23 Months

Dear Lily,

Wow, what a busy 2 months you've had! Every month I say it, but these past 2 months you've really learned a lot. I don't know if I'll be able to remember all the new stuff you've been doing! You've become a full fledged toddler!

One of the most exciting things you learned to do last month was to count to 10!! I can not believe my baby can already count to 10! This happened for the first time on July 11th. You were walking around with your baby doll, and all of a sudden, out of no where, I heard you say "1, 2, 3, 4, 5"! You were doing this over and over again. I quickly got Daddy's attention so he could listen too, and we asked if you could repeat yourself. That time you counted up to 9 by yourself! Wow! We were so impressed! Then the next day on the phone with Nanny you counted for her all the way up to 10! Counting has become on of your favorite things now! While out to breakfast last weekend, you enjoyed counting all the cups on the table. This is what is amazing me. It's not just that you have memorized a string of words, you've learned how to apply it! At breakfast you had two cups, one with orange juice, one with milk. You would could "1, 2. Two cups! 1 apple juice, 1 milk!" (you thought you were drinking apple juice, but really it was oj!) You would point to each cup as you were counting it. Then you counted up all the cups on the table, and then all the juices, and all the waters. I tried to sneak in a little math lesson when you were doing this, by adding and subtracting glasses from the table, but by that point you were more interested in the guy at the table behind us. Oh well! It really was so interesting to watch you start to apply these new skills of yours though!


Your other favorite thing to count is bottles in the shower. Every time you take a bath now, you line up the shampoo and body wash, and count them! Usually you count each thing several time until you get to ten. Now I'm not going to say you are a genius, and have a full grasp of your numbers up to ten yet (though I am a very proud mommy, and of course think you are very smart for your age!). Sometimes you don't always get you numbers perfect. This last week you've been skipping a couple numbers when you count. You've been skipping 5 and 6 the most often. I'm sure you'll stop skipping numbers soon though! You must just be busy working out something new in that head of yours!


The day before you started counting for us, you out of the blue started singing the "A,B,C''s" to me! You were walking around the kitchen while I was doing dishes, and all of a sudden sing "now I know my A, B, C's" and you kept repeating this line over and over again! I was so shocked that you knew that part of the song, as you've never sang that part with me before! Usually when I sing the alphabet with you, you'll catch a few letters here and there. Usually you can sing B, L, P, S, T, V, X, Y, Z if I pause to let you say the letter yourself. You had never sang any of the end part with me before though, so it caught me by surprise that you knew it! Since you did that a couple weeks ago, we've been singing the alphabet a lot more during the day, and you've been able to string a lot more letters together now! You can sing "A, B, C, D" all by yourself, and have been working on the "L, M, N, O, P" string. You love singing this song with me!

Her "Oh No!" Face:



Singing has actually been a big theme for you in the last 2 months! You've been learning all your favorite songs. You can sing a lot of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" by yourself. Your even doing a lot of the movements by yourself! Some of your other favorite songs to sing are: "Sing a Song", "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", "If you're happy and you know it", "Happy Birthday", and all the songs from Little Gym. I love seeing you sing!

Speaking of Little Gym, you've graduated to the next class! One of these days I'll get around to editing all the pictures and video from your last class as a bird, so I can share them with the blog! Now you are in the beast class! You've been thriving so much in your new class! You have new friends (and an old one from our very first session of classes, who graduated to beast before you did. You loving having Robert back in class with you!) You've been learning a lot of new skills in class. Balance beam has always been your favorite part of the gym, and you've been getting so good at it lately! Now I only need to gently spot you under the elbows. I think pretty soon you'll be able to walk by yourself for a short distance! You've also gotten really good t swinging on the bar. Last weekend you stretched really far and reached for the bar from a stacked mat and swung by yourself! We all were very impressed! One of the funniest things you've started doing in the new class is a change to how you do the warm up. You use to walk and run on the big red mat holding our hands. Now you like to run all by yourself, in a tight circle right in the middle of the mat, while all the parents run around you! Daddy and I like to joke that you think you're doing the warm up more efficiently by running in the middle...you get in more laps than we do! You've also become somewhat of a teachers pet in your new class. You like to help Miss. Lori put away the parachute every time it comes out, and you always help her sing the songs. You even sit next to Miss. Lori at the end of every class now to sing the goodbye song! Daddy and I don't think you'll ever sit with us at the end of class again! You also like to give Miss. Lori hugs, high fives, and lead her around the gym. It's great that you really look up to her now, considering when we started classes at the gym you would clam up whenever Miss. Lori gave you her full attention!


You're diet has been pretty finicky lately. We try to get you to eat veggies and good things with each meal, but unless it's peas, corn or tomatoes sauce, it's hard to get a veggie into you belly. Your favorite food is still cheese. You wont let a day go by without eating one stick. You've also really become a fan of watermelon. Whenever you see it, you want some! You're new favorite meal has become turkey and cheese sandwich with mayo (you LOVE mayo!). If I give you the sandwich whole, or cut in half, you will only eat the bread with the mayo on it. I've learned though that if I cut it up into fun shapes with cookie cutters, you will eat the whole thing! You ask for this sandwich for lunch almost every day now! Some other favorites are grilled chicken, veggie dogs, meat balls, spaghetti, scrambled or fried eggs, and cheerios in milk. And as always you love most fruits. Though I did try to get you to try a kiwi a few weeks ago, and it scared you for some reason. Usually you are really good about trying new things though. The other day we were out to dinner and you saw the broccoli on my plate and started reaching for it saying "TREES!! TREES!!" I gave you one to try, and you thought it was so funny that you were going to eat a "tree". Unfortunately you didn't like it, and spit it out, but we were very proud of you for trying something new!



Swimming has become an activity you love. Every time you take a bath now you get on your belly and move around like your swimming while saying " I'm swimming!! I'm swimming!!" The other weekend we were trying to figure out something to do, and you come running into the room with a swimmy diaper and your bathing suit saying "I wanna go swimming!!". We thought that was a great idea, so we all got ready and took you to the local YMCA camp that has an outdoor pool. You had such a blast in the water! You did a really good job kicking and paddling your arms, and holding onto the edge. We think swimming lessons are in your near future (we were to late for this summer, but we'll try the YMCA for a fall or winter class). You were struggling at times to get out of our arms to swim by yourself, so we definitely think you are ready to start learning some skills! And clearly you love the water! You are a little fish, just like Mommy and Daddy!

One of the most significant changes we've seen in the past 2 months is in the way you communicate. You are speaking in several word sentences now when you want to get a point across. You are also stringing a few short sentences together now. You can carry on conversations with us now! You like to explain things to us, or point out your observations. This is so exciting to see! One quick example of this from last week: You spotted a picture of a monkey craft, and grabbed my face to turn it towards you (something you do often) and said "Mom, it's a mouse!" I said "No, it's a monkey!" and then you said really emphatically "NO, it's a mouse!!" and then started laughing! It was so funny that you were arguing with me over the picture! Sure, sometimes we can't understand some of your sentences, but you've got a firm grasp on patterns of speech, and your vocabulary is huge! We're so proud that you are making this new leap in your language skills!


I'm really looking forward to seeing how you will be as a big sister. You've been so helpful lately. You like to get me things if I ask for something, and always help throw away trash. Lately you've also started wanting to help with other things, like sweeping the floor, or cooking. You like to put on the oven mits and say to me "I help cooking! I'm cooking!" You also like to "help" us get our socks and shoes on, always saying"I'm helping!" I'm excited to see how you will help out with the babies! I imagine you will want to help with feeding them and changing their diapers, since you are already practicing this with your baby dolls!

Helping in the garden:


I know you are going to love the babies so much, because you already do! You give my belly hugs and kisses all the time, and talk about the babies constantly! You love watching the video from the ultra sound, and listening to their heart beats. You often bring me the doppler and ask to "listen to babies". You like to help with that too by being in control of the doppler. You always get excited when we find a heart beat, or hear one move. I can't wait till you can feel them moving! You are going to be a great big sister!

We are so proud of how far you have come in the last 2 months! It never ceases to amaze me how much you learn each and every day! (And you are learn right now...even as I write this!! You just did your first forward roll ALL BY YOURSELF!!! Daddy saw it, but I was in here writing this blog. I'm so sad I missed that!) You are our little sponge! I can't believe you will be 2 next month! While I am sad about you getting older, I'm also very excited to see what the next year will hold for you, as you learn more and more, and fully become a toddler! We love you so much Lily, and are so blessed every day to have you in our lives!

Love,
Mommy

Onto the pictures!

22 months, playing with bubbles:




Not wanting to get her picture taken:


Our 23 month photo shoot didn't go that great. Lily had no interest in getting her own picture taken, but kept setting her baby in the chair I had set up. She would set the baby up nicely, get her a toy and a necklace, then come sit down next to me start cheering on the baby. "YAY baby!!" -clap, clap, clap! It was not easy getting a picture of Lily! Here's the very few that came out decent:




And the best of the bunch...our little 23 month old!