Kiddo Update: Lilly - 20 Months

I am two months behind on Lilly's update, but thanks to reoccurring stomach bugs, I'm pretty sure her stats have probably not changed too much since her last appointment. I have dealt with far too much vomit this year and have hopefully paid out dues for the rest of 2013. Lilly always seemed to be the one to get it the worst, but she's such a trooper and you'd never know she was sick aside from the endless cuddles, which I loved, and that pretty much sums her up anyway. But there is so much about her that I want to remember at this super-fun age so here goes. At 20 months Lil is...

29 inches tall and 30 pounds... both of which are above the 98th percentile. She's wearing size 5 diapers, size 5 1/2 - 6 shoes, and size 2T clothing, and sometimes 3T shirts if they are short. She still rocks that little Buddha belly, but it's getting smaller and smaller and I'm going to miss it when she's a little string bean someday... it's the cutest little thing ever. But enough about the boring stuff, here are all the fun things about our sweet Lil:

• I know I've said this before, but Lilly's vocabulary is HUGE. She can repeat just about any word you want her to say, like "porcupine" and "Wreck-It Ralph"- what 20 month old can say that??- and almost always speaks in full sentences or phrases. Here are some that we hear often: Where's Jake?, Jakie's sleeping, I want it, I pooped (which is not always true, but usually is), More juice (or milk, cheese, music, etc.), Peek-a-boo I see you, I watch Mickey on the TV, I ride in the car, stinky diaper, I'm stuck, help me, and the list goes on and on. Here she is asking for more peanut butter:

• On this same note, she talks ALL. THE. TIME. Josh and I stopped at gas station on the way to Atlanta (just six hours away) last month to get the girl a lolly-pop so she'd stay quiet for at least five minutes! And that's about how long the golden silence lasted!
• We still call her our hot mess, but at least she's letting us brush her hair more often now without complaint. The trick is that you have to tell her how pretty she is while you do it or she won't let you get a brush near it! On occasion she'll find a rubber band and bring it to me saying, "pretty hair." She won't have any self-esteem issues at this rate.

• Favorite foods include yogurt, crackers, cookies, ice cream, grapes, apples, watermelon, hummus (seriously), and candy, which she never really gets, but asks for all the time! I think it's probably due to that lolly-pop mentioned above.
• She loves to dance. If music comes on, she stops what she's doing and sways to the music. My dad bought her Flamenco dancer shoes when my parents were in Europe last month, and even though they are too big (and so ugly they're cute), we put them on her feet and she immediately started to dance around the room. She did the same thing with Jake's too-big soccer cleats, which gave us all a good laugh!

• Her favorite movie is Finding Nemo, which is appropriate since we think she's a lot like Dory... her attention span is so quick that she moves onto the next thing in about ten seconds.
• She LOVES babies. Whenever my nephew Sam is around, she wants to be so close that she's practically on top of him. The other day I had a girlfriend over with her 6-month-old and Lilly just kept saying "hold it, hold it," and was not satisfied until that baby was in her lap! She gets jealous whenever I hold another baby, however, so we will not be adding to the family any time soon! She also loves to hold her stuffed animals and sing, "Rock-a-Baby, Rock-a-Baby"
• Her favorite person is definitely Jake. They play pretty well together for the most part, but she screams bloody murder if he takes her toy away and they'll fight over things now and then. We have noticed, however, that she does her part to provoke him, and of course he gets in trouble as we console her, but we're catching onto her little tricks. Our sweet baby is not so innocent!
• To go along with that, we're definitely starting our "terrible two's" a bit. Although they are much less trying than Jake's were (so far), she has perfected the art of the meltdown when something does not go her way- limp body, rolling around on the floor screaming- yeah, it's awesome.
• She used to say "gramma" perfectly and has recently started calling my mom "Mug-ah" and nobody knows where it came from. It does, however, crack us up!
• I never expected it, but I think Lilly is going to be our funny one. She just does goofy things that make us laugh, which are quickly imitated by her spotlight-seeking brother.
• Her answer to every question is usually "yesh," and I love the sweet way she says it.
• Speaking of sweet, regardless of the tantrums, she is still one of the most easy-going, laid back, wonderful children around. She'll sit in my lap and cuddle as we watch a movie and still likes to ride in the Ergo carrier since it keeps her so close. I think personal touch is probably one of her love languages, and I'm happy to have a cuddler!
• Recently she has decided that she doesn't want to go to bed ("no bed!") and tells us that she wants to lay on the couch. Once there, she'll demand a pillow, a blanket, her milk, and her paci. It does delay bedtime only because it's so stinkin' cute, but ultimately she ends up in her crib.
• She still twirls here hair when she's tired, so most days she has a giant curl in the middle of her forehead... just like the nursery line. It cracks me up when people ask if I do that to her hair myself! Um, no, I do not put a giant, hot curling iron that close to my squirming toddler! 

• She's still in her crib because so far she has shown no interest or even though of climbing out, even though she watches Jake climb in and out all the time. It amazes me how different my kids are!
• Her favorite things to see are the "birdies" and "bunnies" in our backyard. She also still loves puppies.
• We've graduated from walking and running to climbing. I am often pulling her down off of a table or counter or whatever she can find to get onto!
• She can sing her entire alphabet and count to 13, but she sometimes skips a number here and there. She can also sing "twinkle, twinkle, little star," and a couple of other songs. I feel like she adds something new to her repertoire everyday and I cannot figure out where she learned it! It's amazing to see how fast they learn at this age.

• I am seeing glimpses of her wanting to be a big girl. She definitely wants to potty train and goes and sits on the little potty all the time. She even says, "I go peepee on the potty," even though we haven't started yet. She also wants to sit in a chair rather than her high chair, which I try to avoid, and wants to go up and down the stairs. The baby gates are pretty much gone in our house... when did my baby get so big?

I cannot get over how much faster time seems to go by with the second one and I do wish it would slow down a bit! We've enrolled her for the same 2-year-old class that Jake was in last year (she made the cut-off by 4 days) and even though I think she'll be ready, I'm not sure that I will be! I'm just trying to enjoy every day and enjoy this last bit of the toddler phase before it's gone. My baby will be a little girl before I know it and I am definitely going to miss this age a lot! Thankfully, every age and phase is fun, but I think it's harder to see them pass by when it's the little one. I guess that's why people have more kids... but don't get any ideas! That is not in the cards unless we're surprised again!