About 2 months ago I still had a little toddler. She was a little quiet and curious, and a joy to be around, but she was still a toddler. Things changed the week of Christmas 2007. Starting on that Monday, Christmas Eve, it was like a flip switched somewhere and gone was my little toddler and she was replaced with a little girl. And boy is this little girl fun!

Starting on Christmas Eve she stayed up until 1:45 a.m. She loved dinner that night and was even eating with her special tied chopsticks, then she was really excited later that night when we opened presents. (She had already found this to be a ball when we opened presents the weekend before in Belzoni with my parents.) In fact she was so excited that she outlasted every one of her uncles that night. Quite an impressive feat, since I'm not sure I've outlasted any of them in the last 5-6 years.

Since then she has gotten bigger and bigger. Her best friend is still Baxter, she chases him around telling him she loves him and kissing him. And at times she even has to put him in the naughty corner if he misbehaves, or if he just thinks about misbehaving. She will come up to Katie and I and just throw her arms around us and kiss us as well.

It's also funny how she notices everything now. Just yesterday I got a new laptop and had it out doing some work. She just looked at me and said "Daddy is that your new puter?", and she never even new I was getting one. I didn't even know that she really knew what new meant. But that's the way it goes. She probably adds at least fifty new words a week to her vocabulary. She can tell you the capital of Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas, and sometimes Alabama and Florida. She's good at counting, puzzles, shapes and knows everything there is to know about animals I think. She also loves to drink from cups then request napkins, tell me when Baxter needs help, and at this very moment is wanting to play "baby games" on the computer with me.

I feel very lucky to have this little beautiful love around me all the time. It just feels perfect when her and Katie and I are together.