22 months

Celia is 22 months! Hard to believe we'll have a 2-year-old soon. Actually, it's not hard to believe. She's already demonstrating some challenging 2-year-old behavior :P

I was looking through some old posts and at Celia's previous monthly updates to re-label them (they're all under "Celia's monthly updates" now), and just kept reading and reading. It's so much fun to look back at everything, see how things have changed, and remember all kinds of details. This blog is becoming such a rich history of our lives.

Stats: Pita is fitting well in 18 month clothes. She hasn't been weighed in quite a while, but is definitely getting taller and heavier. She's in size 4 diapers and size 5 1/2 shoes.

Schedule: Celia still goes to bed around 7:30 at night, and wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning. She now sleeps all the way through the night most of the time. Once in a while she wakes up once and wants me to fix her blanket or find her binky. She has still been napping well, from about 12:30-3:00 every day. She recently started telling me she didn't want to nap, but still goes to sleep eventually. 

Speech and Language: Celia understands more and more. She can answer most kinds of questions, even about things she can't see or things that happened in the past. She uses 2-6 word sentences and can imitate 3-4 word sentences. Her vocabulary has become even more sophisticated with even more concept words. She is starting to develop more adult grammar, like pronouns I, me, my, you, and your, some irregular past tense verbs (like saying "I ate it"), and asking questions with correct grammar. Yesterday we were listening to a new cd in the car and every time a new song came on she would ask "What's this one?". She has also started to use the words "want" and "need" when she asks for something. In the last couple days Celia has been constantly surprising us with the things she comes up with. On Sunday night she was playing in her car and said she was going to Debi and Dan's house (her daycare). I told her "You're going to Debi and Dan's house tomorrow", and she said "No, today!" I couldn't believe she understood me and actually used the concept "today". She is always saying something new to make us smile. She uses "please" and "thank you" (and sometimes "thank you very much"!), and understands what to do when we tell her to use her manners. The other night she said "Daddy help me close door, please?" without any prompting.

Cognitive/Play: The coolest new thing Celia does play-wise is talk to her dolls and stuffed animals. She asks them questions, talks to them about what she's doing, offers them things- basically acts like a little mommy. On Saturday morning Pita was sitting on the couch with her baby and I heard her say "Hungry? Hungry, baby?" and then they disappeared into the kitchen. I walked in a few minutes later to find Celia's doll in the booster seat with a bottle and pretend food on the table, and Celia buttering a piece of pretend bread for her! She asked me to help her buckle the baby in and get her a bib, and the whole time she was talking away to her baby. When I asked if her baby was done, Celia looked at the baby and said "All done, baby? Out. Wash hands." She also pretends things are there that aren't, which is pretty abstract. She'll hand me something or pretend to eat something imaginary, and she has also started pretending other people are playing with her. Sometimes she pretends to be playing with her Grandpa or Nonna, and will be talking away to them. Or I'll hear her say "Mommy" a few times, look to see what she needs, and realize that she's just playing and doesn't need me at all.

Pita still likes imitating things I do around the house. She loves sitting on the counter while I cook. She is constantly getting into the kitchen cabinet to find a spray bottle and a rag to clean like I do (I use nontoxic cleaners, but this is still not ideal!). I finally gave her an extra spray bottle with water so she can have her own cleaning supplies. She pretends to spray it, saying "sprinkle sprinkle", and wipes the floor.

Another new game is hiding. Celia loves to hide from people and have them find her. Whenever Chris gets home or she hears him coming up or down the stairs, she comes running to me and says "Hide! Hide!" She also loves hide-and-seek. And finally, there's one other thing that Celia has really gotten into this month. She loves listening to music and dancing or playing her instruments. Any time she hears music she starts dancing. She also changes the words to songs and makes up her own words to familiar melodies. When she wakes up in the morning she lies in her crib singing songs until I get her. On Sunday morning she was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and when she saw me come in she changed the words to "twinkle, twinkle, little mommy" :).

Motor Skills: Not much is new this month. She's very well-coordinated and loves to climb. She's getting much better at going down stairs. Her new slide is now a fixture in our living room.

Self Help: Pita loves to do everything herself. She washes herself in the bath, likes to comb her hair, helps get herself dressed and undressed. After a long time of trying every night, she now lets me help brush her teeth without a fuss. She refuses to wear hat and mittens, which will make winter interesting!


Behavior: We sure have some of that terrible two behavior! Most of the time Celia is very easy going and well behaved. But sometimes she gets a bit of an evil-looking glint in her eye and does something completely naughty just to see what will happen. Sometimes one thing will set her off, and then every little thing that doesn't go her way turns into a tantrum. Celia has also developed the habit of ignoring us when we tell her to do something she doesn't want to do. It's both funny and exasperating to be ignored by a toddler. I have to remind myself to follow through with what I tell her to do, rather than letting her ignore the situation every time. Now is the age when we need to set strong boundaries and provide structure, so Pita knows what she can and can't get away with. The little rascal...

Despite the challenges of the terrible twos arriving a bit early, the good things far outweigh the bad. I write this every month, but it's always true that Celia's at a fun stage of development. She has so much personality and loves life. She wakes up every morning singing. My only complaint is that she no longer stays in one place long enough for a good, thorough snuggle.