22 months of amazing-ness!

9.14.12

{written 9.8.12 on 22 month birthday}

Elliana,

Short and sweet. Short and sweet. I say that every time I begin these letters, and then I just can't stop talking. Why? Because there is always so much to say about you, what you are doing, and how much we absolutely CANNOT get enough of you. This month continues to be similar to the last, lots of talking, learning, and personality. You add new words to your vocabulary on a daily basis and showing us that you know so much more than we think you do. We have settled into such a lovely routine with you this past year, and it's been so wonderful to add new things and activities to the plate. We spend every day outside, multiple times a day, and its where you blossom the most. I just have to say your obsession wtih "balls" is out of this world. I am going to call it now. Soccer player.

We love you more and more with each passing day. I can't tell you just how much. There aren't enough words. The months are flying and before you know it, you will be two!!

We love you, forever and ever, to infinity and beyond.

Love, Mama and Papa.

Weight: 26.5 lbs
Height: Not sure?

Clothes: 18-24 months
Shoes: 5-6 {5 in your sandals and I purchased a 6 in sneakers! Room to grow}
Diapers: 4

Still love to twirl your hair like it's your full time job. The funny thing is that now when I put it up in a ponytail, you will manage to get a few strands out of the clip JUST so you can twirl those strands. And yes, you still get it to the point where sometimes your thumb gets stuck. And yes, it is still the cutest thing in the world.

You are so funny with your eating habits. One month we have a great month, then next okay. And this month is just OKAY. Why I say this? Because you are once again acting funny come dinner time. It's a hit or miss.  You either eat a lot or you eat nothing. Overall, I think you do well so I don't mind too much. But still.

You also strictly drink out of cups only {and out of a regular water bottle}. You will get a sippy cup for your morning milk, but that's per mama's choice, not yours.

You do however LOVE your carrots. You will eat all yours then ask papa for his. "Carrots pease." You also LOVE your snacks and bananas. This banana craze is getting out of control. I have to hide the darn things after you eat one in the morning. Because hours later? "Mama, baaann pppeeeeeease." It's in the most pitiful voice ever and I promise I think your heart is breaking every time I say no. Same with the snacks. Now that you get in the pantry as you please, I had to start putting the snacks to the top. Oh man. Drama rama with the snacks.

Like last month {but more now}, you are just a talking machine. You know over 150+ words, too many for me to even sit and count, and you amaze us every day. You still aren't saying full sentences, but you do say things like "Carson, Sit." "Mama, please." Thank, mama or papa." "I find it.", "Carson where are you" and so forth. So you have a lot of two-four word sentences. Which again, is awesome.

**I decided to go ahead and sit down and write down all your words you can say at this point {at least ones that I can think of, there are more I'm sure}. For memory purposes. Probably so I can keep track of your brother as he gets older... and tell him how amazing his big sister is! And he is ;)

A

Apple. Ant. 

B

Bear. Bird. Banana. Bye bye. Baby. Bath. Bus. Brother. Brush. Bug. Book. Ball. Boat. Barking. Beach. Bowl.

C

Cookies. Cake. Crying. Car. Cat. Carrot. Cow. Color. Crayons. Corn. Crab. Chair. Cereal. Castle. Cup.

D

Duck. Drink. Dog. Dress. Diapers. Dolphin. Door. 

E

Elephant. Ears. Eyes. 

F

Frog. Fish. Flower. Fingers. Feet. Fly. Food.

G

Giraffe. Grandma. Game.

H

Horse. Hello. Here. Hair. Hairbow. Hands. Hat. Heart.  House. Home. 

I

Ice cream.

J

K

Kite. Kitty. Knee. Keys. 

L

Lion. Leaf. Lights.

M

Monkey. Milk. Mama. Mirror. 

N

Night night. Nails. Noise.

O

Owl. Orange. Outside. On. Off. Ocean.

P

Pig. Parrot. Peach. Pee. Papa. Please. Pillow. Puppy. Pants. Present. Phone. Pictures. Pizza. Pebbles. Park. Pool. Purse.

Q

R

Rabbit. Rain. Rainbow. Robot.

S

Snake. Snack. Sorry. Sandwich. School. Shirt. Show. Shoes. Socks. Star. Sheep. Swing. Stop. Stinky.

T

Turtle. Thank you. Truck. Toes. Teeth. TV. Tree. Tractor. Train. Tree. 

U

V

W

Wolf. Water. Where. Wipes.

X

Xylophone. 

Y

You. Yo yo. 

Z

Colors

Yellow, brown, white, black, green, pink, red, yellow, purple, blue, orange

Shapes

Oval, square, circle, star, heart

Sentences

2-4 words together. 

As far as learning goes we are just continuing to push on the letters, alphabets, shapes, and colors. You know a little of everything, and have mastered your colors. You can do ALL your flashcards at the speed of light. So of course I have ordered you more. You have a whole bin full of flashcards. It's all that you like to do all day {flashcards and puzzles}. I'm contemplating getting rid of all your other toys!

It's just so funny to me how much you love to learn. You don't really play with your other toys much, you just prefer to do the learning stuff. Puzzles? O-M-G. Your ultimate favorite. The two you have {alphabet and numbers} you have mastered. You haveYou probably could do them with your eyes closed. Now the numbers you get mad when they don't go in the right way, but you have it. It's funny when you get frustrated. I recently ordered you the shapes and colors puzzles, and you already mastered the colors one. So we push the shapes one even more.

You absolutely adore our time outside. We have started to take longer walks in the morning {more like 3+ miles} and it's such a peaceful time for the both of us. In the afternoons we go outside and color with chalk, kick the soccer ball {which you are OBSESSED with... definitely going to get you into soccer}, shoot the basketball {mama does and you watch and cheer me on}, and throw around the golf ball. Do you notice the trend with BALLS?

Because of all this running around, wild side of yours, I got you a nice pair of nike sneakers for the outdoors. And you ABSOLUTELY adore them! You will bring them to me {or any shoes in fact} and say "Mama, shoes, outside." And then you will proceed to bring me MY shoes. I get the memo :)

Another favorite part of the outdoors for you is watching the school bus. Oh man. You are OBSESSED. And the great part about it is that we see the bus about 10 times {I think there are 3 different ones that go through}, so each and EVERY time your expression is priceless. "SCHOOL BUS" you yell and then run to the edge while waving at the bus. Often times the sweet drivers will wave back. And I'm holding back tears now just thinking about the day that you have to ride a school bus. Which probably won't ever happen because we will be driving and picking you up. Maybe mama will ride with you once. Okay okay, don't kill me already.

Potty training? Eh. On hold. We had tried there for a little while and you had made it very clear to me that you were not ready. You still say "pee pee and poo poo" and will run over to the corner or under the table to take a number 2, but as far as having the desire to actually sit on the pot? No way Jose. But at least you understand the concept. Lets just say mama is reading you the Caillou book about potty training. Over. And Over. And Over again.

Lets talk about your sleeping. So I had mentioned last month how you started crawling out of your crib right? And how we had ordered your big girl bed, right? And how you were sleeping with us for naps, and bedtime, and so forth, right? Well it's a new month girlfriend and you sure got your new big girl bed and you have been a TROOPER sleeping in it at night. Not falling out or anything. However, you do STILL insist on mama laying down with you {or papa if mama is at work} until you fall asleep. And If I try to sneak out? No no. It's a scream fest. And if you are laying there with your eyes closed... you will randomly swing your arm across to make sure I am still there. It honestly cracks me up child. At the same time? HELLO. Please and thank you. Back to our old ways where we just layed you down and night night you went? At least you still sleep about 11-12 hours throughout the night.

On the bright side, your big girl room is ALMOST done. We have your room painted, your bed up, your curtains up. Your quilt set is purchased. Your dresser and bookcase just need to be painted. And then the accent wall. Oh the accent wall. I just can't wait for it to be all done. It truly is a room fit for a princess, just like yourself baby.

You also nap about 2-3 hours a day. If it's with me it's a good 3. And you always nap with me now when I had worked the night before. We shut those blackout curtains in mama and papa's bedroom and we hit the sack. Often times you were try to be silly and play around with me. But eventually you pass out. And sometimes? Okay, a lot of the times...I will wake up before you and just watch you sleep. Kiss on your cheeks. Touch your soft skin. Oh it is my absolute favorite time of day and I wouldn't change it for the world. That and when you wake up and see me and have THE biggest smile on your face and basically scream "MAMA!" all while puilling me in to hug me. Melt my heart why don't you.

You had a playdate this past month with your little friend Maggie and you loved it, of course. You were wild and SO so happy to see her. You also had a playdate with some younger babies, and it's so funny how you can tell a difference. You really had no interest playing with the "just turned 1 year old" and everytime she tried to touch you or your toys you were very prissy and hesitant. We will definitely have to work on that.

Your cousin also came over and spent the night one night. And can I just say you adore that big boy Dawson. You chase after him like he is some sort of candy bar walking on earth. It's pretty cute though.

We added another show to your "love list." Okay the list consists of only TWO but still, that's a big deal to you. You see the only show you would watch before is Caillou. All we would hear is Caillou this and Caillou that. One day mama had enough of Caillou and decided to turn on Bubble Guppies. Oh man, you were hooked 2 minutes in. So there you have it, two shows you love. I like to limit you to an episode in the morning and one in the evening. But I can't always say that it turns out that way, especially on the REALLY early mornings :)

You finally started responding what your name is! And it's so funny, we will say "What's your name, baby" and you'll say "Name? Ewee!!" And then clap and say "YAYAYA!"

Clearly, you do well with compliments and positive reinforcement :)

And my ultimate favorite thing in the world that you do is when you give us kisses... you put your hands on our face and draw us in and smooooch. I think you do it because mama always grabs your face to give you big kisses. Oh and its just the absolute best.

I am really looking forward to fall and the next couple of months. Looking forward to taking you to the apple orchard multiple times, pumpkin patch, and spending lots of days at the park. We already do that, but at least we won't be sweating like crazy after 5 minutes.

Thank you for being the brightest light in our lives. 

You inspire me every day to be my very best and more.