All About Finley

(Just a warning: this post is going to be very boring unless you're closely related to Finley because it's a novel about her life)

Oh my sweet Finley. You have no idea what you do to daddy and me. You are the sweetest, most gentle soul there is (most of the time). You say "hi" to everyone we pass by. You are so kind to animals, it makes me think you'll someday be a veterinarian or something. You're still learning how to be as kind to other children (mostly other babies), and to share. Anytime a kid takes something from you, or just does something you don't like, you tell them very sternly, "NO NO NO NO!" You make the cutest little mad face and roll your eyes at me like I already drive you crazy. You are so so animated. In the car you have long conversations with yourself, and use all sorts of hand motions. You can say way more words than I can count. I never realized how advanced in language you are until recently. You repeat just about anything I say and most of the time I can understand what you said. Everyday I tell you a million times that I love you, and a couple weeks ago you said "wuv oo" right back. A few days ago, you said "wuv oo" to me out of the blue. When you were 15 months old I'd ask "what's your name?" and even then, you could say " inley." You can't quite get the "F" sound yet but I was shocked to hear you say your name! You love giving hugs and kisses. You always want to cuddle when we're relaxing at home. When I rock you to sleep, you pull my shirt down so your cheek can rest right against my skin. You LOVE to read. You used to always want me to read to you, but now I often find you in a corner covered in books reading them out loud. Right now you especially love to read Goodnight Moon, Alice in Wonderland, A day at the seashore, Frozen, and this fun book of colors where you can name just about everything in it. And just like the books, you love watching Alice (Aaa-iss as you call it), and Frozen (you like to say Oh-off for Olaf), and Winnie the Pooh. You are very easy to put to bed, but you still don't consistently sleep through the night. At night, we read a couple books, sing a few songs, then I lay you down. You'll usually fall asleep within 10 minutes, but only if I'm standing right there next to your crib, and you love it even more when my hand is on your cheek. In the middle of the night when I walk in because you're crying, you lay right back down as soon as you see me. But again, I have to stand there until you fall asleep. Soon enough I'll be working on getting you to sleep through the night (before your baby brother comes), but for now I really don't mind waking once or twice a night. You are obsessed with bellies. Especially mommy's. You say "hi baby," and give him kisses all the time. I can only assume (and hope) you'll be just as sweet when he's here. We were swimming in our complex yesterday and a man with a larger belly came in the pool, and you kept pointing to him saying "belly!" Thankfully we were just about to leave and he thought you were saying "bye!" You love love love swimming, whether the water is warm or cold! You like to think you can jump in the water without anyone holding you. At the beach, you spend most of the time by the water, jumping over the waves. This week at the beach you laid your whole face in the sand, then rolled it around. It's still all in your hair. Almost every afternoon at home we go outside and look for bugs and you say "where oo bugs?" (where are you bugs?) You love playing with roly polies, ladybugs, worms, ants, etc. We had an ant problem in our apartment a couple weeks ago and I found you saying "hi" to all the ants and watching several of them crawl on your arms. When you see a cute bug or animal you say "Awww!" Since you started walking, you do this funny thing where you'll go to sit on someone's lap (especially Grandma Stokes) and you'll stop about 5 feet away from them, turn around, and back up the rest of the way. You still do this anytime you sit in your chair, or sit on your potty. It's the funniest thing. You are obsessed with balls! Any kind, any size, bouncy or not. Anything that's shaped like a ball you assume it is a ball and you want to touch it. You love playing with keys and helping mommy unlock the door. You absolutely love jewelry, makeup and nail polish! You'll gladly warm up to someone if they have pretty jewelry or nail polish on. When you hear mommy putting makeup on you run to my bathroom and beg for me to put you on the sink so you can help/put it on yourself. You always find my nail polish and say "peas!" when your nail polish has worn off (or sooner). When you do something you're proud of, you say "tah dah!" and throw your arms in the air. You're really good at singing E-I-E-I-O and patty cake. At grandma and grandpa lake's house you played patty cake with their puppy willow's feet. Now you want to do it to any babies feet. You love giving mommy butterfly kisses, and blowing raspberries on our neck or belly to make us laugh. You love to jump. You can actually get both feet off the ground on your own. You love climbing in your crib and holding mommy or daddy's hands and jumping as high as you can. You also love this game where you put a blanket over your head and walk like a ghost. Even though you've run into the wall several times, you still continue to want to play this and get mad when I tell you "all done." You hide anytime I blow dry my hair. You don't like loud noises, like the vacuum. We always keep our ottoman pushed up against our couch for more space to lay, and when we watch movies, you always get your legs stuck in between and leave them there. If I try and get you un-stuck you get very upset at me and get your legs stuck again. You love all your grandparents, but you especially love your grandpas. All of them. When we saw great grandma and grandpa Lake in Arizona, grandma would try to get your attention, but you'd walk right past her into grandpa's arms. And it's the same with great grandpa brown. But you are terrified of his cane! You won't take your eyes off it if he's near you with it.You're not a very picky eater, but you don't eat very much food at a time. Although you'll never turn down a snack. You weighed the same amount at 18 months as you did at 12 months.

It's so fun watching you grow and how fast you learn. We are the best of friends and I wish I could just pause time for a little while. Just know that mommy and daddy love you and hope you'll always love us in return.

Mommy