Age One-Monkey Style

I think one year old is a hard age. They want to do so much and can only really do so much, you know? But they get frustrated when they get told no (well, I know, but more than a reasonable amount), and then they get hurt because their confidence far outweighs their ability. So, I spend a lot of time just following this cute little gal (do NOT call her a baby-she doesn't know she is one) around and cleaning up what she has "reorganized." She spends most of her time with a wipe in her hand (I usually give her the Clorox kind, just so she can be a little useful). She is at that age where she "parrots" a lot and her siblings get a kick out of teaching her "bad" words (like butt and stupid mostly). We were at the dr office a few weeks ago (follow up to the 18 mo appt when she had fluid in her ears and doc wanted to make sure it cleared up with no infection). We are in the waiting area and she is dancing to the music at the receptionists desk (she loves to dance). Well, this older gentleman was pretty amused by her, especially when she says, "Hi" and gives a little wave to him. He says, "Are you being a good girl?" and she responds, "No." In her cute little voice with the perfect inflection that just says, "Not a chance." Well, I know that she actually says, "No" to every question (you want candy? "No" You want a drink "No" You want to swing? "No"), but this was so funny to me that I was laughing so hard I had tears. This man recovered nicely, but it was just so funny to me.
Here are some more examples:
I thought she was being good while we were watching conference. You would think this is my first time with a child. Well, she was in her little chair with her back to me. After a good while-15-20 minutes, she stands up. She had a pen in her hand and a little foam book. The book has writing on every side of every page....

And her body had a lot of pen on it too!

Aubrey loves the pantry. We have a lock on it, but it gets left off a lot. She gets into the cereal all the time. Sometime this week, she left Cheerios in the sugar. I'm just glad it wasn't the other way around.

At the Safe Kid's Fair, the other kids were doing this obstacle course. Well, not to be left out, she followed. I thought that there was NO CHANCE she would go into this dark tube by herself. Well, she did. Like 5 times, until I cut her off to move on!

At least this time she has paper. And it's not her sister's homework (this time...)