20 Months

Our sweet little Lilly is 20 months old today! I can't believe she's getting so close to being 2. 
Wow, did I say TWO?!  Lilly has been getting more and more opinionated and stubborn lately. I keep wondering if the "terrible twos" are about to strike. Sometimes she has a "moment," but for the most part she's still reasonable, or at least distractible.
Anyhow, we spent this morning playing with a bunch of her little friends that we invited over for a playdate. I love that she's learning how to interact with other children and that she has such good friends. When the last couple girls were leaving, they all exchanged hugs! And I think we moms all said a simultaneous, "awwwwwww."



More About Lilly:

• She has a rapidly growing vocabulary and is starting to talk all the time! My favorite thing is hearing her say, "please" when she wants something, it always sounds so silly and exaggerated. "Pease Come!!!" "Pease More!" "Pease NO!"
• Loves to eat! She can down a waffle, fruit and a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. It's crazy. She's also getting more willing to try new foods, which is nice. Some of her favorite standbys are rice, ground turkey, carrots, broccoli, frozen mango, and lentil/vegetable soup. But her very favorite thing in the world is marshmallows. "Marsh! Marsh!" 
• Loves water play. Whether it's in the sink or the pool, Lilly loves to splash around. She likes jumping into the pool and she'll close her eyes and mouth and let me dunk her. She used to get really upset about water in her eyes, but she's finally learned how to wipe the water away with her hands.
• She's a lego-maniac and will sit and build towers forever.
• Likes to pretend! I bought her a toy airplane ("A-peen!") at the airport and she likes to pretend to fly it around and say "whoosh!" She also likes to pretend her stuffed kangaroo is a baby; she wipes it and says "yuck!"(I must say that when I change her without realizing it!) and puts diapers on it, and we even read it a story yesterday while she held it and pointed out all the pictures.
• Insists on playing Ring Around the Rosie over and over and over. "Rose!" "Fall down!" "Up, mama, up!" It's really better not to get her started.
• Still won't say "Lilly." Ever. I'm pretty sure she thinks her name is "you." If you point at a picture of Lilly and ask who it is, she will always say "you." I guess that is what I've been telling her. Pronouns are confusing.
• Tells me how she feels! I love this because it's helpful and adorable. "I scared." "I shy!" "Happy!" "I sad." She also tells me how I feel, "mama happy!"
• Says "nah" instead of "yeah." When I tell her to say "yes," she says "nes."
• Starting to transition toward using a potty. I won't bore you with the gross details. Let's just say she's interested and has had some success, but some days she just refuses or doesn't care. We're not pushing the issue.
• Knows about 1/3 of her letters, some counting and most colors. 
• Is suddenly and inexplicably obsessed with Elmo.
• LOVES opening and closing doors. She still can't open door handles so those she just closes. Closet doors and sliding doors are her favorites. The other day we almost didn't leave the library because she insisted on closing the automatic doors. She stood there and tried to force them together, and then I would think she was going to get her finger trapped so I would jump forward to help, and they would open back up again. After several attempts they shut completely and no one walked by, so we got to go home. We were just lucky that she's too short to trigger the sensor!

Some Pictures of Lilly blowing bubbles and waiting for Dada to come home a few days ago:

 

 
One of her many silly faces:

 
And I couldn't resist posting this one, too. . .
I was feeling extra nice, so I let her play in the sink while I cooked dinner one night. She dumped water all over herself and got soaking wet, but she loved every minute of it!