21 Months

It appears that another month has passed. You are 21 months old now.

You continue to be charming, challenging and hilarious but I do feel we might be hitting a plateau in the way of major developmental markers. For the most part, these letters are turning into a place for me to document your latest adventures in talking. And maybe take a minute to discuss your rather disturbing obsession with everything Princess.

I blame my Mother entirely for this fixation as she made you a bathrobe out of Disney princess material and this robe is to you what Batman costumes are to 3 year old boys. As in, you never, ever want to take it off. (The video below features your new "look"). You beg for it all the time and it is a negotiation to convince you that you need to take it off when we leave the house to go out in public. Sometimes you ask about it while we are out; as if it was a gerbil that I'd left in a box without poking enough holes in the top. Will it still be alive when we get home?! When we go to the library or bookstore, you always gravitate towards the bright pink books featuring princesses and last week you had a complete melt down in Target over a pair of Disney brand princess shoes that I wouldn't buy you. You were literally wailing, "Princess shoes! Princess shoes!" over and over in the middle of the shoe aisle while a nice elderly woman tried on some tennies and gave me a look that implied I wasn't going to win mother of the year. I finally compromised and let you carry the empty shoe box decorated with princesses while I finished shopping. Seriously.

On a more flattering note, let's talk about talking. Because that's all you really do now. It's sooo adorable and funny. For the most part, I'd say you speak in 3-5 word sentences. A few of my faves from this month:

"Gramma teach you that" - you frequently use phrases that are specific to one of your Grandmas after spending a day with one of them. After you say something new that I know you didn't learn from me, I'll often ask, "Where did you learn that? Did Gramma teach you that?" And since you still speak about yourself in the third person, you will now say things like, "Baby blue: Gramma teach you that."

You are really into Play-doh right now. In particular, you like to cram the dough back into the little jars they came in and then pull it back out while sitting in your booster seat. The other day you dropped one of the lids for the jars and yelled from the other room: "Uh oh, lid fall. Get it!"

The neighbors are getting a new roof and there are tons of big noisy trucks on the street during the day. We had to squeeze past one the other day to get to our car and you said, "Noisy Truck - squeeze by it."

One of my favorite Edie-isms is that you never say "yes" when asked a question. Instead you say, "Uh huh" but with a strong emphasis on the "huh" - "Uh HUH". It is SO cute and I keep trying to get it on video while this habit lasts.

Another funny one: "No, Edie says." (typically reserved for the times when you really mean it)

Your Dad was giving you a piggy back ride and you pet his head and said, "Good dog."

We had playgroup in our backyard recently and Danny kept walking up the back stairs and opening the kitchen door to go inside. You kept looking at him rather concerned while his Mother said, "No Danny, leave the door alone." At one point, his Mom Lauren recruited your help and asked you to run over to Danny and say "Danny no!" You took your duty VERY seriously and ran right over to the bottom of the stairs and shouted, "Danny NO!" then looked back to Lauren for approval. I couldn't stop giggling at how much you liked being the playgroup Duty.

You like to ask "Maurice doing?" or "Daddy doing?"

Other miscellaneous updates:

You can count to 12, sometimes 13- always with great enthusiasm.


You hate riding in the cart at grocery stores this month. It is exhausting to let you "push" the cart yourself while I try to keep you in line, but "helping" is the only way you are content at the store these days. You even hate to drive the carts with the little cars attached to the front, which used to be a guarantee.

You took two falls this month - the first was minor but left a dark scrape on your chin and the second was major. You slipped in the kitchen and fell, face first, into the edge of the open door. Your forehead slammed into the edge of the door and we thought for sure you'd wake up the next day with at least one black eye. Remarkably, you just had a big purple line down the middle of your forehead for two weeks. It's almost faded by now.

Favorite books: One Morning in Maine, Iggy Peck Architect, Disneyland - a pop up book, and 13 Words by Lemony Snicket

Favorite word: No

Favorite destination: visiting the "Lello marble", 10 blocks north of our house (this house has marbles set into their cement at the front walk and one loose yellow marble that you discovered and keep hidden beneath a rock in their front walkway).

This is your "shocked" face - a total exaggeration of a real shocked face. I suggest clicking to view larger.

Edie - your mischievous giggle slays me, your fits of rage exhaust me, your independence impresses me and your intelligence astounds me.
You play so well by yourself and you are so creative, and then turn around and are completely consumed by your need to have me read a book for the bajillionth time RIGHT NOW and you cannot possibly wait until I've peed. We've spent the last (almost) two weeks of this month with a terrible cold, which for you turned into an ear infection (your third for the record) and a borderline lung infection with a wet, swampy cough. We've rounded a corner, but are still hovering in the semi-sick zone for now. I'm SO hoping that this is the last of our cold and flu season this year and that we have a fun, healthy summer to look forward to. I hate to see a sickness like this crush your fierceness and I'm very happy to see it returning. Spring never really came to Seattle this year, but I'm hopeful that we'll transition right into Summer soon. Sundresses and trips to Orcas Island await!

xoxo
Mom