos. I know that's what ya'll come here for, right? :-) I posted a few on the sidebar, but I'm searching for some specific ones to post here and I cannot seem to locate them right now. Soooo, I'll be back again tomorrow. 'Night.