22 months

And we celebrated by going on a little adventure around the inlet by our house.

Can't believe my little buggy will be TWO in 2 months.  I may have already started planning her party.  Who am I kidding, I definitely have already been planning her party. :)  Some people might think birthday parties at this age are silly- I clearly don't feel that way, just you wait and see...

Okay so... 22 months...

At 22 months, Riley is hilarious.  When we're at home, she never stops talking.  90% of the time it's actual, understandable words and sentences.  The other 10%?  Total gibberish.  As in, just random syllables used as filler.  Basically, she's talking up a storm.  She bargains with us, and she repeats every single thing we say.  She randomly yells out "Oi, Mark!" like a real kiwi baby, which makes me laugh every single time.  She's starting to get a New Zealand accent, which is really only heard in some of the words she says.  For example, words like "says" which I pronounce like an American (sez), Riley pronounces it more like"saze" like her daddy (and all kiwis, according to him, although I'm still not convinced).  She pronounces "pegs" like "peegs," which is very kiwi-like, but she pronounces eggs like I do.  There are lots more words like that, but it's hard to tell if it's just baby pronunciation or actually kiwi pronunciation- things like "cah" for car.  She says rubbish instead of garbage, and I'm sure there are more that I can't remember at the moment. 

Some of Riley's favorite things at 22 months: Jumping (on trampolines, beds, couches, you name it...), playing outside, swimming, wearing mommy and daddy's shoes, her "pay pay" and "gray grays" (paci and blankie), her baby brother, painting, playdoh, watching home videos of herself, riding on the swings, Mickey Mouse, dogs (actually, all animals, really), pretzels, and her daddy.  She drinks from a big girl cup and uses her fork and spoon like a pro (well, a messy pro, I suppose...)  Sometimes she uses her right hand, sometimes her left, but I'm thinking she shows preference towards her right.

Riley surprises us every day with new sentences.  She remembers things from months ago.  She repeats some of the phrases that we don't even notice we say (apparently I say "goodness" and "there we go" quite frequently... and now so does Riley).  She speaks in sentences and we can have conversations with her.  Some of her fave things to say include: "you did it!" "don't do that" "oh no, not working, needs new batteries!" and "good sharing, Ri Ri."  One example of how she is paying more attention than we think? The other day, she goes "hey!! no flies on peanut butter sandwich! shoo fly!  get 'em!" and she smacks her sandwich in attempts to swat the fly away.  Apparently she's been watching me trying to swat flies. :)

She can count to 17, and has a really good concept of numbers and quantity.  She knows 10 is more than 5 is more than 2, etc.  She knows she wants TWO cookies, not one.  She knows the difference between bigger vs. smaller, long vs. short, and many other opposites.  She recognizes her name when she sees it spelled out, and she sometimes can spell it correctly if you ask.  Changing her diaper can still be a battle, but not as much of a battle as brushing her teeth.  Yikes I can't wait until that gets easier.  Someday.

She loves to read, and has memorized so many of her books.  Her current favorite book is a Mickey Mouse book, and she asks for "Cowboy Mickey," "Mickey and the Firetruck," and "Mickey and the Pet Shop" most nights (three different stories in her book).  She likes to read to us and to Jackson, and she's starting to be more open to sitting still for new books, although makes it very clear when she's not interested by slamming the book shut and saying "no mama, don't do that."

Riley loves having little friends to play with, although if she can't remember their names, she calls all little girls "Ashley" after one of her little friends from our coffee group.  She is pretty darn good at sharing, and has never once hit or pushed another kid- I don't even think she's ever taken a toy from another kid either.  Part of my hesitation in putting her in any sort of preschool setting is the potential for her to learn these less-than-awesome behaviors from the other kids around her.  But so far she does extremely well in the social skills department.

This month her sleeping has been less than awesome.  She started waking at 4:30am for a few weeks, and just wouldn't go back to sleep.  Now she's been sleeping until 5 or 5:15 usually, which is still really freaking early.  Her naps have been fine, although just in the past few days she has discovered that she can get herself our of bed BEFORE she's taken a nap, not just after nap. So we've been having a few battles with that.  Let's hope it's short-lived.

She's really starting to get into pretend play, and you can see her imagination starting to develop.  That stick she was holding (below right) was apparently a "crocodile" and we searched and searched to find "one more crocodile, mama?"  She loves having tea parties and playing with baby dolls and pretend food. She is constantly talking to Mickey Mouse on the phone.  She loves to drive her cars around the house. She can build her 9 block ABC tower (as tall as she is) all by herself.  She likes to have all her toys (puzzles, peg board) completed, and we frequently hear "oh no! missing one piece!" or "missing two pieces! pieces, where are you???"

She is a total daddy's girl right now.  She asks about him all day long, she gets sad when he leaves, she snuggles with him and he makes her laugh and laugh and laugh. When I told her daddy had to go to work to make money, she thought about it for a second, got quiet, and then her face lit up as she said "daddy go to work, make money.  Daddy making coins!!!"- she's been really into putting her coins into her piggy bank, so she was stoked that daddy would be "making coins" by going to work. She also knows that coins make the fire engine outside the grocery store work, so the thought of daddy bringing home coins is very exciting.

Happy 22 months little munchkin!!!  You are as gorgeous as ever!