December 14

I made this banner a few years ago to hang up at Christmas time. It's not really all that exciting, but Audrey loves it. She is always pointing to it and asking what's that? So we tell her that it says "Noel". To which she responds, "No-ho-el", which is how she thinks noel is pronounced.

She got this idea from our friends, who have a little boy named Joel (pronounced "ho-el"). So, Audrey must associate the rhyming sounds of Noel and Joel and she puts them together to create "no-ho-el."

Since she likes the word noel so much, we taught her about the song "The First Noel." She will try to sing the chorus, and it is just so adorable: "no-ho-el, no-ho-el, no-ho-el, no-ho-el." A video would make this story so much better and cuter, but all I have for tonight is this picture.

Audrey is starting to talk so much now, I need to be writing down all the funny/cute things she is saying. So, for my records, here are some random things she has been saying lately:

*She is starting to use sentences. One of her first sentences: "I wanna see Mommy (or Daddy or Santa or someone else she likes) now."

*Sometimes her sentence structure is a bit off. Today, I was carrying a bunch of stuff in from the car and I wanted her to walk instead of me carrying her. She isn't a big fan of walking in the frigid temps and the snow, so she said: "no wanna walk snow Audrey", which means "Audrey doesn't want to walk in the snow" (pronouns are also still difficult, so she still refers to herself in 3rd person often)

*She likes to try to help you by bringing you something that she thinks you want, and then she says "thank you Audrey" before you have the chance to tell her thank you yourself.

*She loves McDonalds. I feel like a bad mom because she is so familiar with the place at the age of 2. We really don't go there THAT often, but she loves it. If you ask her about McDonalds, she will spout this off in a very excited voice: "Dedonalds (McDonalds). Nuggets. Tee Ties (french fries). Apples. Pepup (ketchup). Milk."

*Audrey has learned from us how to talk to Maggie. And that is probably not a good thing, because we are always annoyed with Maggie. Her newest phrase is "Naggie, go away." And she says it very clearly and seriously. She has also figured out that the phrase "go away" can be used in reference to other kids. When Lindsey was babysitting our small group kids the other night, she said that Audrey kept telling all the other kids to "go away". Oh dear!!!!