Lauren's Favorite Things

One of the great things about Lauren becoming a toddler and being more vocal is that we get to know more and more about her likes and dislikes every day. I've already talked about her love of sleeping and taking baths, so I thought I'd share some more things she loves.

1. Her blanket - She has a pink blanket that someone gave us as a baby gift for her. Like so many children do, she drags it all over the place and has a difficult time going to bed without it.

2. Her baby dolls - She has two baby dolls: one that was a gift from Papa and Suzie and one that was a gift from Deena. She keeps them naked for some reason, and loves nothing more than feeding them from those bottles that seem to empty as you tip them up.

3. Babies - Lauren is enamored with babies, especially Dylan at daycare. She always points out babies in a crowd and waves and talks to them if they're near enough. She has a certain voice that she uses to talk to them; it's really high-pitched and every sentence ends with a question mark. She always wants to make sure the babies are well-cared for and will bring even the tiniest baby books or toys to play with. It's really sweet.

4. Doing puzzles - She's a girl obsessed with puzzles. She started with her 9-piece Dora puzzle and two other similar ones. Once she did them once she could complete them really, really quickly. She then moved on to the hard Melissa and Doug puzzles of the alphabet and numbers. Again, she mastered those quickly. Her latest conquest is a 25-piece puzzle that's marked 3+! It's just amazing to watch her little brain work.

5. Chicken nuggets and "dipping sauce" - Lauren could eat her Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets with Ranch dressing from now until the end of time and not get enough. I can't tell you how many times I've fixed her a great meal only to have her look up at me and say, "Chicken nuggets, Mama? Dipping sauce?" Grrrr...

6. Water - I talked in my last post about how much she loves baths, but she adores swimming as well. Even as a three-month-old baby she loved the water and took to it immediately. Future Olympian?

7. Blocks - She has this set of wooden blocks in various shapes that she just loves. It's amazing to watch her build towers and designs on the floor. She seems to understand symmetry and really takes her time with the building. She never knocks her own work down, choosing instead to destroy mine.

8. Looking at pictures of herself - We have a slide show screen saver on the laptop and she just loves sitting in front of it, watching pictures of herself and of us. She narrates them too, "Baby Lauwen. Mama and Lauwen. Daddy and Mommy. Cute little baby."

9. Busytown Mysteries and Max and Ruby - These are her TV shows of choice now, and she asks for them every day on the way home from daycare. I think Busytown Mysteries gets the slight edge over the other on this one.

10. Reading - Lauren adores both reading and being read to. She has incredible stamina and can sit for up to an hour with a couple of books, just staring at each detail on the page. She really loves Richard Scarry's books and I think they've really helped her increase her language skills. She always gets two or three books read to her at bedtime and it's a nice time of day for all of us. Right now her favorite is "Babushka's Doll" though she also loves Mother Goose and a book about a baby panda. Next month it will be something else, I'm sure.

And finally, Mom and Dad - It's tooting our horn, I know, but Lauren really does love me and her dad. She loves to try to make us happy and loves playing with us and just revels in our attention. She's a pretty reserved girl around other people, but with us she's totally affectionate and charming. I feel lucky to get to be her mom.