Uh, whoops. Really dropped the ball there for a while, huh? {I'm pretty sure I've said that same exact phrase not too long ago right here. But it still applies, so dewai.}
Well the little miss is 21 months old. That's like, seriously old in baby/toddlerdom, right? I don't even know where to begin. She is doing so much, saying so much, acting a fool so much, being a little love so much, learning so much, teaching me so much, moving around so much, making her opinions known so much, playing so much, coloring so much, throwing things so much, smiling so much, laughing so much, climbing so much, jumping so much, jabbering so much. She's just a real live little person. And don't you forget it!
We went through a rough sleeping stage a ways back. {That I'd like to document for my own reference. Deal with it.} Yeah. That was BRUTAL. She resisted naps and bedtime and resisted strongly and loudly. She would cry and scream and call for us. And she started waking (more than once) in the night. No fun I tell ya. Especially after over a year of pretty smooth sleep sailing. But our easy-to-sleep baby is back. THANK GOD. Like a lot of baby-related-routines, they like to switch it up every 2 weeks or so. Which sounds like a looooooooong time when you're in the midst of it, but not so much in the grand scheme. So that happened.
Next! She is picking up new words every day and I have to admit, this is my most favorite thing so far: teaching her to say funny things! {Or just things in general!} Her little voice saying "I love you" and "purple" and "apple." I just can't get enough. She's started saying some phrases {"up please" and "help me"} but mostly she will just say one word followed by "yeah" when she wants something. And you must must must validate whatever it is she is saying or the repeating begins and it will not end. Nope. No end in sight. Tree, lights, truck, tractor, off, diaper, wipes, cheese, wa-wa/water, yellow, book, mama, daddy-o, mommy, baby, bebe, willie/wee-wee, bottle {for the baby}, potty, up, car, bike, BUS, eat, oatmeal, snackies, hold me, trash, ticks/stickers, cow, owee, puppy, kitty, night-night, bubba, and UH-OH are the usual go-to's at this point but that's just off the top of my head. Lots of animals noises, random grunting noises, and indistinguishables as well.
She loves: coloring, BOOKS {even the "big kid" real paper books! She doesn't even try to destroy them!}, sorting things, school, gym daycare and having the babies drive the shopping cart (?), when DaddyO gets home/is home, her BUS!, climbing into chairs/stools, jumping in her crib, feeding baby, sitting on laps, playing with friends {Bowen/Bubba, Lola/Yaya, Griffin, and Charlie} and their toys, babies in general, pointing out cars, bikes, buses, trucks, and tractors, ripping off her bib when she's done eating {or thinks she's done}, putting stickers on things and then taking them off and throwing them in the trash {clearly not a pack rat...yet}, picking lint up off the floor and throwing it in the trash, blowing her nose and throwing the tissue in the trash, {I think you get it}, putting things in different containers, tearing the paper labels off crayons {and you guessed it...throwing it in the trash}, CHALK, closing doors, running, jumping, bows, going for walks, swinging, sliding, park-going, reading, saying MINE and pointing to herself, yelling MAMA/MOMMY, feeding herself, making crayon soup to feed baby, and a bunch of other stuff.
Eating is still a struggle over in these parts. She eats and she eats good foods, but just not the quantity I'd like her to. I mean, some days she eats like a HOSS and then other days she acts as if food is poison. The same exact food she just gobbled up the day before. It's lunacy. But apparently completely typical toddler behavior. Maybe because they ARE lunatics. Maybe? When she obliges, she eats oatmeal, banana, and cinnamon {basically every single morning}, eggs, cheese {only the special grass-fed sharp cheddar or string cheese}, avocado, cucumber, spinach cakes, hummus and carrot, rice crackers/cakes, rice, mac&cheese, edamame, pasta, yogurt, berries (raspberries are a BIG hit}, smoothies every day {where I sneak in spinach/kale/greens}, pizza, satsumas, um, yeah I think that's about it. Oh, and obvi any "snackie." Especially if it belongs to someone else. I also let her have a cookie. FAN.
Her Montessori school program just ended and I am so glad we did it. She really learned so much and had fun there. On our last day, we pulled up and she just kept repeating "happy! happy!" over and over. So yay for that. We'll definitely be continuing on the Montessori path if at all possible. She seems to thrive in the child-led environment since she's a motivated little learner and oh so curious. She got to know the routine so well: up the stairs by herself, take off shoes/boots and put them in the cubby, hang up coat on the hanger, find some work, put work back on the shelf, find more work, etc. etc. The only aspect that she never warmed up to was "circle time" at the end where the whole group came together to sing. It continued to surprise me because she LOVES the songs we sing and asks for them all day long. IDK. Rebel?
We've started initiating "quiet times" into Millie's life, when necessary. This usually occurs after hitting one of us or throwing toys. We remind her not to do the unwanted behavior and then if she continues we ask her to go to her room for a quiet time--basically just to cool off. Sometimes she puts up a good stink about it but really I think she's mostly thrilled. She likes her alone time {as do I} and she typically just goes in there and pulls a million books out. I go in when she's quiet and we have a little talk to remind her it's not okay to hit people or throw food/toys/books/etc. It seems to work so we're sticking with it. She's a fairly good listener and can follow directions {puts her boots away when she takes them off/put her shoes on when it's time to go/hangs her coat up on her little rack/gets a book when asked/puts her toys away} when she wants to. Which, you know, she's 21 months so is not all that often. But hey, we'll take it.
I still think that she's one of the smartest, sweetest, funniest, coolest, spunkiest person I've ever known. And I'm so so so glad she's mine. Er, ours.
