Maren

Maren has grown up overnight. Gone are the days of me worrying about her speech development. This girl is talking and is pretty chatty at that. She has never met a stranger but now she will often speak to random people we see, striking up a conversation with "Hi. I two". Really, that's about all you need to know about her.She loves to color and asks to do it nearly every day. This is actually a very nice thing because it's a quiet, non-messy activity that keeps her occupied for a very long time. Warner was never a huge fan of coloring but since Maren has taken to it, he wants to color whenever she does. Pink is her favorite color so primarily her pictures are colored with varying shades of pink. She throws in purple every now and then along with green, since that's Warner's favorite color.

And when it comes to Warner, Maren thinks he's the coolest. They play together extremely well, given their ages. Maren's first question in the morning is usually "Mommy, where's Norner?" (the way she pronounces Warner is the absolute best). Warner thinks Maren's pretty cool too. When they play, he usually calls the shots, telling her where to put a toy, how to play with it, where to go, etc. Maren generally replies "o-tay, Norner" and does whatever he's told her to do. Maren wants to do everything Warner does, including wear a hat. Makes sense, right? Here she is in her Super-girl hat.
Other than coloring, reading is Maren's other favorite activity. She is constantly asking me to "deed boops" to her. She could sit and listen to me read forever. Right now she's into Clifford and Curious George, but still enjoys board books too. Here she is with Warner in their book corner in the living room. The bottom shelf of the bookcase is filled with their books, and Maren takes nearly every one off the shelf each day to read. They also like to "hide" in this corner, if you're wondering about the umbrellas.Maren is not as compliant as Warner (that's putting it nicely), so getting her to do things requires either reverse psychology or bribery. Her main punishment is for me to take books away from her, since she loves them so much. Unfortunately, she goes to bed without bedtime stories quite often because she will refuse to clean up toys before bathtime, or other similar offenses. But despite her defiance, she is the sweetest, most loving, and affectionate kid I've ever been around. She hugs, snuggles, and gives kisses with abandon.
I often will say "Maren, will you promise to always be Mommy's baby?", to which she'll respond with either a big hug or a simple "yes". For a while she would then tell me and Kevin "I Mommy's baby" and was quite adamant that she wasn't Daddy's anything. Kevin told her she could be Mommy's baby and Daddy's girl, and she seemed to like that idea. So now she says "I Mommy's baby ... and Daddy's girl".

Regardless of if she's a Mommy's or Daddy's girl, Maren is definitely her own person. She's funny and smart and loving and silly. And I'm so glad she's a part of our family.