Cara is 22 months old!

Whew! We're getting so close to 2! To be honest, these monthly posts are wearing me down a little bit. It is fun to chronicle her growth and development, but it always takes so long to be so thorough. Enjoy all the time and love put into this month!

Stats:

• 31.7 lbs
• 35-ish inches tall
• 16 teeth, and I think the dreaded 2-year molars are starting to make their way in. Ugh.

Milestones:

• says up to 5 words at a time on her own or in repetition ("No Harleigh! Not my book!", "That's my shoe.", "Boy's green hat" etc.)
• uses adjectives and enunciation really well
• really looks at your mouth and practices how to say things when she learns a new word
• knows people in pictures, but also the location and sometimes the memory of what we did in the picture. She will narrate everything she sees.
• can sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" all the way through, by herself. She skips some words and says them in kid voice, but it's the most adorable thing you've ever heard.
• picks out several letters when she sees them on a package or a sign--usually A, W, R, C
• getting really close to potty training--she can't stand to be wet or dirty for too long and demands a diaper change--and tells us who she wants to do it! "Mama change you. Mimi change you."
• got her first boo-boo from falling down at school. Skinned knees=toddler, and it let her have her first band-aid. She was unsure at first, but loved the Disney Princesses!
• uses a fork and spoon really well--fork better than the spoon, but she's good at stabbing things with her fork
• can take her shoes off and put some of them back on

Personality:

• structured--she wants things JUST SO, from the direction of her dinner plate to the routine for our day. She gets kind of out of sorts if we break routine or do something out of the ordinary.
• nurturing--she loves to give hugs and kisses and pat your back. We're teaching her to "bear hug" by putting both arms around our necks.
• playful--loves to laugh and be tickled and have fun and do her "silent laugh" where she laughs without making noise until she gets the hiccups
• stubborn--like any true toddler, she wants to do things her way, when she wants it, and doesn't want help. She often doesn't have the language to fully communicate this, and that leads to frustration.

Sleep:

• usually 7:30-7, but sometimes she's been known to sleep until 8:30-9 a.m.!!! Woo hoo!
• naps 4 hours after she wakes up, anywhere from 1.5-3 hours, depending on how much she's slept the night before
• sleeps with Lovie, Bear, and Harley Bear--her "night night friends"
• We've had a sleep regression of sorts recently, where she will cry and cry and cry "Mama, hold you!" from her crib, beg to be held as I put her down, and it just breaks your heart. I've spent several recent nights in tears and her in tears too, and it's so hard to be consistent and not just go in to snuggle her. I know I need to let her learn to get over this phase, but sleep issues are no fun!

Clothes:

• 2T clothes
• size 5 diaper--bought the last set this month (hopefully!)
• size 6 shoe--recently all her size 5-5.5 stopped fitting well, so we're sizing up
• LOVES wearing other people's shoes like our flip flops and big shoes. If ours are off, they're on her feet.
• She also loves pants with pockets and putting her hands in them all the time!

Food:

• has an OBSESSION with ketchup. Asks for it at every meal and dips every. single. thing. she eats in it. Sometimes it's the only way to get her to eat part of her meal.
• loves her big girl plates and utensils, but often asks to use ours instead because they're easier to stab things with, etc.
• staples and favorites include chicken, blueberries, strawberries, Gardenburgers, rice (Asks for Uncle Ben by name-ha!), CHEESE--shredded, string, melted, anything--PBJ, mini marshmallows, Goldfish, graham crackers, fish sticks and apples.
• She's a little more picky, but we haven't had quite as many meal problems as in previous months.

Likes:

• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sofia the First and Elmo
• "Mama hold you!"
• Po and Harleigh
• wearing shoes
• dancing and singing toddler songs (Wheels on the Bus, Teapot, Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy)
• playing with the water table and being outside (miserable in July!)
• picking out Disney princesses--we have yet to watch a Disney movie, but she loves to name them all!
• looking at pictures
• asserting her will, whether she knows what that is or not!
• reading books (ANYTHING by Leslie Patricelli or books with noise)
• running, walking while holding hands, going places with us

Dislikes:

• when we say no or she can't do something she wants
• having to wait and use patience
• riding backwards in the carseat--SHE is ready to flip around, but we're holding out until she is 2. The last couple months are going to be hard!
• sleep, sometimes

Most challenging:

• teaching Cara patience
• learning how to cater to her personality--I've learned to explain the "order of operations" of anything we're about to do to prepare her.
• the feeling that "The days are long but the years are short." and making the most of our days together at home while dealing with the frustrations of 24/7 parenting. Our days can be exhausting physically, emotionally and mentally, but they're going to go by so fast (they already have!) that I have to remind myself that whatever difficulties we have will soon pass.

Looking forward to:

• potty training--very soon! (Be ready for me to move this bullet to the "most challenging" tab next month.)
• planning the details for her 2nd birthday party. I've GOT to get on that very soon. I have lots of plans in my head, but I have to get them fleshed out in a tangible way. Not much longer until I have a 2-year-old!