While we were in Grand Blanc over the weekend we got to see all of the Hollebooms. We stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom. Rebecca loved playing with all of Grandma's toys. And she did not want to let Grandpa out of her sight. If he wasn't in the room she had to go find him. The first thing she did when she got up on Sunday was to walk around saying "Grandpa, Grandpa." She was ready to play! On Sunday everyone went to church and out for lunch together. It was so much fun to see everyone. All of the kids had a blast together. Rebecca thought it was fun to share (steal) Anna's french fries. This was her first taste of curly fries :) Anna and Rebecca finally got to wear their matching dresses that Grandma made :) We look forward to seeing everyone again in few weeks for Jonah's baptism.
Rebecca has been a very good eater since day 1. This week she showed us just how good of an eater she is. We roasted all of the brussels sprouts from our garden. They lasted a few days. And at every meal Rebecca would say "more brussel prouts!" Even when she wouldn't touch anything else on her plate (not even a muffin with chocolate chips!) she was begging for more and we had to get her a big second helping. 
One night this week she ate pumpkin soup, avocado and brussels sprouts in one meal. And loved them all. Rebecca is definitely our veggie lover and "good eata" :) That is what she calls herself.
We've passed the 1 1/2 year mark. Rebecca is 19 months old today. She seems to be getting more and more mature every week. She continues to amaze us with her memory. She does not forget a single thing she learns/sees/does (we have to really try to remember things so we can keep up with her). Just this morning after getting out of bed we walked by the upstairs window and she said "Grandpa" since when the Voogts were here a couple weeks ago Grandpa was working in the yard when Rebecca got up and she could see him. We had beer bread this week, and Rebecca talked about "good bread, Grandma" since Grandma Voogt was talking about good bread (same kind) with Rebecca when they were here in October. And when looking at her "We Like to Eat" book she talked about Daddy's cup and Grandma's cup when we are on the dairy page...since they are the only 2 that drink milk with dinner. She notices and remembers everything! Rebecca also likes to imitate videos of herself. She'll go around acting them out...not just herself, but everything anyone said in the video. She even talks along with everyone when she watches the videos.
Rebecca is doing great with her letters, getting better and better at saying the alphabet and recognizing more and more letters. Won't be long before she recognizes all of them. Her latest thing is picking out R's...and saying "Rebecca." She's been able to do the whole alphabet saying "A is for...apple, B is for...") for months now. But now she's starting to do it by picking out the letters herself/without any prompting. She'll see a U and say "umbrella." She does that with quite a few letters. She is also starting to spell some short words. Not that she really knows what spelling is, but it's just one more example of her good memory. She says "B-I-G, big" and "E-G-G, egg." (check out her latest video to see her do it)
Daddy is turning Rebecca into a sports fan. The only tv she ever sees is sports. So when the tv comes on now she immediately says "football." And she likes to say "Go Badgers," "Go Pack Go" (with cheering) and "touchdown" (with the arm motions:). Mommy is trying to teach her about soccer. And pretty soon we'll be able to go to some Calvin basketball games with Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom. 
Rebecca has really been doing well with saying full sentences lately. Things like "I see the bear." She doesn't leave any words out. And she is gradually speaking more clearly. It's very rare now that she'll say something we don't understand.
Rebecca's love for baking and cooking continues. She has helped Mommy stock the freezer with cookies, muffins and granola lately. We hardly have any tupperware or freezer space left :P Last week she helped with her first batch of applesauce. She organized all of the apples neatly on the table for Mommy (I wonder where she gets the genes for being organized? ;). And did her job as the apple taster...to make sure they were ok. Yesterday we made apple dumpling muffins...Rebecca was creative and helped Mommy make it her own recipe by adding raisins (not in the recipe) ("bloop"...sound of a raisin dropping:) We're hoping to make some more pumpkin muffins or bread today. And now Rebecca has discovered that she can carry her stool all over the house...so it usually ends up in the kitchen so she can see what Mommy is doing and help out. Not a day goes by that she doesn't talk about flour, sugar, pouring and mixing.
Rebecca is becoming more and more independant. But she's still a great snuggler and a sweetheart. We're enjoying lots of family time lately. And we're looking forward to the holidays. Rebecca always talks about baby Jesus already so it will be fun to read the Christmas story with her this year. And we're pretty sure she'll get more into the gifts too ;)
We had a great weekend, enjoying the beautiful fall weather. On Friday Grandpa and Grandma Voogt came for a visit. Rebecca had a blast playing with them and showing them all the things she's learning. They brought her a toy CD player, and Rebecca could not get enough of it! She played the "ABC shong" over and over and over. When Rebecca's marching song (on her Kindermusik CD) came on Grandpa showed Rebecca how to march around the couch and the coffee table. She thought it was so fun! She marched around the living room all evening. Boy was she tired by bedtime :) Rebecca was sad to have to say goodnight. But also excited to see Grandma and Grandpa were still here in the morning :) 
Saturday morning Grandpa and Justin worked in the yard. They extended our large garden so that more of our garden will get good sun. And they used the sod they dug up to cover our small garden (now just a regular part of the yard). We are excited to see how things grow next year! Thanks for the help Grandpa Voogt! Rebecca will love all the good veggies we get from our garden. Rebecca, Mommy and Grandma also spent some time outside enjoying the nice weather and watching the garden work. Grandpa and Grandma left mid-morning to go to Aunt Shannon's recital. And at nap time in the afternoon Rebecca crashed :) Grandpa and Grandma really wore her out :P She slept for several hours. In the aftenroon we got more yard work done and put things away for the winter.
Sunday Daddy and Rebecca stayed home from church since Rebecca is still battling a little cold. In the afternoon we took a long walk outside and played outside a bit. We are trying to take advantage of these last few days of fall weather.
Rebecca is learning so much these days. Her speech is really getting good. She says phrases/sentences very well. Even Grandma Voogt could understand pretty much everything she said. She can also say some things in French and Spanish. And she thinks it's funny :P The words sound different. Rebecca amazes us with her memory. She picks up on the smallest things and doesn't forget them. When we listen to her CDs she always knows what song is coming next (before the current song is done) and will tell you what it is. She also knows the words to just about every song she listens to. If you sing with her and pause/give her a second she'll tell you the next line. We can do that with just about any song. Even if we had no idea she knew any of the words! She does the same thing with her books. She can basically "read" them herself. You say one line, she'll tell you the next. As we try each book and song we're realizing she has them all memorized! Also, if you show her something in a magazine she won't forget it. The next time she sees the magazine she'll say "find ___," whatever it was you looked at before. She memorizes names, pictures, etc. We're amazed by how many of the chef's names she knows in our Food Network magazine. She'll point to one picture at a time and say the names...often both first and last.
Rebecca is getting very good with her letters. She can recognize quite a few of them. And she does quite well with saying the whole alphabet. Rebecca loves to look at magazines and pick out letters.
Rebecca is becoming quite the climber. Another 1/2 inch and she'll be able to get onto pretty much any table or chair :P
She is also very good at coloring, recognizing colors and recognizing shapes. We have to stay on our toes to keep her challenged. She soaks up anything new.
Rebecca is already a great baker. She wants to do it every day. Mommy loves having a little helper and is looking forward to years of cooking and baking together. She is also a good little mommy. She takes very good care of all of her dolls and babies, feeding them, changing diapers, rocking them, taking them on walks, dancing with them, etc.
We're having tons of fun learning new things every day. Rebecca continues to amaze us. We're looking forward to Kindermusik on Wed. Rebecca wishes we could go every day :) She definitely has music/rhythm in her genes.
Rebecca dressed up and helping pass out candy:
