Nicole Says // Vol. 3

These days, Nicole is getting better at enunciation (she's finally getting her R's) but her L's still always come out as W's and it's adorable. And without further ado, here is a sample of my favorite gems from recent weeks, to give you an idea of her personality at this age:

Me, showing her a jacket at Target: "Look, Nicole, how about this one?" N: "No, I don't wike [like] it." Me: "But look, it has gold sparkles on it. It matches your shoes!" N, immediately changing her mind: "Ooooh, I wike it!!!!!" (For reference, her gold shoes are her favorite. In other words, anything that matches her shoes = immediate approval.)

She saw a picture of a pile of buttons and, while hoisting up her shirt, exclaimed, "It's a button! I have a button on my bewey [belly]!" and then proceeded to jam her finger in her belly button.

When I saw that she got straight into her car seat instead of messing around in the car, I said: "Thank you for getting into your seat, Nicole!" and she responded, "It makes Mom soooooo happy!"

To the checkout lady at Target about the bubble bath we were buying: "I getting bubbows! Yeah, I gonna take a bath in two days."

We were at Costco and I couldn't find the almond milk I usually buy. Me: "Oh no, Mommy can't find the milk she likes. It looks like it's all gone." to which Nicole consolingly responded, "It's okay, Mommy, you HAVE mawk [milk]! Right here in your chest!" then proceeded to reach out and pat my chest in the middle of Costco. Bahahahaha! She loves talking about "mommy milk" and feeding her baby doll when I feed Austin.

Any time she's about to get into something, I say "Nicoooole....." in a warning voice, and she immediately responds with, "I just wooking [looking], Mom. I not going to touch it, I just wooking!"

Any time she helps me with a task or chore, she announces, "I a big hehper [helper] tiger!" (Thank you, Daniel Tiger.)

She woke up one morning, peeked into our room to see us still in bed, and shut the door to let us keep sleeping. (So thoughtful.) Doug went to get her and brought her onto our bed to hold her. She was silent for a few seconds, and then out of nowhere she announced, "I have bwoo [blue] eyes." Not a funny thing to say, so much as the circumstance and randomness of the proclamation was funny.

Any time we run out of ANY type of food, she proclaims, "We have to buy some more at Costco!"

We love her! She says a lot of things that make me chuckle, but I'm awful at remembering them all. I should be more diligent at writing them down. She says such smart/wise things, too. Ahhh, she's so cute.

Nicole Says // Vol. 2

She's my mini-me, and she makes my day! It's time for another round of "Nicole Says".

Here are my favorite toddler tidbits from the last couple months:

- I hung Nicole's Easter dress from a ceiling vent to dry. She saw it and exclaimed, "Oh no! Pretty dress! I can't reach! Fly! Fly! Pixie dust awaaaay!" She then spent the next several minutes throwing pixie dust in the air and trying her hardest to fly up to the ceiling to retrieve her dress.

- She put some dark-tinted sunglasses over her eyes and said, "Oh! It's dark!" then took them off and exclaimed, "Where da dark go?! 'A find it! C'mon! 'A find da dark!" And off she ran to go figure out where the dark went.

- While saying goodbye to my family at the end of a Skype date: "Bye Gramma! Bye Jenna! Bye Geekeessa!" (AKA Carissa... but I call her Geeky, so I guess that got Nicole confused)

- Nicole was downstairs with Doug one morning, and I was still in bed. He had to leave for work, and the moment the front door shut I heard Nicole coming up the stairs, calling out in a sing-song voice, "Moooooom! Time to get uuuuuuuup! Daddy go to woooooork!"

- The day after watching The Lion King for the first time, Nicole was messing around under our baby grand. I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "I hiding. Raaaaaawr!" (This girl is definitely my mini-me. I pretended to be a lion or cat aaaaaall the time.)

-  When we play Candy Land, I have Nicole tell me what cards she draws. One day Nicole drew a double red, but blanked on the word for red. After sitting and thinking very hard for a few seconds, she announced, "Two..........colors." Bahahaha! Well, she's not wrong. A very clever response.

- Nicole loves to go on walks, especially to the local park. We also have a trail that goes by our house that we often use. One evening when Doug told Nicole that he'd take her for a walk, she decided to be very clear about her expectations and told him, "Walk to 'a park, okay? No trail. No trail, okay? No trail. Walk to 'a park. Okay?" She kept repeating herself until she was certain that Doug was taking her to the park. We were dying.

- While playing with a toy boat in the bathtub, she says out of nowhere: "Nemo touch da boat. Marlin sad." Yes, half of the funny things she says/does these days pertain to Disney movies.

Ah, kids. Give her another half a year or so and she should start spewing some philosophical gems. I'm pumped. Oh, and please take note that she lets me put bows in her hair now! She only wears them when we're out and about, though. The moment we get home she tugs the bow out. Still... progress!

Nicole Says // Vol. 1

This will likely become a regular series over the next couple years as Nicole becomes more verbal and starts saying clever, hilarious gems that only a toddler/preschooler can say. For this first post, it's mostly just a record (for my sake) of her favorite words and sayings. Nothing terribly clever or hilarious yet since she's not speaking in sentences, but still... Gotta make sure her cute speech is documented foreeeeverrrrr!!!!!

^^^Blurry, but I still love that last picture because she was so excited about who knows what. She was running back and forth and just pointing at the sky and "tees" (trees).


She loves to play Ring Around the Rosy, and when nobody is playing with her she just sings it to herself by repeating "Wa-awa, waaawa!" over and over in a sing-song voice. I've caught her spinning around in her crib singing this to herself when she's supposed to be taking a nap! Haha!


Favorite word these days: baby, probably because of the baby in mommy's tummy. She points out any baby she sees (real life or picture) and carries her baby doll around saying "Bae-bee! Bae-bee!"

She never says mommy/mama/daddy/dada... just mom and dad. So mature haha. She's very precise about her consonants, to the point that dad sounds like "Dadt" when she says it. And "Mam! MAM! MAAAAM!" is what I get to hear all day, every day. ;)

She loves giving a big, loud "CHEESE!" when getting her picture taken, especially if she's attempting a selfie with mommy's "foe" (phone). Her selfies usually consist of part of her forehead and a lot of ceiling.

"Fie... two... twee, wah, two! Ewah wocket, uh uh uh.... vrooooooom!" is regularly sung. Translation: "Five... four... three, two, one! Everyone to rocket, rev it up now! Vroooooom!" (It's a line from the theme song of the tv show Little Einsteins, for those of you who don't recognize it.)

When we give her a choice of what book to read before bed, she often gets excited and shouts out "lee-buh!" (ladybug) for the book "10 Little Ladybugs". It's a favorite around here, most likely because she gets to "count" the ladybugs. Her numbers are totally out of order, but she loves trying.


When we pull up to the chapel on Sundays she says "Chuch!" and gets so excited because she loves going to nursery and learning about "Chesus" (Jesus), and she's very good about saying "ay-meh!" (amen) at the end of prayers.


She loves to have mommy put on her "saws" (socks) and "shoos" (shoes) so she can go "ow-sigh" (outside) and go on walks.


I've mentioned this before, but "Nooooo, mine!" is a favorite phrase right now, and is often immediately followed by the phrase "Tahp it!" (stop it). Sometimes she'll just walk around saying "Mine, mine, mine, me, mine..." to herself.


I've caught her starting to repeat some of my top-said phrases, such as "There it goes" or "Oh really?" or when something bad happens saying "Oh nooooo!" in a really sad voice.


And then, of course, there's a whole slew of random words that she says (or repeats after I say them) that I can't keep track of. The funny sentences will start up soon, I'm sure. That's when the real fun begins! I adore this girl! I love seeing what will come out of her mouth next!