22 Months!

Sweet Eloise Jane, you are now 22 months old!

The past month has seen you exerting more and more of your fiery independence, and you seem to save your most epic tantrums for me.  You continue to be wicked smart, with a strong determination to do things your way. You are also sensitive, snugly, funny, and sweet as they come- depending on your mood in a given moment.

Here are your 22 month updates!

How old? 22 months

How big?

We were at a dinner party yesterday with friends who have an almost 3 year old. This little girl has always been tall for her age, and lo and behold- you two were the SAME HEIGHT.  Giant baby indeed!

The kid crew at the dinner party

You can wear 4t and 5t shorts, and 2t-3t tops fit you best. You feel as heavy as your 5.5 year old sister, and I think you are catching up to her at warp speed!

Potty?

Not much new here- you're still great at #2's on the potty and will pee in the potty if you have to go, but if your diaper is on, you'll happily pee in it for convenience's sake. Having said that, at the dinner party yesterday you were running around naked most of the night and twice told me you had to go potty-then peed on their big toilet! I was happy to see you had some good party manners.

Food?

This past month you've been more vocal about wanting to eat at the big table. You also greatly prefer to eat naked (really, to do ANYTHING naked!). I'm definitely choosing my battles with you these days!

Words?

So, so many! You are now talking in little sentences most of the time: "Go Lily's house." "See Mr. Ben!" "Doggie no have diaper." Etc, etc.

You also love to sing! Here are a couple videos of songs from this past month:

Sleep?

Once you're settled into bed you do great and sleep soundly. It's that settling in part that is my challenge! With anyone else you seem to go down easily; however, with me, you like to drag things out and fuss and cry and delay. I've been enlisting Iyla to help with nap times, having her get in your bed with you to sing and read books. Sometimes it works, sometimes not- depending on your mood.

Here's a cute series of you stalling bedtime by snuggling in Iyla's floor bed:

Vision?

We continue to patch you 2 hours/day, and you are doing as well as can be expected with that! You still love to rip off your glasses and patch when upset or when riding in the car, but other than that are rolling with it. I also just ordered you the next size up in glasses, as you are definitely growing daily and appear to need a bigger pair!

New this Month:

*You have been VERY resistant about getting into your car seat. One day this past month you climbed into Iyla's forward facing seat, and due to the fact that i didn't want to force a battle with you, I strapped you in and let you stay there. Iyla thought it was super fun and funny to sit rear-facing in YOUR seat, and- well- that's how you both sit in the car every day now. 

It's so funny to me how things like this showcase your different personalities: You are a dog person, strong, determined, stubborn, out in the world- and ready to forward face! Iyla is a cat person- more introverted, rule follower, needs quiet time- happy to go back to a cozy rear-facing car seat.

*We got a new swing! You and Iyla LOVE this thing, and take turns independently and together, your favorite thing being fast "twisties."

*You now attend school 3x/week! Shortly after you started at your sweet little preschool, we got the call that an additional 2 days were opening up. I hadn't planned on sending you 3 days/week until summer- but we couldn't pass up the spot! And you are loving it. It's been a seamless transition for you, and you are always excited to "Go see Ben!"

In your first full week at school you were sent home with an "incident" report. It appears another very young little boy was attempting to get your attention through biting. You had a nice little bite mark on your upper arm for several days, but happily there have been no more incidents!

Here are a few photos of a party your school had this week, complete with aerial yoga & watermelon! In just two weeks, Iyla will be joining you at this school for 3 days/week for the summer.

Speaking of Iyla, you adore her. You've taken to following her around like a shadow, and you two are starting to play more and more together. It's mostly super sweet, but Iyla also frequently gets annoyed with you, which usually escalates to her yelling at you, you crying, and me having to referee.

Here's a series of photos of you in Iyla-adoration mode:

Wearing her sweaters

Dressing up in ballet clothes together

Messing with her

Having to be physically pried away from her theater class

You love Iyla's friend Sabine as much as Iyla does!

Always wanting to play next to her

And much to your chagrin Iyla often puts up toy barriers between you

Here's a few more photos from your past month:

We love you Weezy Jane! Happy 22 months to you sweet girl.

22 Months!

Sweet Iyla Grace, today you are 22 months old! You've had a fun-filled month with lots of adventures & family visits. Words I would currently use to describe you include: generous, affectionate, determined, easily frustrated (if you can't do something the way you know it is supposed to be done, like putting a book back on the shelf), creative, & so smart. This month you have started to really have opinions on how things are done, and started experimenting with what happens when you decide NOT to do something requested (like putting on shoes, taking a bath, etc). Your favorite phrase with this new development is "no like that."

Adorable feist

Here are your 22 month updates!

How old? 22 months today

How big? I put you on our home scale the other day, and it read 23 lbs, 8 ounces. It usually measures lower than an actual doctor scale, so my guess is you are now in the 24 pound range. Here you are next to Sam:

Teeth? Lo and behold- right after I completed your 21 month updates, I spied something very white and very large on the back of your gums. Sure enough- this month you have had THREE molars come in! Two on top and one on the bottom. And still no sleep disturbances or big to-do about them. From what I hear we are very lucky there. Ten teeth total now!

Sleep? No changes there- though I am trying to do a MUCH better job at brushing your teeth AFTER you have milk. This was prompted by my observing there is seemingly permanent gunk between your bottom 2 teeth (tartar?), which prompted a strong flood of Mama Guilt.

This picture is hilarious- you almost always wake happy and cheerful from your naps, but occasionally I get a sleepy grump who needs some time to acclimate to the world again.

Food? You continue to be a great eater! You are always willing to try new things, and consistently respond by either spitting the new item out with a "no like that" or immediately requesting MORE! You are still getting your milk in bottles. Three a day. I'm at peace with it, especially with our amped up oral hygiene routine.

Potty Time? This was a BIG month for that… as just this week I pulled out your BIG GIRL UNDERWEAR (Tinkerbell, of course) to give them a whirl. You have been doing so well wearing them! We've already ventured out on many excursions, and I make a point to frequently sit you on any nearby toilet in regular increments. If you have to go, you'll go. Definitely not night trained- that is something I'll start researching and learning about in the next few months. No rush! I am just so proud of you. You seem to like wearing the underwear much better than diapers.

Words? Your memory just astounds us. When we visited your Mimi and Grampy 2 weeks ago, you were slowly reintroduced to each of their 5 kitties. You memorized and knew each kitty by name almost immediately. I still don't know them all! Just yesterday you said you wanted to go to Mimi and Grampy's house to see their kitties. I named 3 of them and you proceeded to name the remaining 2. Amazing.

I love hearing you playing make believe scenes from movie clips you've watched, recalling things I had no idea you noticed. You'll say things like "go to the Mainland!" or "meet at the border, get pixie dust."

You also can recite every single animal in your Animal Alphabet deck of cards (A-Z), and have memorized counting to 5.

Favorite things:

Tinker Bell! We have several little fairy dolls and you love watching the movies (we watch them over several days in 10-20 minute increments).

Coloring! I waited a long time to officially introduce coloring, as previous attempts inevitably led to crayon eating. However- insert one Tinkerbell coloring book and a pack of toddler friendly triangular crayons, and voila! We have a little artist. You love to color, and interestingly enough- your very favorite crayon color right now is brown. I am planning to get you a little art table and chairs for your 2nd birthday, so you can have a separate designated space to create things at.

Swimming. You have really turned a corner in swim lessons! It is your confident, capable space, and you will often shriek with delight as you kick about in the water. During lessons I stand about 4-5 feet back from you in the water and you'll jump off the steps to me, swimming underwater and kicking until you reach me. You can hold your breath for 10 seconds consistently, which is the maximum amount of time they train you to hold it. You are such a little fish!

Swimming at Mimi and Grampy's

Breakfast out with Mama. Once a week I take you out to my favorite coffee shop for breakfast. In the car you immediately start asking"maybe eat muffins? eat eggs?" and wondering if we'll "see Laura or John?" two of the regulars who work there.

Having me sing to you. You LOVE to request songs- especially from Tangled or Frozen- and will often say "not that one, want different one" when I start singing. Last week you attempted to sing by yourself for the first time! As in- instead of just reciting and saying the words, you experimented with singsongy vocalizations that sounded darn close to what I was singing. Your personality is such that you seem to wait to break out a new skill until you are completely confident you can do it (like crawling and walking)- so I wouldn't be surprised if one day soon you just started singing full songs back to me completely in key. We'll see!

Singing with Cousin Heather

Books: You have started to read "by self" a lot more lately, and it melts my heart every time I find you quietly turning pages of beloved books.

You also still love to be read to

The Children's Museum. We go every Monday morning for their "Baby Bloomers" program- which only allows children under the age of 3. We start by finding the ducks & geese at the lake, proceed to play at the park, and then take the museum by storm- complete with their story and music times.

Not so favorite things:

Your first shiner. While playing with your nanny, you took a tumble trying to climb onto a chair and got your first significant boo-boo! It looked bad but didn't seem to bother you much at all, and thankfully healed quickly.

Being told what to do. Inevitably if we ask you to count, name something, or perform an activity for someone you are not yet comfortable with, you will remain silent and stoic. Then you will do the thing requested several minutes later when you are good and ready to do it!

Baths. It has become more of a struggle to get you INTO the bath lately ("no like bath")- but once you are finally in you have a great time and have to be coaxed out.

I think a lot of what is going on lately is your exploration of SELF, and of having control over your own ideas, opinions, and actions. You are just starting to test boundaries, and my instinct is that in the following month we are going to have to come up with some gentle discipline techniques surrounding non-negotiable routines & rules (like sitting down for meals, putting on shoes, putting on underwear, etc). It's a new era of independence for our already independent little girl! One of the funniest things (to me) is when you are feeling frustrated you will spill out a string of unintelligible consonants- like "ninininini!" or "picapicapica!"

One thing I admire so much about you is your intrinsic generosity. For example, this week we visited a little friend of yours named Sabine whom we haven't seen in a long time. You brought your beloved Tinker Bell doll with you, and Sabine was equally enthralled by it. You had absolutely NO problem handing the doll to her and letting her run off and play with it. It seems to enchant you more when others love your toys as much as you do and never elicits a sense of possessiveness or jealousy. Very unusual for your age! Sabine had a very 'normal' toddler reaction with Tinker Bell- in that, once it was in her possession she did not want to return it, resulting in a meltdown when it was time to go.

Iyla and Sabine

Here are a few more photos from your last month:

Happy 22 months sweet girl- we love you so much!