20 Months Old

I'll spare you the whole bit about how I can't believe a whole month has passed again... because I just did that the other day with Nora. But seriously.

Also, a disclaimer: I'm sleep deprived and I'm working on this after 10:30pm, trying to determine whether or not Nora's going to stay put in the crib. So typos and incomplete/run on sentences are completely forgivable, right? Right.

Okay. My big girl is 20 months old. And I think this is the month that she went from baby to little girl. Examine my evidence:


Phoebe is...

• talking more everyday. She uses mama, dada, help, up, shoes, cookie (as in, cookie monster), socks, nay-nay (paci), wuh-wuh (puppy) and bye-bye independently just about every day. We can coax her into saying several more words (grandparent names, animal sounds, animal names), and she is much more eager to try to repeat words. I've cried (shocker) over the progress she's making. She seems most confident with b, c, and s sounds -- most of her words sound pretty much the same.
• really into counting things. She loves to point while I count out loud. Phoebe also has taken an interest in printed numbers -- we love to walk down the street and point out the numbers on mailboxes and painted on the street.
• reading longer books, and a greater variety. Her favorite books have illustrations that can be easily identified, and she can tolerate larger amounts of text on a page. She's also more receptive to books that I suggest, although she just plain likes what she likes right now.
• hilarious. She makes me laugh all the time. She injects joy into my days when all I want to do is sleep or cry. And then I get over it, because she really is a delight.
• taking more of an interest in structured activities. Can I get a hearty praise the Lord here? If you have spent any time with my exuberant, energetic little girl... you know that she does not sit still well, and that she pretty much likes to do her own thing. So for her to sit at the table with me and work on a craft for twenty minutes is huge.
  
• aware of when she needs a time out. While we don't use time-outs for discipline, Phoebe responds really well to taking some quiet time in her crib a couple of times a day. Sometimes she needs five minutes, sometimes she needs thirty-five. I think it is so cool that she can tell me that she needs a break, and that she can communicate when she's ready to come out and play again.
• cutting teeth. And it's a nightmare right now. Pray that we can get these three teeth in and have a little teething break before her two year molars...and Nora will start teething about that time, too.
  
• Some of Phoebe's favorite things: Lamby, her cardboard box house, telephones, Sesame Street, puppies, singing with Mommy, coloring (and she's now big enough for markers, with supervision!), stickers, looking at pictures, her sister, Daddy (she asks for him about every fifteen minutes, every day), raisins, feeding Jake, animal sounds, sip stealing, books, dips, and being outside. (And of course there's more, but...)
  

I can't really even describe how wonderful it is having Phoebe in my world. The Lord surprised me with her pregnancy, and He continues to use Phoebe to surprise me (and challenge me) every day. I tell her all the time that I love her more than she loves her Lamby... if only she knew how much more I love her!

Note: Phoebe's month-day is the 14th; I really don't feel like figuring out how to post this in an hour, though, so... the 13th it is!