Orelia Lately, at Twenty Months

The other day a friend sent me a text wishing Orelia a happy twenty month birthday.  I thought surely she was mistaken, until I did the math.  We are approaching her second birthday quicker than I ever imagined possible.

 The times they are a changing around here.  Depending on the day there is either a lot of limit testing or a ton of limit testing going on.

 "Hmm, is it still not okay to eat chalk?"  "Hmm is it still not okay to stand on furniture?"

Sometimes it also feels like "Hmm Mommy is funny when she is mad."

 This age is also really fun since she basically understands everything we say and is able to communicate so well.  We often have a hard time discriminating between "oatmeal," "ice cream" and "airplane," but generally she makes her thoughts known.  Granted, one still needs to know that "peepee" means teepee and "ma" means milk, but fortunately I'm well-versed in Oreliaisms.

 It's great to be able to ask her yes or no questions and have her genuinely respond.  You just have to make sure you stop asking "do you want to help me clean up?" and "do you want to take a nap?"

 She's definitely been eating more lately, which seems to just be a function of her getting older.  We are thrilled she's now eating peanut butter sandwiches, since that means she can eat something filling that doesn't need to be warm or cold or be eaten with a fork or spoon.  Hooray for toddler food.

 Physically, she is great at running and is learning how to climb ladders on play structures.  You sure better keep an eye on her, because she could turn up just about anywhere if you blink.

 She loves reading books, and they are a constant in our house.  Generally she still wants her own book to flip through while we read a different book, but somehow she's picking up on things in both books at the same time.

 She is extremely affectionate with adults and children, and loves to give hugs to her loved ones.  The children she knows often object to the length of said hugs, but we're working on that.

 Orelia is especially fond of the nanny we now have coming ten hours each week.  She has adored her from the moment they met, and I'm so relieved we were able to find someone she bonds with so well.  I'm able to go to my appointments during the week easier, can get things done, and even get some extra rest and adult time in.  We are all happy with the arrangement.  This week our nanny has been taking care of older kids off on spring break, and not a day has gone by that Orelia hasn't repeatedly asked for the nanny.  They are great pals.

 I sometimes worry she is too girly for her own good.  She prefers her gold sparkly shoes above all else, unless she's playing dress-up with her red polka-dot ones.  She constantly walks around with purses, and likes to wear bracelets and necklaces.  Lately she's taken to asking me to paint her nails, but we are definitely going to wait on that for a bit.  I'm glad she is still interested in airplanes and is newly interested in trash trucks, buses, and hang gliders (yes, we see them here).

 No child has ever loved play doh as much as this one, at least in my humble opinion.  "Doh doh" is a daily request, probably even thrice daily or more.

When I asked John what I should say about Orelia at twenty months, he said "she announces her farts."  So there's that.  He also reconsidered and said she is very sweet, which I can't deny.  We do love this sweet little bundle of energy.