20 Months Old

As each day passes I find it harder to believe that my baby girl is going to be two years old in the very, very near future. You cannot call a two-year old a baby, as much as you'd like to: they're full-blown toddlers. Four short months until she's two. Three(ish) short months until she's a big sister. Wow, how the time flies.

At 20 months old Lane:

*has 15 teeth. Her bottom left incisor (eye tooth? what do you call the ones on the bottom?) popped through on September 11th. We have noticed her mood steadily improving as it doesn't look like any more teeth are on their way yet.

*has now been to 4 countries (the U.S., Turkey, Turkmenistan, Spain).

*is turning into a little jokester: she pretends to want to give us kisses or hugs but then laughs and pulls away at the last minute.

Her first ponytail! Not the best picture, but I didn't get a very good one before she ripped it out.

*is starting to be a picky eater. This is very sad for us, since she's always been a great eater, but recently she's started snubbing things she's always liked, or things she ate yesterday but won't eat today. Just an example of this is that most of the time she wants grapes, but refuses to eat them if we cut them in half. This puts us in a pickle since I don't want her choking on grapes. We usually end up fishing out the teeny-tiny ones and letting her have those whole, but I still want to cut them up...

*is turning into a girlie-girl. She likes socks and shoes. She likes bracelets (my tutor brought her some bangles just her size). She likes hair clips/bows/ponytail holders.

Watching a show about animals with daddy.

*is fascinated with animals. She still loves cats, but now she also loves birds, dogs, and other animals. She's especially fond of ones she knows signs or noises for (cat, dog, giraffe, elephant, tiger, bird, alligator, cow, bear) so she can tell us what it is. She likes to sleep with her lego animals now, too.

*loves to stuff things in cracks. It's absolutely hilarious, but if we can't find her hair clip, or her magnetic animals, or anything small, you can bet we'll find it stuffed between her mattress and bed frame, in the cracks of the dishwasher, between pages of books, the cracks between the couch cushions, or under the rug.

*is finally babbling. It's great to hear her babbling, rambling on and "talking" to us. Most babies/toddlers do this much earlier, but I think her being exposed to three different languages on a regular basis has something to do with the delay.

She's still a big fan of blocks, but now she always wants someone to play with her.

*is a signing queen, considering she's learned most of the signs from videos that she doesn't watch that often. Signs she knows and uses regularly and correctly (she doesn't necessarily sign them correctly, but she uses the right sign [in her own way] for the right thing):

*more, all done, eat, milk, water, shoes, help, please, thank you (these are all old hat, since she's been doing them for at least 6-7 months).

*socks, airplane, bird, dirty, sleep, wash hands, cracker, bread, cheese, apple, banana, candy, stop, go, car, baby, train, ice cream, fish, ball, flower, cookie, read, yes, no, bear, girl, boy, hungry.

*cat, dog, play, book, bike, doll (signs she sometimes gets correct, sometimes doesn't).

*she may know a few more that I just can't think of right now.

Coloring! Thank you, Crayola, for washable markers! (And thanks to Papa Buck and Nona Lou for bringing them to this side of the ocean!)

*loves to swim, play in the bathtub, play in the sink, dump out her cup of water and play in it, etc. She had a blast in the pool while we were on vacation, and she wants to wash her hands an average of twenty million times a day. She also likes to brush her teeth, but she does not like it when I try to brush them for her. She pitches a fit and screams bloody murder. Can you say "Little Miss Independent?"

*loves skype. She gets very excited to skype with all of her grandparents and runs around like a dancing queen, turning in circles and lifting her legs like an Irish clogger. It's hilarious.

Being silly. She loves to climb in bags, baskets, and totes. And of course she still loves

blankie.

*still loves to be outside. She has a new fascination with smelling flowers, pulling weeds (or flowers/plants if we don't stop her in time), and a renewed fascination with rocks. She loves to go to the parks and to climb stairs, go down slides, climb ladders, and sometimes she likes to swing.

*has started to try to communicate with other children in sign language, telling them what she wants. Unfortunately, they of course do not understand her, and she gets frustrated that she doesn't get what she wants.

And there you have it. 20 months later, this is what my girl has turned into. It's amazing to watch her grow and learn. I need to start thinking about her 2nd (eek!) birthday cake. I'm thinking a kitty cat. Any other ideas out there?

***Sorry for the lack of good photos this month...most of my photo-taking energy was spent on vacation, and since then...well, I've tried not to forget that the camera exists, but a lot of days I have. Oops.***