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{This is a 1,400 word, un-proofread, random rambling post! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!}

I’m not quite sure how Adele is already TWENTY months old. I seriously feel like she should still be twenty hours old. Time becomes a cruel trick for parents, slow down!

This month has been pretty incredible. Lots of big milestones: some new teeth, another ear infection, ditching the pacifier and becoming braver, smarter and stronger. She’s inching further and further away from babyhood.

She’s developing quirks and personality traits that we hadn’t seen before this month. For example, we know she likes things organized. It’s almost like she enjoys putting toys back more than taking them out. She does’t like ‘messes’. When she sees things out of place or thrown on the floor she says “It’s a mess” and proceeds to clean it up. She also likes to place shoes, cups and toys in straight lines.

Adele has become really into stuffed animals and ‘blankies’ now too. She sleeps with a zoo in her crib now. She is also getting into dolls too, she carries them around, pretends to feed them and puts them to bed. It’s adorable.

She also gives hugs and kisses freely. She’s been a generous cuddler lately too.  She nuzzles into your neck and holds on tight. I waited 20 months for this!! And it’s the best feeling!

SLEEP
We had a slight two-week or so regression in sleep when we got rid of the pacifier, but she’s since bounced right back to sleeping 12-13 hours a night straight. Goes to bed at 7:30p and wakes up between 7:30a and 8a.

But she’s only napping for roughly 1 hour a day (sometimes she doesn’t nap at all!) We know we are really really really lucky, no complaints here!

FOOD
Food is a battle. She literally goes days without eating more than a handful of cheerios sometimes. Why does she hate food?! We’re back to throwing lots of it on the floor. We don’t force it (when she’s hungry, she’ll eat, right?) Recently, I read in my pediatrician book that at this age, they’re burning their baby fat and getting ready to lean out and shoot up in height, so they use their fat as fuel instead of calories from food…. makes sense I guess?

She still hates to chew, anything that requires chewing gets spit out! It’s frustrating, but we keep trying and offering and if something gets swallowed, i consider it a victory. We’ve been doing a lot of soups, pouches and using dippers such as hummus, yogurt, guacamole or sour cream. Tell me this phase will pass?!

For milk, she’s averaging 10oz/day of organic whole milk. Less than what’s recommended, but I can’t force her to drink it, right?

I’m finding that this age is more about questions than answers. Sometimes I feel like I have NO idea what I am doing. Then I talk to my friends and realize we’re all in the same boat. We’re all doing the best we can trying to raise these little people (and live to talk about it!)

Which leads me to…

PERSONALITY
She’s a very busy girl. She’s got things to do, places to go and demands to make. I’m actually quite excited about this (and probably equally terrified). It’s pretty amazing to see her come out of her ‘baby shell’ and watch her start to see the world as something she can conquer. We haven’t experienced a tantrum yet (though she’s had her fair share of whining or pouting when she doesn’t get her way), but we haven’t seen anything that has lasted more than 30 seconds yet. I’m secretly hoping we miraculously got a kid who has a mild personality. She’s had a pretty ‘go with the flow’ attitude so far. Though, I’m sure she’ll have her moments… i just hope i’m not in the canned goods aisle at the grocery store when it happens!

Irving and I have been reading  “Happiest Toddler on the Block”. We also watched the DVD last week too. I highly recommend it. It’s helped us get some insight into the toddler brain and understand a little bit about what’s going on in their head. The gist of it is that toddlers are like cavemen. Their rational side just turns completely off when they’re upset. They are physically incapable of thinking straight when they get emotional. So you have to talk to them in a simple, easy to understand way. We’ve been using this ‘toddler-ese’ every day, and we’re pretty amazed that we able to help bring her back to center when she needs it.

The book also explains that there are three types of toddlers: Spirited, Easy Going and Shy. There’s a chart of how you can usually tell which one your child is. Adele is textbook ‘easy going’. She’s not a risk taker, but she’s also independent and confident. She looks before she leaps.

That being said, she is becoming braver on the playground, jumping, climbing, sliding and crawling through tunnels without looking back for my approval. So proud of her.

I am so curious to see what kind of child, teenager and adult she will become!

Haha, she also can’t leave the house without at least five things in her hands now. Sure, you can bring your medical kit in the car, why not!

She likes to walk on her own now instead of being pushed or carried. “Walk! Walk!”

HAIR!
Just had to mention that it’s FINALLY growing! We’re actually going to get it trimmed this week… but look! Hair!

TOYS
Her favorite toys continue to be books. I love when she turns pages and literally gasps with surprise and joy at the pictures. She was able to name things you point to in the pictures, but now, she can even find things on demand! Where’s the butterfly? And she’ll point to it. It’s brought reading to a whole new level, she LOVES it!

She also loves dolls, stuffed animals and her play kitchen. Also her train set. And Puzzles! Oh, the puzzles! She can do her ‘Melissa & Doug’ puzzles in less than a minute. It’s pretty amazing actually. I may be biased, but I am impressed.

I keep trying crayons and play-doh, but she’s still a tad young for those still. (One quick, funny story about that actually… i made a pretty awesome kitty out of play-doh last week –complete with ears and a tail– and I said “look at the nice kitty!” Then she ripped him in half and squished it’s head and said “Night Night, Kitty”. HAHAHAHA Yea. night night, rest in peace, kitty! She’s funny.)

She’s also getting a little bit hooked on technology. She wants to play videos on our phones, watch Elmo on tv, touch the fish on the Kindle and play games on her tablet (she got her own tablet for Christmas). She knows which games/songs are on which device! We’re aware at the potential for disaster with this, so now we try to limit it. We hid her tablet so she wouldn’t be ‘tempted’ to play. We also try not to use our own phones when she is around. I’ve also curbed my email checking at the dinner table and in bed. It’s crazy how addicted they become at such a young age!

LANGUAGE
So. Many. Words!
-Most farm animals and the sounds they make
-Most of the ABC alphabet song.
-She can count to three.
-Food words: apple, juice, milk, water, stick (breadsticks), fish, cheese, cookie (her favorite), snack.
-Toy words: blankie, book, puzzle, ball, duckie, chair
-Action words: Walk, Outside (Ow-sigh), up, down, hop
-Clothes: shoes (shoosh), pants, shirt, jacket (yak-it), hat, socks
-She apologizes! I hope she doesn’t have a guilty conscience when she grows up! But she says “sorry” when she throws something on the floor or drops something now. “Saw-ree mama”. It’s the cutest thing ever.
-Instead of answering “Yes” or “Yeah”, she now says “Oh-kaaay”. Adele, do you want to go outside? “Oh-kaay!”

And the best part, she’s stringing them together now. “Adele Shoes”, “Mommy, go outside”, “No jacket”, etc.

THE STATS
Weight: 23ish pounds
Height: Unknown
Teeth: Unknown! But I know she got a few more this month.
Diapers: Size 3
Shoes: Size 4.5 (but she’s wearing size 5 shoes with thick socks at the moment)
Clothes: 18 Months

We love her so much, this was a fun one.

On Saturday, determined to squeeze the juice out of my weekend time with Adele, I decided to try baking with her. She’s baked once before with Grammie, but I hadn’t tried it yet. I honestly didn’t think she’d be interested or have the attention span longer than a few minutes… but I was wrong!

She loved it! She paid attention to what I was doing, what was next, and was eager to help! It was so fun!

I prepared everything super fast and ran through the recipe quick to keep her attention (though I realized after I probably could have taken my time a bit more). In my rush, I kind of messed up the recipe, but in the end, it all worked out! They were DELICIOUS!

Adele’s favorite part was placing a few additional M&Ms on the cookies before they went into the oven. She had great technique (one in the cookie, two in her mouth!) I think that was her first taste of M&Ms. Her whole face lit up when she realized how yummy they were!

My little chef!

Sneaking some of the good stuff…

I think her teachers loved the Valentine’s Day treats! They were made with love! (Even if I did accidentally chop up some of the M&Ms in the mixer — oops!)

The aftermath!

Any toddler-friendly recipes you want to share?