Thursday, August 29, 2013

20 months.

i can't believe avery's 20 months!  this seems so close to 2 that it's scary.  i'm not ready for that one yet.  at 20 months she's running, talking up a storm, independent, and so.much.fun.  

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lets talk about walking first because we waited so long for this milestone and i can't explain how amazing it was to finally see her walking around everywhere and then grow in confidence with it.  she's now running everywhere, jumping off curbs, and asks to walk places if we happen to be carrying her.  she still falls a lot, but it doesn't seem to phase her and she'll jump back up and be on her way again.  my mom bought her some shoes from stride rite when we were out in maryland and they were the first pair of shoes that she would actually walk in.  she outgrew them a week or so ago and i ended up ordering the next size up online since there are no stride rite stores out here.  she has a pair of toms that fit her, too but she's not too into wearing those shoes and i think they're harder for her to walk in.  i'm a little annoyed that a pair of shoes that may fit for a few months cost more than shoes that i buy for myself, but i'm getting over it.  charlie and i both still love to just watch her walk around and one of her favorite things to do if we're in a new place is just walk and explore.  

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she's still taking her gymnastics class on saturdays and just moved up from a bird to a beast.  charlie is usually the one who takes her to the class and i'll take her to any makeup classes that she has.  it's taken her a while, but she's finally gotten really into it and will now run up and high five the teacher and actually participate in the activities.  she seems to really like it and when we talk about going to gymnastics she'll say "ball, bubbles, bar, music", which are all of her favorite parts.  we signed her up for another season and i think it's been really great for her to have something to do with charlie.  i also think it will be a good activity for her to keep up after her brother or sister is born.

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she's still talking up a storm and i happen to think she's pretty funny most of the time.  charlie agrees with me, but we're probably a bit biased.  i have no idea how many words she knows.  they always ask me at her wellness appointments but who really has time to keep track of these things?  she's putting 3 and 4 words together but definitely not speaking in full sentences or anything.  she also consistantly messes up her pronouns, which i find pretty cute and is probably due to the fact that she's just used to repeating everything that we say.  for example, when she wants me to pick her up she'll say "hold you" instead of hold me because i always ask her "do you want me to hold you?".  she's just started to figure out that mommy and daddy actually have names and is really getting a kick out of calling charlie by his name.  she knows that my name is danielle, but is still sticking to mommy for me.  i'm really enjoying her ability to communicate with us.  she still gets frustrated at times, but is pretty good about calming down and letting us know why she's upset.  

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as far as toddler antics go i think there are a few stages that she's in that are pretty typical of toddlers her age.  she's getting pickier and pickier about food.  she loves fruits but eats a ton of the yogurt pouches as snacks.  she's really into sweets and if there are cookies in the house she will demand them.  we recently packed away her high chair because she was consistently climbing out of it and refusing to sit in it.  i tried taking off the tray and just pulling it up to the table, but that didn't last too long.  so now she's just standing on a chair at the table.  i don't love that she can get down at any time, but i have bigger battles to fight.     

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she's still sleeping like a champ at night and has started waking up a little bit later, something that has made a huge difference to me.  she used to be up at 6 am on the dot but has recently pushed that back to about 7.  since i'm not a morning person, it's made a huge difference in our mornings.  we're heading out of town soon so we'll see how much that messes with her sleep.  she always seems to be a mess when we travel but i'm counting on naps during vacation to help us get through the week and i know she'll eventually fall back into her normal sleep patterns.  i took the side off of her crib one day to see if she would nap in her crib but i chickened out and put it back on before she went to bed that night.  i just can't bring myself to mess with her nighttime sleep for no reason at all.  if she's still in her crib when her sibling comes along then we'll just buy a second crib at that point.  i'm not going to force her into a bed before she's climbing out of the crib or ready for the transition.

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she's gotten more into crafts like coloring and painting lately.  we color all of the time and she actually holds pens and crayons the right way, which is shocking to me.  i've been on the lookout for more activities like that we can do in the winter since she's really into it.  she's also a great helper and will help feed the animals in the morning, getting their bowls, pouring food, and giving dunkin his treat.  she's also pretty good at watching me cook if i pull up a chair to the counter for her to stand on.  sometimes she's content to run around like a wild animal while i cook but when she wants me to hold her, letting her watch usually makes her happy enough.  she'll also help dust and clean the appliances and doors.  

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she's still really affectionate.  giving lots of hugs and kisses and sometimes she'll come and sit in my lap and give me a hug for no reason at all.  it's the best.  she's still pretty sweet with the animals although she's been throwing things at the dogs lately.  she thinks it's funny when they run away and i don't think she realizes that she's actually hurting them or that they're actually scared of her.  actually, dunkin could care less but henry is scared.  i feel bad for him and he's definitely been spending his time as far away from her as possible.

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she loves thunderstorms, rain, and rainbows and sort of gets that they're all connected.  she gets really excited if it starts raining and will demand thunder and we've had a few really amazing rainbows in back of our house that she's been really impressed with.  she loves being outside in the rain and stomping in puddles.  she still loves reading and demands that we start our mornings with coffee and books after breakfast, which is always okay in my book.    

1 comment:

Abbie Greer said...

I love that our kiddos are around the same age :-). So many times your blog is exactly what I'm thinking!