Piper at 20 months!

Piper turned 20 months old three days ago. I stopped doing the monthly posts after she turned one, but I am horrible at doing her baby book and I fear I will forget the awesome things she is doing these days. It's amazing to see her absorbing, learning and changing each and every day. Here are some things that are happening now that I don't want to forget!

Piper speaks non-stop. Seriously, she narrates the entire day. Even with her ba in her mouth (ba is her word for pacifier) she is talking. Much of her narration is her language, but I can usually understand what she is talking about as there are many real words intermixed in her story. I am constantly amazed by how many words she knows, she hears us say a word once and the next day she is using it. This morning she started calling me Mommy (instead of "mama" as she typically calls me) and suddenly everything is "mine, mine, mine". She's started stringing words together as well, if she wants to go somewhere, or is getting inpatient with waiting for something, she says "come on!". She knows the name and sound for pretty much every animal in all of her picture books and she has started learning the ABCs and counting!

When Piper wants something, usually a snack, she will come up, put her face right in front of mine, look me in the eyes and very clearly say what she wants. She will then continue to say it over and over and run back and forth from me to the kitchen, getting progressively more manic until I give her what she wants. When what she wants is a "cookoo" (cookie) and I tell her we only have a cookie after dinner, she throws herself on the ground and screams with a fake cry. When I say "but you can have a banana (or orange/raisins/grapes/apple/rice cake)" she is immediately done writhing on the ground and says okay while jumping up and running to the kitchen again.

When Piper wakes up in the morning (or after her nap) she usually is saying ba or kitty over and over until Paul or I go into her room and find her standing in her crib pointing to her pacifier or kitty that she has thrown out of the crib. Once she is given those items back she is immediately saying and pointing to her books. There is no hi to mama or daddy, she goes immediately to her books, sits down and starts to read.

Whenever she sees my phone or laptop she immediately says "Keepee" (Kiwi) or "Elmo's song", two youtube videos she LOVES. Watch the Kiwi one, in her eyes, it is a cute little flightless bird getting the opportunity to fly...

Piper loves bath time, I guess every toddler probably does, right? On the nights we bathe her (usually after a pasta dinner when she is covered head to toe in sauce) I'll go upstairs to get the water started. The minute she hears the bathtub turn on she is chanting "bath bath bath" and pulling on the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. I usually sit on the seat on the side of the tub (and typically end up with drenched pants) the moment I step in the tub she starts to panic if she doesn't already have her clothes and diaper off as if I am going to forget this bath is for her!

She loves to dance! Every day, numerous times a day, she will run to the desk with the ipod speaker and jump up and down yelling "Happy" or "Elmo Song", meaning she wants me to play Pharell Williams "Happy" or Elmo's Song so we can dance. I'll pick her up and we'll spin around the room with her giggling and holding on to my neck. When I set her down she is usually dizzy and teeters around for a few seconds before she starts to dance on her own, which involves a lot of spinning.

Before bed time at 7pm she loves to brush her teeth (of which she still only has 8!). She refuses any help, so I'm not sure how much those 8 teeth are actually being cleaned, but she definitely enjoys doing it herself.

It's been pretty cold these past few days, but when it is warm enough, Piper loves to play outside with our neighbor kids. She'll hear them outside riding their bikes or running around and immediately jump up, point outside and yell "kids, kids, kids! charee (charlie), opal, charee!" She'll bring me her shoes to put on (if she isn't already wearing them) and insist we go out to join in the fun. Sometimes she brings out her cozy coupe, bumble bee or bike so she can be just like the big kids!

We got lucky with this kid, she loves to hike! When she sees the backpack she immediately gets excited and says "hike! hike!" She's really great on hikes, she loves being up high and looking around and she is great at spotting animals and birds. She's not so great at being quiet when we are trying to identify a bird, but we can't complain!

I love this kid!