20 months old

Today my beautiful baby girl turns 20 months old, and I think we’re gonna celebrate with some ice cream. And not just because it is her month-birthday, but because she has a cold. A horrible, oppressive cold that causes her sweet, button-nose to bubble with snot and has made her develop a wicked, phlegmy cough that makes it sound like we are living with a 85-year old chain-smoker. Oh, my poor little princess! Of course we are having ice cream today. Lots and lots of ice cream.

And other than this current sickness hanging over us, we have had such a good month at the Amys house, and Chris and I have been taking every opportunity possible to soak up all the wonderfulness that is our daughter. She is just growing up so fast. I mean, not too far down the road a day will come when she won’t want to snuggle in bed with me and watch cartoons, or she won’t tolerate me bear-hugging her and smothering her in kisses, or we won’t be able to spend a whole day in our comfies, coloring, dancing and eating cookies. We are literally watching our baby girl grow up before our eyes. And we are constantly reminding ourselves to take a break from our daily chores and distractions to take advantage of these precious, fleeting moments and milestones that are happening every single day.

So. Lots of changes during month 19, including a few shake-ups to our entertainment routine. Taylor became absolutely OBESSESSED with coloring this past month. In fact, if you come over to our house at any point during the day, you will find our giant coffee table covered in coloring paper and most of our crayons scattered between the table, the toy box and her purse. She puts all her goodies in her purse, and some of mine as well. Over the past few weeks, I’ve randomly found my IPod, keys and a few hair ties in her purse. And, as of this past weekend, I usually find at least three-to-four of our Christmas ornaments in her purse when cleaning up her toys every night. So I guess we got a klepto on our hands.

We have also taken a break from Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street to watch her new, favorite cartoon: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She LOVES it, and as soon as she sees Mickey in the intro, her little body starts to move and groove as she does her version of the Hot Dog dance. All while shouting Hotgah! Hotgah! while she’s boogying. And then she barks at Pluto, which always gets Ruby all riled up and, next thing you know, we’ve got ourselves a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse throw down. Hey, it’s always entertaining.

Taylor has also become particularly attached to her blankie this month. Over the last few weeks it has progressed from just being in her crib, to just staying in the upstairs, to, as of late, being in T’s possession at all times. And it’s not called her blankie anymore, it’s now her KiKi. And she L-O-V-E-S her KiKi, and will wear her little hands out, just sitting down and rub-rub-rubbing her fingers along the satin edging.

And the other day, because she had snot all over her face and was battling the sickness, I gave in and let her bring KiKi with us when we were running our weekly errands. I even let her carry it in the cart at WalMart – GROSS! GERMS! But she was sick already, and it was the only way for me to get anything accomplished in the store. And then after her nap, when I pulled a dirty, snot-covered KiKi out of her crib, I had to pry it away from her to wash it. And, OH, the crying. KIKI! KIKI! KIKI! And for a split second, I almost grabbed the scissors and just cut the blanket in half, so at least I could wash one half at a time. But then I remembered that we had some leftover ice cream sandwiches in the freezer, and was able to distract her with a sweet treat. Which just goes to prove my point that successful Mothering is 97-percent Love, Patience and Understanding, and three-percent is making sure you always have ice cream in the freezer. ALWAYS.