20 Months

Dear Bean,

You are now 20 months old. You're closer to 2 than you are to 1. You're a toddler, for sure.

You regularly sing to yourself. And it's one of my favorite sounds, second only to your infectious giggle.

You have opinions and you make commands. "Seeeeee" when you want to look at pictures on my phone or have a peek at what I'm cooking. "Doooooo" when you want to do something by yourself, like brush your teeth, wash your hands, put on your shoes, feed yourself, have a sip on my water. "Myyyyyyyy" for anything you think is yours. Even when it's clearly mine, like my belly button. "Too, too, toooooooooo" when you want to do something also, like go for a walk, brush your hair, or eat a cookie.

You'll only kiss daddy on the forehead, because of his beard. If he leans in for a kiss, you point to his forehead for him to bend down further. Hopefully this gesture will make the beard be a November showing only.

You are obsessed with the potty. You make us laugh by pretending it's a "hat" or a "helmet." So I guess it's a good thing you haven't actually used the potty yet. But you mention poop or pee no fewer than a dozen times each day, we think you might be "potty training ready."

You want to eat anything your daddy or I eat. Even if it's the same thing that's on your plate. We have learned quickly to share all of our food with you. Your daddy is better at it than me. I still like to eat my Cheerios by myself.

You recently started to ask to hold "haths" - when riding in the car, when sitting on the potty. It's usually an awkward scenario to be holding hands, but it's such a cute request I couldn't possible decline.

You give the best hugs when we ask you to put your hands around our neck. You recently learned the word "kwees" for squeeze when we hug.

When you aren't getting enough attention, you turn aggressive and start hitting or poking, or you do something you know you're not supposed to, like put the marker in your mouth or eat beans from your sensory bin.

You are learning to take big breaths. We are learning to cue you to do this to ward of a meltdown or redirect (thanks, Dee).

When you're with mama and daddy, you laugh easily and often. You seem to have a great sense of humor, and like to ham it up for us.

You enjoy school. You recently moved upstairs with the bigger kids, maybe because you were a little too "friendly" with the babies. Apparently you weren't using your gentle hands.

Daddy gives you your bath every night and mama puts you down. One of my favorite parts of the day is nursing and cuddling you before bed. You sleep on your own until about 5:30 in the morning, and then you come to bed with me.

You love applesauce and cottage cheese. You feed yourself with utensils easily now, as long as there is enough food in the bowl and it's somewhat viscous. You aren't so good at feeding yourself soup yet. You've been eating a lot of satsumas lately. You still don't like greens, and always favor either dairy or carbs. You now drink small cups of organic whole milk once or twice a day. I don't usually offer it, but you make the request.

You are getting a bit more independent with your play. Your favorite toy, by far and away, is your baby doll. You call her simply "beebee." You like to give her the bottle, pretend to fill it at the sink with more milk or water, shush her, smother her in a blanket, and push her around in the wagon. We keep asking you what her name is, and you usually say "mama" or "daddy," so we joke that your doll's name is "baby mama."

You have several new words each day. You can count to 3 if I say "count" or if we start you off with actual objects to count. You still speak primarily with single words, but you regularly string them together with pauses in between. For example, this morning when you were sitting on the edge of the bed, daddy put his arm around you, you said, "fall ... hurt ... owie ... cry." You do use some word combinations, like the other day when I picked you up from daycare and you were crying because Dani was going to vacuum, you said "go way" and pointed at the vacuum.

You refuse to leave your shoes on, however, I have learned that you are susceptible to bribery. I said the other day, if you leave your shoes on I will get you a treat at the store. She did so, and earned herself an applesauce pouch. How exciting!

You run, you skip, you jump, you spin. You still love to dance with me in my arms, to be spun around fast, and to go upside down. You and daddy have some sort of new "up" game where you stand balancing on his arms. It makes me nervous.

We haven't been to the park as much lately because it gets dark so early, but you love the teeter-totter, the horse, and the swings the most. The other day at the park, there was a boy your same age. After you stared at each other for a prolonged period of time, he said "doggie" and you responded "woof." I wasn't there, but daddy told me the story and it's one I think is too cute not to retell.

You love to pretend to talk on the phone. The other day I noticed you using a toy as a phone, and brushing your hair. Your daycare teachers told me that you like to play at the kitchen and pretend to talk on the phone. I swear you've never seen this, so I have no idea where you learned this.

You sleep with a pillow now, and it makes me feel like you're practically a grown-up.

You love looking at pictures of people on my iPhone, iPad or on the Apple TV. You prefer pictures of people you know and love, but enjoy looking at Instagrammed pics of other people's kids, too. TV still can't hold your attention for more than about 5 minutes, but sometimes it's nice to cuddle in bed together on my days off and watch jut 5 minutes of Sesame Street together. You always want to talk about what's going one, saying "bear" and "mama" or "milk" when you see things you have words for.

You love love love having both your mama and your daddy's attention. You are shy and slow to warm with other's, even people you know well like your grandparents or uncles, but you still like having their full attention. Even though you turn into a mute and refuse to show off your developing skills, the second someone leaves or we hang up on FaceTime, you talk about them incessantly. You aren't quick to run into daycare and play, but as soon as Jessica or Dani request a hug, you run into their arms.

You're either going to be a hypochondriac or a doctor. You talk frequently about "cut," "owie," and "hut" (hurt). If you have so much as a scratch, you talk about it and request kisses incessantly. Daddy thinks it's the cutest thing in the world, the way you furrow your brow and say "hut," but I worry about reinforcing some bizarre means for attention. I'm prone to tell you, "Yup, you have a scratch, but you're fine now."

You are like a sponge. A learning machine. Sometimes I say things just once and you seem to understand and retain it for next time. Like about not being able to help you when you drop something in your carseat, now that you like to bring books or toys with you. The other week, you dropped your book and asked for "hup" (help). I said, "Sorry, Bean, I can't help you right now because I'm driving." Later, she dropped her water bottle, asked for help, then immediately said, "no ... die" (drive).

You are the coolest little Bean and I can't begin to sum you up in a blog post.