twenty-one months

Last week was L's monthday (time is flying by. . . ).

At 21 months old, L is enthusiastic about life. When she wakes up in the morning she's usually happy, saying, "Mama! Mama!" I love it every time she wants me to see her enjoying what she's doing; she either makes eye contact with me and smiles, or does a little laugh until I look. Sometimes she sounds very excited, like when she points to something in a book -- or on anything that has words -- and names it (or the sound that it makes). In the past month she started to point to a letter O and say "O!" I thought nobody had taught her to do this, that maybe she picked it up from a video or something, but just now I asked Shboogoo about it. I asked, "Did you teach her that?" and she said she did. Haha. I have taught L two others. If we're sitting with a book and I ask her to find the letter S or the letter T she looks and most of the time gets it right. She points to the letter and says it (but with S pronounced "eh").

Some of her favorite activities: 

• Playing and laughing with Daddy. He thinks of fun things they can do.
• Books -- usually I'm the one to read to her; she also loves it when her sister "reads" her a book by telling her the basic story.
• The song Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree (that's how I get her to hold still during a diaper change).
• Looking at pictures of herself or her family.
• Saying "no" -- one of her newest words -- while shaking her head.
• Saying "yeah!"
• Watching movies. Her favorites are probably Blue's Big Musical Movie and Signing Time but she'll watch, at least for a while, whatever we put on. She likes showing me cartoony movie cases, too. She was fine with sitting on a lap during Tangled in the theater.
• Signing and saying "bear."
• Holding a baby, putting it on the floor and spreading out a blanket or baby washcloth on it (like her sister does). 
• Scribbling.
• Saying "two" and "wee" -- mostly when I say "one" and she knows I'm about to swing her in circles.
• Watching others set up the Marble Works, and then putting a marble in it.

If L is able to do something without help, she likes to. She's gotten a lot better at feeding herself using a spoon or fork instead of her hands. Besides getting really upset (we call her "Freak Out") when her sister takes something out of her hands, L doesn't like it when her sister makes her go somewhere or holds onto her for too long. As you'll see in a video in a future post, L can be loud regardless of her mood. I don't remember Shboogoo being as noisy or restless during church as L is.

L is observant and helpful. She says "uh oh!" when she spills on her shirt or when anybody accidentally drops something. She has repeated "uh oh!" until someone understands and takes care of the problem. She watches me load the dishwasher. Her job is to close it after I put the detergent in, and she sometimes helps take the things out of the bottom of the dishwasher. She follows instructions about putting things like measuring cups in the correct drawer, and throwing away trash.

You can see the post about Shboogoo at this age here.

twenty months

L turned 20 months old in February. She babbles a lot, and hardly ever holds still. By this monthday she learned to say her nickname, but starting with a W sound instead of an L; it's so cute. When she sees the coats in the coat closet she points to one and says who it belongs to. (She sees one of mine and says "Mama!" and when she sees hers she says her name excitedly.)

pudding, first haircut and other February fun

We have a lot of great photos from last month, so I chose a lot for this post -- once I found the camera cord, which someone had put in our closet. In one photo there is a pea on someone's nose. Can you find it? :-)

p.s. I exist, I'm just not in very many of our photos. I have two new goals: more photos of me and my husband, and at least one photo a month of me with our children.

 

Shboogoo has about 6-8 letters she prefers to write. She puts some together to form "words." Example: AHT. "What does that spell, mom?" I want to have her practice writing the others more, even though she won't start kindergarten until fall of 2012.

Gotta get that last little bit of chocolate pudding (we don't buy it very often, so it's a treat) (I don't remember why the seat was on the floor instead of on a chair).

 Grandma gave L her first haircut; L is about six months younger than Shboogoo was when she had her first one. First Grandma brought out my husband's childhood bandana/washcloth bib, and new ones she made as Valentine's Day gifts for the girls. These large bibs have been very useful! Oh, that reminds me: D and I had a Valentine's Day date to the restaurant that we've gone to on Valentine's Day every year starting in 2008 (except 2010 because he was deployed).

 

They love watching video clips of Sesame Street, Donald Duck, etc. on youtube (I stay nearby to make sure they don't click on anything that could be inappropriate).

At Shboogoo's friend's house the friend pulled her and K. around.

 We went to a Tangled party (birthday girl in stripes, mine in the yellow shirt); I loved seeing the seven kids in a row. The other parents were really cool and so were the activities, like "pin the hair on Rapunzel."

 We went for a walk, just the little one and me. She was pointing at the moon and saying, "moon!"

 Then she decided to sit with her baby for a minute.

 This is the best of the photos Shboogoo asked me to take of her. She picked the spot and the pose.

I love this outfit: pale green coordinating with the floral pants, and pink booties.

and windowsills

There are a few blog posts I've already started in my head -- some with photos, some without -- but blogging hasn't been a priority lately.  This morning I had extra time (complete quiet! amazing!) for scripture study, pondering, and personal writing.  I needed it; I needed to be more on track spiritually.  I want to write here, too.  This topic has been on my mind for a few days.

When my "big girl" prays, I learn.  First of all, she almost always wants to be the one to pray.  She's not necessarily polite -- she says "I'm saying it!" -- but it's important that she likes to talk to her "Heavenly Father up in heaven."  At night she sometimes says that she wants Daddy to be able to hear her pray.  She does let us take turns, though.

Second, she shows as she prays that she loves and cares about her family.  She says that we're thankful for L and thankful that we get to take care of L.  She prays for Daddy when he is at work.  She prays that we will all sleep well and not have bad dreams.  

Third, she puts thought into what she says in a prayer.  She repeats some phrases that she's used before, but she really is thinking.  That's a good example and reminder to me to think about what I should really pray for.  Also, her long prayers have taught me that I need to be more patient and keep my mind focused on the prayer whenever anyone prays!

Finally, my big girl teaches me to be grateful for little things.  A couple of times I've glanced at her when she's saying a prayer at mealtime (tangent: she has often said, "Bless this . . . is it breakfast or lunch?") and she appears to be looking around the room for ideas of what to thank Heavenly Father for.  I love that she says things like this: "We're thankful for pajamas, and tables, and plates, and bowls, and cups, and spoons, and forks, and knives, and bananas, and books, and songs, and movies, and snow, and flowers, and grass, and trees, and birds, and elephants, and lights, and walls, and ceilings, and windows, and windowsills, and we're thankful that Jesus died for us and was resurrected."  (Those commas are starting to look weird, but I'll leave it as is.)  Seriously, what would life be like without some of those things?  Then she asks us what parts of her prayer we liked the most.  I love her.

Comments on your child(ren)'s prayers are welcome!