Almost 2

Grace is 23 months old today. It is hard to believe. The time has gone by so fast. At work lately as we prepare for the end of the year, I am reminded that at this time last year I was on family medical leave helping Grace adjust to being home and enjoying being a stay-at-home-mom. She wasn't even crawling yet. I wondered what her first word would be. And, I was learning what she liked and disliked.

Grace one year ago at 11 months old

Fast forward a year and now it seems like we have always been together. Every day I marvel at how special she is. From the minute she wakes up in the morning (and I can hear her babbling to herself in her room) until she tells me "bed" at night (because she knows she is tired) and all the minutes in between, Grace is amazing.

Her language is developing so fast now that there are new words every day. She will try to say most things when I ask her, "Can you say___?" which makes for a lot of laughs to hear how she pronounces words like "sausage", "applesauce", "elevator" and "rainbow". My favorite word lately is "Hooray". It is so cute whe she says it and puts her arms up in the air at the same time. In the back seat of the car she will sing along to the "Sesame Street Live" CD and I can hardly believe that she knows the words. She says two and three word phrases with the words all jumbled together into one like, "Idonknow" , "Mommysawork", and "Elmoside" (for Elmo go outside?). Grace looks at books independently, will turn the pages, and "read" to story to herself or me if I obey when she tells me to "sit". Grace loves to tease me, too. She has this animal sorting toy and knows the pigs go in the pig pen and the cows go in theirs. But she deliberately puts them in the wrong place with this little sly smile just to get a reaction out of me.Physically, Grace is growing by leaps and bounds - literally. She is a daredevil. Maybe that is just being a toddler and not knowing enough to be afraid. Last fall when we took her to tumbling class she didn't get any "air" between her feet and the trampoline when she jumped. It is much different now. She jumps on everything - her bed, my bed, the couch, pillows she lines up on the floor. She can do a somersault/forward roll almost every time without any help. Sometimes I find her with her feet on the couch, her hands on the coffee table, and her body suspended in the air between the two. My heart skips a beat, but Grace thinks it is great. Grace loves to run and be chased. And her giggles when I tickle her fill up up the room. She laughs so hard and says, "No" but when I stop she says, "More".

There is so much I could say about how wonderful she is. Even on those challenging days when Grace is overtired from daycare and I am out of patience, I still remember how happy our life is together. What a great kid!

Some of her likes:

• bananas (still her favorite fruit)
  
• dipping - tortilla chips in salsa, French fries in ketchup - she will dip, lick off the sauce and dip again!
  
• music - this really amazes me and I wish I knew more about nurturing this in her
  
• drinking from a "big girl cup"
  
• Elmo (but you already knew that, right?) and other stuffed animals. Right now Elmo, Big Bird, Bill (a frog), and Mindy (a lemur from the zoo) are the ones she carries around.
  
• cooking" in her kitchen
  
• slides and swings at the park
  
• playing in the water - she is fearless and will submerge her chin and mouth right up to her nose and laugh while she is doing it
  
• doing anything outside
• pickles!
  

But Grace doesn't like:

• letting me brush her teeth or cut her nails (if you heard the way she screams you would think I was pulling them out!)
  
• peas (she eats most other vegetables but leaves peas on her plate)
  
• waking up at 6:00AM
  
• when she can't do something (like moving a chair or opening a box of toys). She gets so frustrated so easily and doesn't know how to ask for help

Sorry - this was a long post but I wanted to record this information for Grace to read someday.