23 months

Dear R,

You just turned 23 months. What a little lady you're becoming. Almost daily we have conversations that run something like this: "No, mommy, sit down, sit down mommy, sit down right here, right here, mommy." Then you insist that I sit down while you go off and do something--quite often something you know I don't want you to do.

The upside is that when I "catch" you, we share a gigglefest while I distract you from whatever it is you've got your heart set on doing. You love to laugh and giggle and Daddy and I love to make you laugh, so it works out great for everyone.

You're using a lot more sentences, and you're much clearer on what you want. It takes more work than it used to to distract you from what you want, and you make a lot more specific requests.

Among your favorite requests: Blueberries! or Strawberries! or Blackberries!

or Yogurt! or, if J or I are eating, "have some?" accompanied by vigorous head nodding.

We have to be careful about how much food you have on your plate because--especially if it is something you really like--you often shove so much food in your mouth you have to spit it back out because your mouth is so full you can't even chew. It's not uncommon for me to tell you, "chew, chew, chew" to encourage you to grind up your food more carefully. Sometimes we even do "crunch, crunch, crunch," from a John Leguizamo as "Captain Vegetable" Sesame Street video we watched with you once on YouTube.

Love,
Mama