21 Months

My sweetie at 21 months....

She is getting so big!  Natalie is getting taller and taller....I'm always surprised when I go to put on a pair of pants that are suddenly too short, or a shirt that won't fit over her head.  She just keeps growing and growing.  Getting better at running.  Loves to dance (aka twirl around in circles and pump her fists in the air).  She can reach all kinds of things.  She weighs about 24 pounds, wears 18-24 month clothes, size 5 diapers, and a size 5 1/2 or 6 shoe.

This month, Natalie is getting more and more verbal.  Stringing more words together into phrases, like "Please, Mommy?", "Go outside", and "Night-night Daddy".  She answers questions with a definite NO or YEAH.  She is not hesitant to let you know if she doesn't like something!  And when she is excited or happy she will squeal and laugh.  When she sees something new or pretty, she says "Whoaaaa" or "Wow!"

Natalie is getting more independent by the day.  She despises when I try to feed her anything, even just a bite.  She likes to put on her own shoes and socks, and likes to brush her own teeth and wash herself in the bathtub.  She says "ME" when she wants to do it herself.

 

Still working on teeth this month (ugh!).  She does lots of chewing and likes to put hard toys in her mouth and bite on them....like a puppy!  Otherwise has been healthy and happy.  She is sleeping great and has been taking some marathon naps lately (3 1/2 hours!), but the time change did mess with her a bit and we've had some early mornings.

 

Her favorite things to play with this month are her baby dolls, puzzles, blocks, her Little People barn, and anything that belongs to Mommy.  She carries her babies everywhere, and wants to take them to daycare, bed, the dinner table, etc.  She wraps them up and kisses them and pats them on the back.  She loves to help in the kitchen, and still loves to play with the plastic food we bought her a couple of months ago.  Her favorite thing to do with it is dump the whole tub out and then put each plastic food in a section of a muffin tin. She talks to herself the whole time and rearranges them around until she has them in just the right spot.  She also loves to play outside and jump on the bed and rough house with Daddy.  And the girl LOVES Elmo.

 



She loves to help and if I can talk her into "helping" we are good....for example, "Natalie, can you help Mommy put all the toys in the cabinet?" works much better than "Natalie, pick up your toys."
We put up the tree over the weekend, and she was thrilled about helping to put the ornaments on the tree.  Each time she'd hang one on the branch she'd grin and laugh and say "MEEEE!"  So proud of herself!

 We are having a major fight lately about keeping paci and blankie in bed only.   She is getting closer and closer to 2, and I know that she shouldn't have them anytime of day she wants.  The biggest problem is that when she has them, she doesn't want to do anything else except curl up on the couch or the floor, snuggle into the blankie and suck on that paci like there's no tomorrow.  She cries and cries when I tell her that we have to leave it in bed.  Distraction works pretty well, though, and she is easily consoled if I can get her interested in something else quickly. 

She challenges me daily with her stubbornness and willful attitude, but she is such a complete JOY for us.  I am thrilled to be entering the holiday season this year with an almost 2-year-old....and have never been more thankful for my precious little angel!