23 Months

Um, you turn two years old in a month.

This last month has been one full of transition for us as a family. I'm not going to lie, it's been a tough one for me and I'm fairly certain you'd say the same. Starting daycare has been a big adventure that you are just now settling into. There were always parts of it that you loved - seeing your friend AJ, making new friends, swinging in the backyard, unlimited yogurt at snack time - but spending full days away from family was something that really took you most of the month to get happy about. I really felt for you, but it was also hard to spend all day working and then pick up a clingy toddler who really had no interest in letting me cook dinner before Dad got home.

Speaking of cooking dinner, it's worth mentioning that you are going through a very big "cooking" phase this month. You have set up a tiny kitchen on the living room coffee table and love to stir things in the pot and wear oven mitts. When I ask you what you're making, a few replies have been:
Block soup (you were stirring blocks)
Corn soup (we'd had corn the night before)
Cheese sauce (wishful thinking)
Bird - on this particular occasion you had put a tiny stuffed bird into the skillet and were tucking him in like it was his nest.
While mixing and stirring toys and felt food in your pot you will say things like, "Mmm, it's delicious Mom!"

And for whatever reason (and as long as we're still kind of talking about food) I'm very fond of this photo of you eating breakfast with bedhead:
You're so sweet in the morning, making specific requests (almost always for scrambled eggs and toast with cream cheese or peanut butter) and this photo perfectly captures your big head, messy morning hair, tiny shoulders and your passion for breakfast foods.

We went through a phase earlier in the month where I was really struggling with my patience and tolerance - your disobedience spiked for a few days, and I'm just now realizing that perhaps this was punishment for "abandoning" you on a weekly basis at daycare. Thankfully it was relatively short lived and while we, of course still have power struggles, I either have more patience for them or they are fewer and further between. In fact, being away from you for two and a half days per week really makes me look forward to our time together. I especially love the time from 4:45pm when I pick you up from Jen's house and 6pm when Dad gets home. I try to make that time special - either stopping by a new playground, picking out a new book at the library or (shhh, don't tell Dad) getting an ice cream to share at the lake.

There really are no limits to your language skills these days. You sing entire songs - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (which you end "Like a diamond in a ring!" instead of "the sky"), and can sing the entire alphabet with only one blip (I think Darrah and I are the only witnesses to this skill so far). When you finish the alphabet you sing, "Now I Z, next time won't you sing with me?" You sing the full "ring around the rosie" song when we swing ourselves in a circle and love to do it "again again again Mom!"

And as long as I'm bragging - our next door neighbor is a pediatrician and after listening to us play in the backyard from his deck every evening, says he's only met one or two other kids your age that speak as much and as clearly as you. Despite the fact that I probably have very little to do with this accomplishment, I about burst with pride. You've started concocting more and more complex sentences this month, I've not done a great job of keeping track, but I do remember being on Orcas for the 4th of July when you pointed at a bird on a cliff and said "That seagull climbed up a big hill Mom!" At the wading pool last week with friends you said, "Splashing around in the pool with Adyson."

At the very end of this month, you figured out how to hop by jumping off the ground with both feet catching air at the same time. As seen here while we sing Little Bunny Foo Foo and you jump all over the kitchen.

I'll be very interested to see your height and weight specs at your 2 year appt. It seems to me like maybe your growth has slowed and perhaps you won't tower over me at the age of 10 after all. Your friend AJ has at least 2 inches on you and I'm still able to squeeze you into 18month size clothes on occasion.

Wearing my shirt and playing "snail", which involves you lying on your belly and Dad putting the bean bag on your back while you slowly crawl around the kitchen. Don't ask.

More transitions lurk on the horizon - toddler beds and potty training. But I think we're still a ways away from tackling these. You slept on a twin mattress on the floor on Orcas this month and did a shockingly good job. I really had low hopes, but you went to bed awake and stayed in bed singing yourself to sleep, sleeping soundly until 5:50am when you tentatively knocked on the inside of your closed door. Your Dad went in and was able to fall back asleep with you on top of the queen bed in that same room, each resting your head on your own pillow. He did wake up at 7:30am to the feel and beep of you running your digital thermometer over his forehead (meaning you snuck out of bed, rummaged through your overnight bag to find the thermometer and then found your Dad to take his temperature - all while he slept), but still! The same routine was more or less repeated the second night. So who knows, maybe the transition will be easier than I think? As for potty training, you seem really hesitant about the whole potty situation, so we haven't lifted a finger yet. Maybe in a few more months. (note that this changed about 2 days after I wrote this letter)

Sleeping through the night is weird right now. There's a lot of manipulating in the middle of the night, with requests for more stories, sitting on my lap, rocking in the rocking chair and more blankets. My favorite was last night when you undressed Baby in the bed and begged me to "fix it" (meaning re-dress her in the dark) at 12am. Ugh. You can see why I was so shocked when you slept almost all night in a twin bed without coming to find us for some random request earlier this month. I'm actually really enjoying this age you're at; I still maintain that I'm happier parenting a toddler than I was an infant. But it must also be said that this age is teaching me a lot about patience, bargaining, picking my battles, and not feeling guilty about giving you a cookie in order to successfully complete my grocery shopping.

Lastly, I will leave you with one of your more hilarious habits from this month. May I present to you "The Silly Smile", which you will do on cue pretty much any time for as long as requested:

Until next month,

xoxo

Mom