21 months

Oh my Ashley Grace! What a sweet sweet girl you are. You are so kind and caring. You are full of hugs and kisses. You te so affectionate and I love that you give hugs to everybody. Your version of a hug (for a friend or cousin) is usually to stand next to them or behind them and tilt your head to the side to rest on their shoulder or their back. It is really quite sweet. You also like to give kisses, on the arm. Mommy gets real hugs though, arms open wide and usually you are running right into the hug. Mommy kisses are on the lips, I love them! You talk LOTS. Your vocabularly continues to amaze me. I loe who you learn a new word and say it on your own instead of just when prompted or repeating someone else. You have learned to recognize lots of animals....bears, tigers(one of your favorites), monkeys "moneys", fish, cow, turkey, deer, duck, horse "neigh neigh", pig, sheep, goat, dog, cat, frog, alligator, and surprisingly...camel. You know lots of their noises too.

You are in 18 to 24 month clothes. Your summer clothes still fit great, I hope what we have for winter is mostly 24 month because I think you will certainly be ready for that size when it is time to change seasons.
One of your FAVORITE things to do is play with the iPad. We got the iPad in March. By June you were a PRO. Able to figure out which buttons do what and which games are your favorite. One of your favorite things for about the last 3 weeks has been watching the videos we have recorded. It started with an owl that daddy had rescued and we recorded a video of the owl. Then you realized there were lots of other videos on their too. Including ones with cousin Claira and Eli. So now, every time you want to play, you ask for your "nano" ( which I think actually means "bus" because there are 2 bus games that you loved in the beginning). After we turn the "nano" on you say "Claira Claira Claira Claira Claira " until I turn on a video. It doesn't have to be one of Claira necessarily, but you want to see all of the options and pick which one to watch. Some of them are pretty funny and we laugh EVERYTIME we watch those, or you at least have a great big smile on your face.
You LOVE your cheese. If you want a snack, 90% of the time you want cheese. You love your fruits for sure...and your carbs. Toast "toat"and tortillas "tita" are also pretty good for snacks. You don't usually care too much for meat...if you have a cheeseburger, you lock the ketchup off the bread and then pull the cheese off of the meat. 
You are becoming so observant...when we drive by fast food places, like ChickFilA or TAco Shop, you point and say "eat" while signing and "putting" food in your mouth. Or if I go through the drive thru, (which is typical for my morning dr. Pepper....don't judge me.  :).    You always say "bite" after we stop at the first window. Then I explain we have to pay for the food first with our "momey" and then we can get ur food at the next window....then you are ready for your "bite."
I love the conversations that we have. Very much so one sided, but I get you! Most of the time, I can figure out what you are saying and repeat it and you say "ya" 
You still do a good amount of signs with your words....milk, more, please, outside (which is just one hand in the air and you say "tie tie." most people think you are saying "hi" but when that hand is up....I know that means outside. You also sign bath (one hand waving in the air up and down) and you say "ba" and play (which is similar to bath, but you say "pay" and you only use this one when we are at church and you want to go to the nursery. You also sign baby (patting one hand n your chest while saying "baby." you shake both hands in the air for "all done" and you sign "thank you." 
One of your favorite people is Tate. You ask about him a lot. Almost daily. It almost sounds like "teet." you also talk about "barber" (carver) he is pretty fun as well.
Recently I have noticed you have been able to put families together. You know that "teet" lives with " duudah" (Hudson) and "dattie" (Cassie) and "mamie" (Jamie). And you are always sure to mention that "nenaaa"(Athena) also lives with them.   :)
For the most part you get up one time each night. Sometimes it is consistently at 4 or 5 for a few days and then it switches to 3 or 3:30. But, it is usually only once. 
Recently you have started having an opinion about what you want to wear. If I pull out a shirt and you don't want it, you le me know. One day I asked what shirt you wanted and you said "puppy." so, we wore our blue shirt with the puppy :) you love to put your "oooos" (shoes) on. In the car you especially take them off and on frequently. Or if it's time to go somewhere, you sit down and "put" them on. 
I am loving each stage with you. There are so many new things constantly, I want to remember them all, because you are growing up and changing so quickly! 
Love you Ash!

Miss Maria

Maria started watching Ashley in June of 2011. Ash was about 7 months old. Ashley is now 21 months old. She has done so many new things while n Maria's care...crawling, walking, signing, talking, playing. She LOVES going to her house. She goes there on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Each Sunday we talk about our plan for the nex day and who we will go play with. She always is excited to hear she is going to Miss Maria's. She gets to play EVERY day with Avery whom she calls "beevee" and she plays with Dakota "da do" and Brandon "bo bo." I realized  recently  that  she is actually calling Maria "Bo Bo" instead of Brandon. We have been working on that.  This summer she has had lots of fun with the boys being home and playing with her each day. During the school year she was able to play with Brandon n the afternoons after he finished Kindergarten in the morning. And Dakota was not home for a short while before I iced her up. So, the summer was great. I never worried about her being there and missing me. I knew she loved it. Each morning she always goes right in and starts playing with the toys and is happy to see Avery, Maria, and the boys. Most days she will give me a hug and a kiss good bye, but some days just a wave and a "buh bye" from across the room is all she has time for. When I pick her up each time, she always cries immediately when she sees me. It is no reflection of her day or her mood, it is just simply that she did miss me while was gone. She does this even when income to pick her up at Gigi's house too.
Today (August 21), Maria told me she has taken a job at CCA and can no longer watch  Ashley, I am disappointed. I am sad because this means we have to look for someone new. We have to decide who is best to care for our little girl each day and we have to decide who we trust. I am also sad because of the friendship we have created Maria's family and the fun that Ashley has had each day with her and the boys. I am sad too because she will to have her friend Avery to play with each day. I know she is so young and it will not effect her a great deal, but that makes me sad too, that she won't remember these friends and how much fun she has and how much she loves playing there.

Maria has been a HUGE blessing to our family, when we had to leave our first sitter Judy. That change was difficult and I know this one will be too, but the Lord has the perfect plan in place for us. We just have to wait and see what's in store.