Straight from the Storks Nest: 21 months in review

Tickle, tickle

Where has the time gone my little monkey? So much happens, time flies by and before I know it, I'm months behind on posting anything. You are, for the most part, a really easy toddler who has no problem going to bed or taking a nap. My most difficult task has been getting you to eat, although it appears to be working as you are now at the grand total of 24 pounds, up to the 25th percentile from the 9th. I recently won a major battle with you in getting you to give up your bottle for the sippy cup. I tried every cup known to babykind and even chocolate and strawberry milk, all to no avail. How did I finally win? OJ. Yup, you read right. Her royal highness will now only take milk in a sippy if I mix it with orange juice. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures and at least the OJ is calcium fortified.

You are my spunky giggle monster. You're affectionate and thoughtful. You can say well over a hundred words including several body parts (nostril is a favorite to point out), animals and their sounds and counting to two. You're even saying a few sentences of 2-4 words. Even still, I can only understand about 50% of what comes out of your mouth. You're into so much stuff now I thought I would try and sum it up into a list of your current loves and some of things you don't like so much.

LOVES

-Anything and everything baby (diapering, feeding, cuddling, you name it you're a regular little mommy to dolls and real babies alike). This should really come in handy when the twins arrive.

-Dancing, particularly to the Charlie Brown theme song although any of today's top 40 hits will do

-Taking pictures like mommy and saying, "Cheese!"

-Reading all by yourself: Goodnight Gorilla, Excuse Me! and Cinderella are your current faves

-Playgrounds and going down slides on your tummy only

-Vitamins. It is seriously like Christmas morning when I pull out your Flinstone vitamin in the morning.

-Shoes. And you have discriminating taste with a particular affinity for boots. If you don't like the shoe you will not put it on.

-Food: Fruit snacks, steak, ground beef, pretzels, ketchup, chips & salsa, peanut butter, soup, apples, ice cream, lollipops and chocolate!

-TV: Baby Signing Time, Fresh Beats Band, anything with animals, Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast

-Friends: Paul, Catie, Brandon and all of our MOMs Club buddies

-Snuggling with Mommy and Daddy

-Skyping weekly with Papa and Nana

-Talking TomKat application on my iPhone (she's been unlocking my phone since she was 17 months old)

-Her nightly routine with Daddy - dinner, dancing and bath time

-"Driving" Mommy or Daddy's car

-Lipgloss and nail polish (you truly are a girly girl)

-High fives, foot fives and elbow fives

-TALKING!

DISLIKES

-Food: You're not real big on veggies, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, grilled cheese, sandwiches

-Getting in your highchair to eat (we've taken to putting you in time out for some of the crazy and convulsive tantrums you've thrown)

-Playing in the snow

-Watching Mommy getting poked and prodded at the doctors

-Teething (her back molars are coming through and she is not happy about it)

Daddy and I were both pretty stumped on the things you don't like - you really are pretty darn agreeable, sweet and thoughtful. Could we be any luckier?