23 Months Old

Attacking her sister. A favorite these days.

I'm late. Again. Can't believe my baby, and likely my last baby, will be two in 20 days!

At 23 months old Raye:

*has her two bottom molars. They're not all-the-way popped through yet, but definitely on their way and her mood improves the more they come through.

*loves to sing, do puzzles, be read to, build with Duplos, and play with play-doh. Those are her favorites. Her favorite songs right now are "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep." She sings, "Baa, baa, black sheep have you any MORE!"


What a hoot. She loves, loves, loves play-doh.

*has an ever-expanding vocabulary. She regularly speaks in sentences and although a lot of the words in the sentence are not clear, enough of the words are clear that we can understand what she's trying to say: "Uhh uhh song a bus a beep a baby" = "I want to sing the song about the bus and the horn and the baby." Some of her most-used phrases these days: "Watch dis!," "Mama's turn. Way's turn.," "Help Wayne/Wel.," "Four-tee-tee" (means hide-and-seek).



*can count to 12. She usually does it when someone else has started counting and then she'll finish up with all the numbers she knows. She doesn't itemize things yet.

*is still taking about a 3-hour nap during the day. At night she goes to bed around 7:30-8:00 and usually wakes up around 6:30. She's still in a size 6 shoe and is in all 2T/24 months clothes, but I pulled out the bag of 3T stuff the other day. Some of her 2T shirt sleeves are too short already.



*has reached the "I do it!" stage. She wants to do everything: put on her clothes, go to the bathroom, climb up and down stairs, wash her hands, and so on. Of course she can't do a lot of these things too well yet so ends up asking for help. It's frustrating.

*still loves to be outside. She loves to hang from bars. She loves to swing. Yesterday we walked to the store and she pulled a neighbor's toy truck with a string attached the whole way there and back. I think we'll be buying her a pull toy and a couple of large balls for her birthday. She loves to climb, chase after animals/birds, hang from monkey bars, attempt to balance on the barrier between grass and the sidewalk or road, and of course, play in the dirt.



She's quite the character and is so good most of the time. She definitely has her moments and is still learning boundaries, but overall she's not whiney, is obedient, and loves her sisters. She is a joy to have around and I'm so glad I'm actually getting to enjoy her. This is my first time with an almost-two-year old where I haven't been either exhausted from pregnancy or having a newborn. It's pretty nice.