22 Months

Dearest Leah,

This has been a particularly fun month to watch you grow and learn. You've made so many fun discoveries! And holy crow, you hit the three foot mark!

(A selfie with a pilfered camera)

(Marking down your height on our giant ruler growth chart)

The first, and most exciting - BOOKS! We've always had lots of books around. Since you used to have very little interest in them other than peeking at a few pictures and pointing out the things you know or like I mostly just read them alound while you played. But since summer is gone now we eliminated a bath from your pre-bedtime routine (which was used to cool you off before bed since our old house is usually four trillion degrees by the end of the day). So the first night that we skipped bath I sat with you in the glider and read a few books. You of course love Goodnight Moon, and I Love You Through and Through. But it's just so wonderful to snuggle with you and watch listen. Just Listen...

 (You reading "I'll See You in the Morning")

A long time ago your Dad and I got in the habit of calling each other pie. And recently you have as well. Although I'm still not sure you are actually calling either of us, you do say it on a regular enough basis that it's entirely possible. And SO fricken cute. PIIIYEEE?

This month we also attended your first Hockey game! It was the Sharks vs Senators. As expected, we only made it through the first period and most of that time was spent running around the halls of the area. You wouldn't wear the hearing protection I brought for you, so inside the tank was entirely too loud. But it was fun walking around with you! We'll give it another few years...:)

You also got your flu shot this month, and man. It did not go well. You didn't have any adverse reactions on a physical level, but holy crow did it put you in a tailspin. None of my tricks worked: Whipping your favorite blankie out of my purse; a Sippy cup and or snack. So we jumped in the car and headed to the closest Starbucks. I promptly ordered a warm whole milk, a croissant, a blueberry scone and a grandenonfatonepumpwhitemocha for me. I don't know if it was the fact that you got to use a straw or the fact that I let you consume an entire croissant on your own, but that little stop changed your day. 

Your dad and I decided to take a weekday afternoon off and head over to Half Moon Bay to their Pumpkin Patch. Not only did we luck out with AMAZING weather, but we had the entire place to ourselves until right before we left. It's on the pacific coastline, so the weather is more often than not, cloudy and overcast this time of year. Our visit was everything I could have hoped for. 

 (Point and Shoot. How much skill does it take to put the subject of a picture in the center of a shot (?!), pumpkin farm worker guy...Not a terrible pic tho.)

We had a very busy month, but it was just so much fun. As much as I still feel a longing for those last few days of summer, that day at the pumpkin patch made me very excited about the holidays this year and introducing you to so many wonderful traditions.

                         Can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Love,
Momma

21 Months!

Dearest Leah,

This month has been super eventful and much better than the cranky-filled month of August. I'm not even sure where to start!  

 

Every morning when we get up, I shower, warm up your morning BA! (sippycup full of milk) and hand it over to you while singing a morning time song. You bounce and beam at me from your crib while reaching for your cup. And after drinking so much, so quickly that you are literally out of breath, you loiter. It must take a good 15 minutes to convince you to get out of your crib. You hand me your stuffed animals one at a time.

Sock Monkey, whom you offer a sip of milk to before handing her over.

Stuffed Monkey whom will, despite your best efforts, not sit up on the railing of your crib.

Cookie Monster.

And the Strawberry Shortcake doll I bought you from a garage sale.

THEN each of your three blankies...

 You recently became embarrasingly interested in your nostrils. You quite often have a finger in one of them, especially when you are sucking your thumb. You use the index finger on your right hand to plug up your nose. It's sort of adorable, but also a little inappropriate, so I just remind you to take it out and move on. 

Speaking of inappropriate! Earlier this month while taking your evening bath, we were playing and having a great ol' time. Until you laughed so hard that you pooped. Since you were facing me, I wasn't even exactly sure when it happened, until you handed me a nugget of it with your usual inflection of a question with a sound. "Uhhhaahhh???"  (although sometimes you say "Gwhaat?"), Anyhoo, a quick shower and a bleaching of the toys made everything a-okay. 

We started in a Co-Op this month! The experience of it for me has been a tad different than yours. But I think it's going to be better once I understand the politics in's and out's of it all. More on that if I get around to it later. If you don't know what a co-op is it's basically like a Pre-Pre-School, where there is one parent attending with each child, and 1-2 teachers. There are 12 kids in our class, and it's once a week for about 2.5 hours. It's starts with free play, then there is a snack about half way through. Then more play, then songs and a book, followed by the Goodbye song. It's essentially a way to build a community, meet Mom's with kids the same age and help your child learn social skills. They do have parts of the class where you sit in groups and discuss child development, parenting, and all related issues -(sleeping, eating, discipline, etc.) I think we're going to have a lot of fun. 

You have gotten better about having your diaper changed, but it still requires convincing. Last week we were in a bit of a time crunch and I didn't have time to do the usual song and dance to prepare you for what was coming. So your response was to first, scream bloody murder, and then to bite me. I was holding you, so you leaned into my chest and bit, well I guess you'd call it my pectoral.  HARD. You didn't draw blood, but you left a good bruise. And it hurt like a - it hurt a lot. So much so that I cried out the second it happened. That at least curbed your crying. So I told you that you hurt Momma, and showed you the mark. I repeated owwie, and boo-boo, until you started to calm yourself and appeared to understand that you had hurt me. It hasn't happened since and I think we're both pretty grateful for that!  

So, Halloween is coming up and I am SUPER excited. I love fall and Halloween has grown on me A LOT the last few years. I'm planning a family themed idea for costumes, but we'll see what comes of it. I already have your costume, but I have to see if your dad and I are brave enough to wear ours...

Baby girl, it is an honor to watch you grow, and I am so thankful to witness it. 

Can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Love, 
Momma