21 month newsletter

Dearest Trixie;
Yesterday you turned 21 months old and I swear I didn't forget it. I did have some issues remember how many months you are though. I blame being 31 weeks pregnant growing you a little brother.
In the past month you have grown. I tortured myself yesterday by looking at photos of you from a year ago. It nearly made me cry. You've grown so much. I know that it's a cliche that children grow so fast, but you do. When you were 14 months old you had chubby cheeks and were just nearly toddling and we so baby. Now your face has leaned out, you run and you're so much more of a little girl. I still call you a baby though, and you don't argue, so I won't stop. Perhaps that will help me think of you as my baby a little longer.
This month you've continued to not be much of an eater, although we learned tonight that mashed purple cauliflower and carrots coins are good. You ask for berries, apples and bananas every day, and still love to lick jam off of your toast. Your Daddy and I still give you a bottle of formula or goat's milk at night and you seem to be growing fine, so I'm not worried. Oh and whenever we go to a restaurant you always ask the waitress or waiter for rice or noodles, which is "wice, newnos". Pretty dang cute!
With your play you have shown your love for all things with wheels, cars, trucks, trains, planes, buses, etc. You'll drive them all over the furniture making a noise like "weeeoooohhhhh", everything sounds the same. On Mondays you get excited when the garbage truck is outside of the window and you ask me over and over if the noise is the truck, and when he's there we'll look out the window, then you'll play truck for a while, with lots of weeeeooooohhhhs to accompany it. You still play with your babies, mostly pottying them and pushing them around in your toy stroller. And you love to play with your mini pots and pans. So I think Mama and Daddy are going to get you a kitchen for Christmas. I think you will love it! I've really been enjoying watching your imagination grow. It was important for me to see that you did have some creativity in you and you do! Hurray!
Your language continues to grow. This month we've talked a lot about the noises that animals make and you'll meow, woof, moo, oink and roar with joy. We've learned that many animals roar, even sharks, and sometimes rouge ladybugs. Today you told Daddy that "rinosaurs" roar when you were reading us the "Moo Baa La La La" book. Everyday you have a couple new words and you are very adept at getting your point across, and as a result you use your sign language less and less. We have been working on getting you to talk with your hands more, but it's a work in progress.
You've discovered the alphabet this month and you love to hear me sing it over and over, and just randomly you'll throw out letter combos in song, "H-I-J", "C-D-E" etc. It's cute. You've also started counting more and you can count to 6 on your own, but you do like to just count to 2 a lot. 1-2-1-2 over and over. It's funny. We've started to learn to spell your name, so far you can identify T and R, which is plenty for me. It's not something I'm going to push you on, but it's a fun game you like. You've become an expert at your shape sorter which mean I don't step on triangles any more since you used to favour the circles and squares then rectangles, leaving the triangles out 'cause they were harder. When you play with a nesting toy you'll work at it, almost systematically until you solve it, which has amazed some people, and makes me so proud. Your puzzles are a breeze for you and clearly it's time that I get you some more challenging toys.
You're still wearing 18-24 month clothes, and I find that you are built like your Mama. You've got short legs! I'm sorry sweet girl. Your Daddy and I have started to give you choices in the morning as to which shirt you'll wear and you will most often grab for both shirts at once, or simply refuse all shirts, wishing instead to go without.
Potty learning is still a fun game. You'll sit on a potty for an hour, happily reading a book or playing, but you won't pee. Instead you'll demand a "di-der" and then tell me a while later that you need the potty again. We're working on you letting me know before you pee that you need the potty, not right after. Still I won't pressure you, we work on it, but I'll let you decide when you need to make the transition to panties all of the time. I suspect it's soon because you loathe diapers and it can be quite the challenge to put a diaper on you some days.
With your little friends you've gotten really close to your buddy Leland, and your other buddy Leilani. Leland is all boy and you are quite the tomboy around him, digging in the dirt, looking for bugs, playing with trucks, and just being rambunctious. With Leilani you are much more a little lady, playing more quietly, holding hands with her and being more girly. With them both you divide your time, perhaps you'll be a little politician some day, equality for all!
At night you often start sleeping in your own bed, but between 2 and 4 am you'll make your way over to the big bed and crawl in with Daddy and I and ask for a bottle. I am happy to have you there, you're so cuddly and sweet. I'm still shocked that you took to your toddler bed so easily, you've never fought it, although we've never forced it on you either. I wonder what will happen once your little brother will be in the mix. You'll still have your place in the big bed, Baby Brother will just sleep on the other side of me, so that he's safe from your crazy sleep positions.
So it's been a busy month, but it went by too fast.
You're so sweet and cute. I love you so much!
love Mama.