Twenty Months

CORRECTION -- this post was originally titled "Twenty-one Months" until Allison reminded me that our girls are only TWENTY months old - ha! I don't know how my child is!!!

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Ellie turned twenty months old on Sunday. I realized I hadn't even thought of it when I went to bed that night. I was so consumed with the news of the passing of sweet Matthew.

But, I do want to post an update on how "The Princess" is doing and what's new in her development.

She LOVES to dance and will dance pretty much anywhere and anytime. Her favorite time to dance is early in the morning when Dora the Explorer's theme song comes on. While our nieces were here, Danielle made a video of her dancing on Josh's Dance, Dance Revolution mat. It is hilarious. I wish I could get it to post here. She twirls, jumps up and down, claps, spins on the floor -- she covers it all.

She is beginning to say more words. I'll try to list the ones she is saying now: mama/mommy, daddy, kitty, doggy, Joshua (or some weird version of it), shoos (aka shoes), socks, go, gone, car, bye, hey, hi, stop, no, hot, open (pronounced "opi"--so cute!!) amd uh-oh. We hear lots of single words at single times and we actually hear conversation appropriate phrases but they aren't being repeated so we don't really "count" those. She certainly recognizes lots of words because she follows pretty much every direction she is given. Today she surprised me when I called her a little monkey and she did the sign for monkey. Considering her prematurity and difficult start, I think to only lag in this one area is tremendous. I think she certainly will get there with her speech, just maybe a little more slowly than her peers. Considering how much she jabbers, maybe her not talking a lot is not such a bad thing right now!! *smile*

She has become very loving and will give kisses and hugs and wants to snuggle on the couch and in the bed. She loves playing with Josh lately and follows him everywhere. They laugh and laugh and it's such a beautiful sound.

She has learned to go both UP and DOWN the stairs which makes her much more able to follow Josh when he tries to go hide in his room. *smile*

She drinks independently from a regular cup, usually without spilling. This is in juxtaposition to the fact that she's still taking a bottle at bedtime -- probably because her parents just don't want the drama of taking it away just yet.

She has all her teeth except some molars in the back. She eats pretty much anything, but her favorite is still broccoli -- go figure. She has also developed a bad habit of feeding the dog a large majority of her food. She drops food from the high chair, giggling the whole time -- even if you tell her not to do it.

She remains a girl with a temper and can drop into a hissy in a moment's notice. We are working hard on ignoring it and/or telling her to stop it.

She loved unwrapping the ornaments for the tree and handing them to me. She's been such a good girl about not touching them or trying to rip them off the tree.

She's begun to become very interested in playing with Addie when she's there and Dee'Anna called the other day to let me hear them laughing and giggling with each other. Sweet, huh? She loves to rock her babies in their cradle and kiss them.

She loves to help -- wash dishes, dust, pick up things, take things to others, throw trash in the trashcan -- whatever you ask her to do, she likes to help. I'm thinking she'll need a pint-sized cleaning set for Christmas.

She and the dog have come to an understanding of sorts. He doesn't jump out of his skin and run off everytime she comes near now and she tries not to step on him. In fact, if I had to guess, I'd say her food sharing has caused them to become friends. She also loves the kitties as much as ever. They continue to be ever-tolerant of her, probably because she loves to pet them and remains oh-so-gentle when she does.

I hope to do some pictures of her soon so -- stay tuned!!