Month Twenty

Dear Amelia,

Today you are twenty months old. You’re no longer a “teenager”! You have grown so much this month, and you literally make me laugh every day. You have such a unique and fun personality, and I know I am incredibly blessed to watch you grow and learn.

When Daddy or I ask you for a hug, you will turn around and back up into our arms for a big bear hug. I think you like the security of me or Daddy at your back with our arms wrapped around you. It is so sweet, and it gives me the opportunity to smell that sweet head of yours. Your skin is baby-soft and your fine & wispy hair tickles my nose. Oh, if I could only bottle up that smell – it’s more than your baby shampoo, and it’s almost indescribable – you smell like sunshine and warmth and love. You smell like my baby girl, and it is the best smell in the world.

Whenever I am sitting on the ground you will always come up and sit in my lap – you fit perfectly! When you hear the neighbors outside you run over to the front door and knock – I think you want them to open the door and come in. You also do this when I tell you that Daddy is on his way home from work. You like to spin in slow circles and also walk backwards. You are getting more confident when you run, and you love having pillow fights on the living room floor. You will grab the couch pillows and just run towards us – we pretend that you really hit us hard and you collapse onto the floor in a fit of giggles.

You picked out a new potty this month, and a few nights ago you asked to sit on it after your bath. You sat there for about 30 minutes talking with Daddy and me and even reading a few books. You didn’t end up doing anything in the potty, but you kept asking for toilet paper and showing us that you know how to use it. Yesterday you told us you needed to go #2, so we hurried into the bathroom and took your diaper off. You didn’t really want to sit on the potty – you kept standing up and walking towards the bathtub. When you finally went, it was right on the bathroom floor – we got you to sit back on the potty, but you were so scared and bothered by the mess you made on the floor that you just kept pointing at it and crying. After we got you cleaned up you were fine, but you didn’t ask to get back on the potty for the rest of the day. This morning you went into your bathroom instead of your room when I told you that you needed to get dressed. I am fairly certain that you would have gone #1 on the potty if I had been faster about getting your diaper off. You were already going when I was undoing your diaper – I caught most of it in the diaper and then you sat on the potty for a while. I’m not sure that you’re ready to get rid of diapers yet, but we’ll keep the potty in the bathroom so that you can use it whenever you feel ready. You’re off to a good start, though, since you seem to realize when you need to go!

This month you started saying several new words. I have to listen very closely and of course you NEVER say them on command but I have heard you say trash (when you want to throw something away), dirty (for dirty clothes that need to go into the hamper), umbrella, yes, this, supper, Shelby, bath and a whole slew of others that I can’t bring to mind. It is so fun to see you expressing yourself verbally – I just need to learn to listen more closely to what you are saying. I’m sure there are many more words in your vocabulary that I just haven’t deciphered yet!

Sweet Girl, your favorite book now is Goodnight Moon. Your favorite part of the book is “the quiet old lady who was whispering hush” – you squeal and point whenever you see her. You touch the pages as if you are petting her head – so sweet! If you wake up at night (from growing pains, teeth or just a bad dream), you ask for Goodnight Moon, which is always sitting next to the rocking chair. Reading that book will calm you down enough to go back to sleep. I am so glad to see you developing a love for reading so early in your life, and I love watching the stories come alive in your eyes.

Love, Mama