Happy 4th of July!

I should really be saying Happy Independence Day! I don't know what happened to my sweet, go-with-the-flow baby. In the past few weeks she has taken on a whole new identity of being independent. The words I hear most these days are "down", "walk" and sadly "no". I don't really know how she picked up on the word "no" because we try not to say that word around her. My worst fear was that my child would turn in to that obnoxious kid who only screamed "NO!" at everything. We try and say "ah ah ah" when we want her to stop something (which she also repeats but seems less bratty).

I suspect that a lot of her independence has to do with her new found talent of walking/running as well as talking. She has gotten so smart. I know every mother says that, but really, she is SMART. Sometimes too smart. I constantly find myself staring at her, asking myself, "how did she learn that?!"

I also find myself stopping what I'm doing to figure out a way to outsmart her. I know, I know, it will only get harder from here!

Here's my beautiful baby in her 4th of July outfit.