I'm Not a Baby, I'm a Big Girl!

Do any of you remember this commercial?  The way this little girl talks is totally Audrey right now.  It's both super adorable and sad for me.

I remember when I was a nanny, the biggest insult you could give the 3-year-old girl I watched was calling her a "baby."  I thought it was funny but never dreamed of the day when my own little girl would be worried about the same thing.  You better not call this cute face a baby.  She's a big girl.

She just recently started saying, "I'm not a baby, I'm a big girl!" to Tony and me.  Yesterday I asked her what made her such a big girl and she responded, "I have long hair like Rapunzel."

My big girl has also somehow acquired a very strong opinion about anything and everything she wears.  Typically she will only wear dresses, sometimes long shirts with tights.  I spent all this money on clothes for her at the outlet mall and she refuses to wear any of it.  I'm talking Gap shirts, here!
She picked out this fabulous sunglasses at the mall and every time she puts them on says, "tell me I'm stylish, mom!"  I've decided that this fall I'm taking her shopping and she can pick her clothes.  I'm not going to waste a bunch of money on things she won't wear!

She very rarely sits in a high chair at restaurants any more, and sits in her booster seat at home.  She wants to sit in the big girl seat.

Yesterday I saw that Audrey's poor toenail was bent back and asked her how she got her owwie.  She told me, "my shoes squish my feet!"  Doh.  She's outgrown her SIZE 7 shoes!  This girl has flippers for feet!  I cannot believe how big her feet are.  I guess we're going shoe shopping this weekend!

Today as I watched Audrey eat her lunch, using her spoon perfectly scooping up her mac and cheese, taking a sip of juice from her "big girl" cup, and carefully wiping her mouth with a napkin -- it hit me.  She is a big girl now whether I like it or not.  We're entering a new phase of life together and I have so much to learn about this big girl stuff.  I wish she could stay my baby forever, but if I'm forced to let her become a big girl I want her to do it just the way she is.  Confident, happy, smart, beautiful, and loving life.

Splash Pads, Popsicles, Friends, and Summertime Fun!

So far, the majority of our summer has been spent with Audrey in a swimsuit doing some sort of water activity.  We have a nice little playgroup established and we've been able to experience some really fun things!  One of our favorites is the Pioneer Park splash pad.  It's perfect for toddlers (the water doesn't shoot super high like at some of the others) and it's huge so it never feels all that crowded.

We're the coolest cats around when we are ready for swimming lessons....

I signed Audrey up for a mommy & me swim class and she LOVES it.  It's gotten her some good exposure to water, taught her how to be safe, and best of all wears her out!  It's kind of funny, we signed up with some friends and it ended up that we were the only people in the class!  I think it's made Audrey a little more brave to see her best friends getting in and splashing around.

If Audrey's not wearing a swimsuit, you can find her in one of her favorite "princess dresses."  This girl has to be forced to wear anything but a dress.  Such a girly girl!

For the 4th of July we went up to Sandy and stayed in Tony's parents' empty house while they are away having a European vacation.  We picked up Candace to hang out and decided to go to the Sandy Freedom Festival (or whatever they call it up there.)  Audrey had a BLAST even though it was sweltering hot.  I think Candace had some fun, but she just seemed to be bummed out that we weren't buying any junk from the vendors there :)

They had a booth with "Jurassic Sand" that Audrey really loved.  She played in the orange sand for a long time.

Nothin' like a red, white, and blue popsicle to beat the heat! 

Tony finishing off what Audrey couldn't eat :)

At the festival we found a stage with a dance studio that was performing and Audrey was enthralled.  There were a lot of girls close to her age performing tap, ballet, and lots of other dance routines.

Getting her dance on

One of the groups did a song from Cinderella for their ballet routine and Audrey was convinced the real Cinderella (the class teacher) was dancing on stage right before her eyes.  She ran up to the stage squealing and stood as close as she could to that stage.

She even started dancing with them!

Making friends

After the festival we ate dinner then headed back to our house.  I wasn't into the idea of giving Audrey sparklers for the 4th, so I bought some glow sticks from the dollar store.  She loved them!

We weren't about to try actually going somewhere for fireworks because of how late they are, but Audrey felt comfortable enough to wander over to the neighbors to watch their display.  They were kind enough to let us crash their party.  Audrey loved the fireworks and was so hyper afterwards!  She keeps talking about them and how one of them had purple flashes of light.

I don't have any pictures from it, but last night my friends and I decided to have a Mom's Night Out.  We went out for dinner and had a blast just chatting the night away.  It was supposed to be from 7-10, but we ended up staying at the restaurant until midnight!  (Don't worry, we ordered dessert after staying so long.)  I've been in such a good mood today just from having that one night for myself.  We are already planning our next mom's night and I'm so excited!  It's been really nice having friends with similar interests, and it helps that we all have daughters around the same age.

Despite my staying out so late last night, we decided to go to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point with Tony today.  Audrey watched these cute little chicks hatch last time we were there and she was excited to show Tony.  I think she feels a special connection to them since she watched their birth :).

Jailbirds.

We've had a very busy and very fun summer so far, and we are so grateful for the new friends we've made this year!  It's been so nice for Audrey to have playmates and so nice for me to have some mom friends, as well!