21 months

Friday I turned 21 months! Can you believe it? At 21 months, I've become quite a handful. The "terrible twos" are in full effect. I love to push the envelope and see what I can get away with. Mommy and Daddy are working with me on not throwing things and saying please. The big thing is definitely throwing things though. Rachel here. It's hard to get her to understand that she can throw the balls OUTSIDE but not INSIDE... toddlers are so simple minded and so complex at the same time. :)

~

Food. It's no secret Reese will eat ANYTHING. She's always been a super good eater. HOWEVER... she has whole-heartedly adopted the "toddler diet." This consists of eating all the cheese on her plate, maybe 1/4th of the meat or pasta, all of the broccoli, and maybe one cracker. After sitting in her chair for about 3 minutes (TOPS), she gladly screams "All done!" Frustrating! She will literally scream it at the top of her lungs until you take her out. We've learned to then put her plate on the coffee table in the living room... she'll wander around playing and eating at the same time that way. There are just more interesting things going on in the world than eating I guess.

~

Language. She's started stringing some words together. They haven't been in sentence formation though... just related words for an idea. For example: when she watches "Cars" (which is once a day... EVERY day), she'll say "cars, moo, cow, teeth." She does this after Mater and Lightening go cow/tractor tipping. Small phrases are becoming more of a norm too. She loves to say "I'm sorry" (which is usually after she's fallen and hurt herself... not when she actually does something wrong), "All done," and my favorite "uh oh do I do?" (what do/did I do?). Some words we've added: ride, puzzle, help, elephant, Munga (great-grandma Nita), Elmo (baby Emma), chichen (chicken), Bolt, bye bye... (insert object/name), beece (kiss), rain, toast, cute (which she says after I get her dressed in the morning!), buh ball (bouncy balls), tongue, chip, mouth, sleep, Winston, and truck.

~

She's always trying to dress herself. She can successfully put on her pants about 95% of the time... as long as they are yoga type pants... stretchy cotton. Her diaper/butt is usually hanging completely out of the back, but that makes us smile. I keep meaning to get a picture of it, but I rarely have a free hand it seems. Speaking of diapers/butts... potty training! Yeah... not doing it right now. Originally we planned on starting come August, but Reese has no interest in it at all. She tells you when she goes in her diaper but usually won't let you change her unless she is in dire straits. You literally have to hold her down and give her something to keep her occupied or she kicks you. I'd love to have her going in her potty by her birthday, but I'm definitely not interested in fighting an uphill battle with her if she's not into it.

~

Big sister. Reese was very hesitant when Emma Grace first arrived on the scene, but she seems to be warming up to her. From the get go she's loved giving her kisses and playing with her feet. She's recently started trying to get her out of her carseat or swing... SCARY! Good thing she's strapped in. If Em is crying, Reese will try to give her her paci and talks to her as if she's trying to console her. She knows exactly what belongs to "babies". Reese will pick up the little diapers or a paci and say "babies." In fact Reese tries to put the paci in her mouth ALL THE TIME. The first time she put it in her mouth, she didn't realize you had to suck on it... it IMMEDIATELY fell out of her mouth. :) Funny story... I saw Reese playing with my nipple shield (The most amazing invention known to the breastfeeding mother! Kiss the soreness, cracking, bleeding, and pain away ladies! I will NEVER not use it... I'm a wuss!)... she literally said "babies" and then tried to put it on her nipple! I'm just waiting for her to put one of her baby dolls under her shirt to feed her!