Dear Elizabeth,
You are 20 and a half months old. No longer a baby, not quite a big girl, but somewhere in between. You are funny, sweet, happy, kind, independent, and talkative. You adore babies, baby dolls, animals, & stuffed animals. You love going to school- you run right in without even looking back at me, and when I pick you up in the afternoon, your teacher tells me, "She just smiles all day long. She's so happy!" You love church- we take you into the worship service for the first 15 minutes or so, and you bop around happily in my arms, sometimes lifting your arms up and moving them to the beat of the music. Then I walk you down to your Sunday School class in time for your Bible story there, and again, you run right in so happily, not even looking back at me. You love being outdoors. At least once a day you run to the back door and look at me and say, "Outside?" Most days in the afternoons I just leave the backdoor open and let you wander in and out. We've also started taking you to the neighborhood park. They have a great playground and you just love it there. Your favorite is the swings. You could seriously swing for 45 minutes if I let you. You are quite chatty, with an ever growing vocabulary. Words that you speak AND do the sign language for at the same time are: more, all done, milk, help, eat, please. Other words you say: Bible, Jesus, thank you, Phoebe, Mommy, Daddy, book, doggie, baby, bears (for Teddy Grahams), cheese, outside, ball, bubbles, shoes, bow, night night, bye bye, bath, diaper, no, yes. Just yesterday you wanted to play with my wallet, so I took out one of my business cards, handed it to you and said, "Fish Lips Photography, at your service", and you pointed at the picture on the card and said, "fish" for the first time. You say little 2 word sentences like- "Phoebe's outside" and "Mommy's coffee" (haha!). You LOVE your daddy. You are so excited when he gets home from work. You like to run away from him, giggling, hoping he will chase you. Sometimes during the day you look at me and say, "Daddy?" Occasionally you'll say, "Where is he?" or "Where is it?" if we're looking for something- and you'll put your hands up- palms facing the ceiling in a questioning way. My new favorite thing you do is when you're sitting on the couch and one of us walks in the room, you pat the seat next to you like, "Come on, Mommy, come sit by me." It's the cutest thing ever. Your favorite TV show is Jungle Junction and your favorite movies are Beauty and the Beast and Winnie the Pooh. If you see any Disney princess anything you say, "Beast!" You love going to Little Gym every week, where you are the most cautious child in the room. Cautiousness remains a characteristic you have shown since you were a couple months old. You still don't know how to climb onto the couch by yourself, nor will you really try. You JUST figured out how to climb down. When we put you on the balance beam at Little Gym, you FREAK out, clinging to my neck and sobbing. You prefer to walk around and climb on anything with a slope or low to the ground. While you love going to a playground, and love sliding- I have to do a lot of coaxing to get you to climb the steps or go down the slide. You love it once you do it and are so happy afterwards, but you are just always very cautious about things like that. You are very nurturing. Sometimes if we're sitting next to each other, you'll just reach over and pat my back, and then start rubbing my shoulder. The other day I was so tired- you were watching a movie and I was laying on the couch with my eyes closed. Suddenly I felt you right in front of my face. I didn't open my eyes, but I could feel you tuck your teddy bear under my arm and try to put your paci in my mouth. Then you started rubbing my arm ever so gently. You're such a little mama. Speaking of pacis- you're NUTS about yours. You like to have 3 at a time- one in your mouth and one for each hand, and you switch them out every so often. I'd been doing such a good job for so long only letting you have them at naptime and nighttime. But recently you've started WAILING for them during the day. "PAPPIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!" It's pathetic, really. I give in almost every time. Bad mommy. But I've got other battles to fight. Like getting you to eat something besides cheerios and "bears". You continue to be a VERY picky eater. I can't even remember the last time I managed to get a vegetable in your mouth. And the only way you'll eat fruit is in liquid form- in a smoothie. You hate having things "added" to you. Like- at Little Gym the teacher gives everyone a stamp on the hand as a reward when it's over. She put a stamp on your hand and you FREAKED out. You wouldn't calm down til I'd rubbed it off. Same thing with your toenails. I thought it'd be fun to do a mommy-daughter pedicure. You were intrigued by the nail polish, but when I put it on your toes, you FREAKED out. I only got one foot done and then just wiped it all off when you wouldn't calm down. You are one funny kid. You make me laugh so hard, you warm my heart, you drive me nuts, and I love you to pieces. I wouldn't change a thing about you.
Love,
Mama
