Memories of Us: 21 months

21 months

We are now realizing that she is more of a little kid than a baby now. Honestly, she only does two "baby" things still, wear diapers and loves her paci. We are working on both of those. We have a little potty in her bathroom now, and she has actually used it a few times when we put her on it. I don't think she's ready to potty train just yet though, and I'm not gonna push it. Her pacis must remain in her bed. This is a transition from getting to have them in the car and at church when she's tired.

I don't know if there has been any huge changes this past month. Her vocabulary is exploding! She talks all the time. Instead of whining or crying to get out of her bed, we are now awakened by cute little, "up, up, up, hi, up, up, up". Even if it takes us too long and it turns into a whine or cry, we are always greeted by a nice, "Hi!" when we walk into her room. Her favorite phrases of the month are "What's that?" and "Yeah" She asks "What's dat?" about everything and most of the time if you ask her, "what do we call that?" She will tell you. I've noticed she's a lot like us in that it takes her a while to warm up and start talking a lot when she meets someone new or goes to a place she hasn't been in a while. I've also noticed she substitutes the /b/ for /m/ a lot so cats say beow but she finally can tell you cows say moo. It took a lot of practice and a little frustration but she finally got it down.

She still has a smile that lights up the room, warms your heart, and makes you smile. I just love to see the reactions she gets from people. Her big smile is almost always accompanied by a "Hi!" She has also learned how to properly use the word no and make a big frowny face to go with it. It's pretty hard not to laugh when you see it.

She is still a good helper, but is definitely learning how to tune us out when she wants. She is very focused and needs to follow through with her plans. She doesn't like anything to be out of it's place. If it is she says, "Oh no" and promptly goes to fix it.

She has gotten a little pickier with her eating but does well most days. If she doesn't eat well one day she usually makes up for it the next. She is getting better and better at using her fork and spoon, but still prefers to use her fingers.

She's been a good traveler and sleeper when we're away from home. She seems to play well with her cousins. I hope this continues as it is getting less easy to boss her around :)

We are excited to see her at Christmas time this year with all her cousins. It should be a fun next month to come!

I usually like to give her a choice of what clothes she wears, and she usually has an opinion. She likes to pick out just the right hair bow to match her outfit.

She has watched more tv this month than ever. It was mostly due to the fact we were both sick right before Thanksgiving. Her favorite shows are Dora, Barney, Sesame Street, and WonderPets. Side story: One night at the dinner table, she kept on whining and whining for something. After we suffered through supper and she got down. She runs over to the TV, and we realize the whole time she had been saying "Elmo." We had thought she was saying "mo, mo" for more, more, but she wouldn't take anything we gave her. She loves her Elmo that's for sure.

I've noticed she has developed more fears than she had before like when she hears a loud noise she comes running to me super fast and hesitates and says, "dark" if the lights are out in a room she wants to go in.

We turned her car seat around to face forward. We were trying to wait until she was 2, but she was getting too demanding to be facing backwards and we wanted her to be able to see the Christmas lights. She has been very happy with this change, but is having to learn it doesn't mean Mommy is her personal car servant. It's also allowed us to do more talking in car about what's going on around us. She loves for us to talk to her about where we're going, what we're seeing, etc. and can get a little whiny if there is a lull in the conversation.

She runs her happy little trot just about everywhere she goes and is still quite the little dancer. I got her a Dora microphone, and she can really perform.

Something else she surprised us about last night was that she can count to 8. We get her started with one and she can keep going. She also has a pretty good idea of one to one correspondence meaning she knows that numbers are for counting and she points to each item as she counts. Of course, I can't be sure she really is understanding that but it sure seems like it.

Fav books are still Stand Tall, Slowly Sloth, From Head to Toe, Dr. Suess's One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (we sometimes have to skip pages or hide this book for the sake of time..shh, don't tell), and her Sandra Boyton collection w/ The Going to Bed Book. New book interests are The Alphabet Rescue and The Alphabet Adventure both by Audrey Wood.

She was become super expressive with her face and tone of voice. It is really hilarious to see and hear.

Here is the monthly picture roll, and it's a long one.