22 Months Old

A middle-of-the-night snooze in Ataturk Airport in Istanbul.

We were traveling the whole month of February so I'm a bit behind on my kids' posts. But as bad of a blogger as I am, I've tried really hard to keep track of their first two years' of life, so here I am. I'm a little in shock that Raye will be two in just two months. It feels like the time has flown by. But I very well remember this time just last year and how much of a pit I still felt like I was in with the first-year-with-a-baby things, and I'm just grateful and glad that we're not still in that first year, as cute as they are. I'm enjoying my toddler.



At 22 months old Raye:

*is potty trained. I think it's official. She tells us when she needs to go almost always. We flew across the world twice and she only had one accident with all of that. I think it's safe to say she's there!

*is a chatterbox. It started in January, a week or two after she turned 20 months old, but has just continued and she's just talking a lot. She says all sorts of short phrases ("bye, bye, poops!", "up peeze," "Uh got it," "'Ere are ooo?") and so many individual words that I just never bothered to write them down. She went from just 15-20 words to BAM! a hundred or so in just a week or so and she's getting new ones every day. It's very, very fun, and I love being able to tell her to stop pitching a fit and to use her words and to know that she probably actually can!



*has 16 teeth and I think is working on a molar or two. Thankfully she's not that grumpy yet, but I do think they're starting.

*went to the doctor while we were in the States and is a whopping almost-36-inches tall. It's like 98th percentile. And she weighs 27.25 pounds (85th or so). No wonder everyone thinks she's already 2. I guess we have a monster child.





*loves to be tickled. She also loves to play hide-and-seek. She likes to be chased, to throw balls, to run, and all the other crazy things that all toddlers love. She also loves her sisters. Noel is often a little too in-her-face and Raye gets mad at her, but she really does love them and wants to be in on all the action.

*loves the song, "Five Little Ducks." It's her favorite right now and I'll catch her singing it to herself sometimes. Totally cute.

*loves animals. She will watch animals and chase them and does not care if consequences might follow. She got scratched by Shannon's parents' cats quite a few times because she just wouldn't leave them alone.



*is such a good traveller. She spent 1000 or more miles in the car when we were in the States and she would just sit and look out her window. Sometimes she'd want to play peek-a-boo with us or tell us "Knock knock" (Who's there?) "Daddy" (Daddy who?) "Knock knock..." over and over and over again.

*loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Wiggle Waggle, Peek-a-Who, and Dear Zoo. These are her favorite books and she will actually sit still for them now, whereas before she'd just flip through the pages like a crazy person.

And there you have it. A snapshot of my crazy-cute 22-month old. She's much more enjoyable now than she was a couple of months ago...she's talking some, not cutting eye teeth, and just generally more fun and less...into everything. I love her. #stinkerbritchesraye.