Okay I looked at the date on my computer and was like…whoa… Amelia is only a month away from being 2. That’s crazy! And yet, that means today you are 23 months old sweetie. Wow. How are you growing so fast?!
You really have begun to develop your own unique and fun personality. You are definitely independent for sure – you can climb into the van and then into your carseat by yourself. And if I help? You re-do it by yourself.
You love to dance and sing and be the center of attention – guess I shouldn’t be suprised, you are a Leo like your mama. Lately if I try and join you in dancing you tell me ‘no’ or ’stop’. You are the only one allowed to dance apparently.
You still love cuddles, hugs and kisses from mommy & daddy – I hope that never changes. Its one of my favorite things.
You are obsessed with water. Whether its your bath, sticking your hand into my water glass, pouring out your sippy, playing with the water table or at the pool – or asking to water the plants so you can pour your watering can on your feet on the deck… you try to play with water as much as possible. I was a water baby and a summer baby – have always loved it – so its not suprising. You are actually tanning which is surprising since I thought you had your daddy’s fair skin – maybe there is hope afterall.
Sometime this last month you learned how to say ‘cheese’ – which is really funny. So far its actually a cute smile that it produces, though my favorite pictures are still the random glimpses of glee or seriousness that is your personality.
You talk up a storm these days – most things are 2 word phrases (my turn, baby book, mickey tv) – occasionally there is a sentence thrown in (I don’t want that) which always amazes me. You are growing up! You can also sing songs pretty well and you can count to 10. Another new development is colors – it seems like overnight you can name almost every color – usually if you don’t know it its because its close to another color (orange is hard because its so close to red).
You still eat pretty well though meat isn’t a big thing for you anymore. Though every day you come home from school with an ‘I ate everything’ at every meal & snack which is a new thing for you. Maybe that’s why dinners aren’t as big anymore. But you almost always eat the carb first (pasta & potatoes are big hits), maybe followed by fruit (blueberries & cherries are very big hits – don’t try melon or bananas though – you refuse). You’ll often eat your veggies too. You LOVE peas & broccoli, and carrots are pretty popular. Corn is probably your favorite all time food, especially if its corn on the cob. Meats are hit & miss. You like meat sauce on pasta, and you will devour a hot dog – but chicken… ehhh not so much. Bribery works if you want more of something else to get you to eat a couple bites, but you just aren’t that into it these days. Who knows. You still drink your soy milk, though you like to ‘double-fist’ with orange juice or water. Its pretty funny to see you alternate.
We’ve evolved from the daily morning oatmeal – now you love to have cereal (with milk, that you drink out of the bowl when you are done), but you also are up for waffles or biscuits if they are available. You’ll even come and play before eating which never used to happen.
You aren’t really interested in the potty yet – well you have asked to sit on it a couple times but you have already gone in your diaper by that time. And you only tell us you need a diaper if you don’t want to be doing what you are doing (like sitting in the car). Then you’ll even let us know if its the tiniest bit wet. If you are playing with water, you can have a poop explosion and pretend it hasn’t happened. I think this fall will be a more likely time to try and train – I’m not really ready anyway and I want us to both be ready.
You gave up the paci early this month – with great success! You really are a big girl. It was a rough 2 – 3 days but you never really asked for it – you understood you gave it to the bunnies (which stayed around for awhile but haven’t been around in a few days unfortunately). You just took a few days to learn how to comfort yourself back to sleep. You have become even more attached to lamby and your ‘baby book’ (a tiny book about babies) – probably to replace the pacis, but all in all its been pretty smooth sailing.
We’ve had to take more initiative on time-outs – they seem to be effective for you. You weren’t coming to us when we asked you to and felt that was important so that’s a big one and its only taken a few time outs for you to start listening. You also occasionally get too rough and throw a book or yourself at mommy or daddy and so we’ve had to use time outs for that too – but you do learn from them so I think its working.
I don’t even know how to capture all of your cuteness in a letter to you – you just do so many cute things.
- When we work on puzzles, you’ll do things ‘wrong’ on purpose to get us to pay attention and help (because we see you do it right at othertimes).
- You like to give my belly (your little sister) kisses.
- You love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but occasionally ask for Elmo. (Thank you to Comcast On Demand)
- You have a great relationship with your cousin Lena – sure there is occasional sharing issues, but you are both about 2 years old – all in all you play well together and have a great time.
- Same with your buddy Graham – he is almost like a brother – you love to have each other around but sometimes there is a skirmish. You definitely won’t share your ‘baby book’ with him, that’s for sure.
- If you ask you who your friends are, you say ‘Carter, Davis and Graham’ – all the boys in your class – guess you don’t like girls? How do you know the difference?
- You love hats, bows, sunglasses… an accessories kind of gal.
- You love all creatures, great and small. An ant is just as interesting as a frog or a bunny. My favorite though is your lion’s rarrrh. I’ll have to get that one on video.
I know I haven’t captured everything, but at least you get a glimpse into how you were at 23 months. We love you so much and are so glad you came into our lives 23 months ago.
Love,
Baby Momma
