This is a bit late, primarily because Beatrice won’t sit still long enough to take “official” 21 months photos, but I wanted to document a few things about her life these days.

What has happened in the last few months?  Well sweet girl:

You got your first hair cut and it wasn’t terrible! I will be honest and tell you that’s the last time I want to cut your hair, so it better grow out in some cute style or we’re going to have some trouble on our hands.

We celebrated Thanksgiving and you sat by me while I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I don’t think you loved it, necessarily, but you sat still for a few minutes.

We continued our tradition of going downtown the day after Thanksgiving. We saw the Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmont, the gingerbread houses at the Sheraton and the tree lighting at Westlake. The best part for you was your first candy: a candy cane. You were in wound-up toddler heaven:

You have started to help out in the kitchen. We made chex mix just before Christmas and you decided that yes, you do like mixed nuts but only the cashews! Fancy girl! You also helped me make sugar cookies for the first time, which mostly made me want to cry tears of delight and joy and amazement at how big you’re getting!

You also ate dough:

You continue to desire to be outside pretty much all the time, all day long. You also like to watch for birds in the yard. We have a book about birds in our area and you’re learning to identify them. You still get most excited about crows and ducks, but now you’re learning to recognize robins and chickadees.

You’re getting really great with shapes and continue to be strong with color recognition. Last week, I made you eggs and toast for breakfast and you nibbled your toast into a triangle and exclaimed, “it’s a triangle! It’s a triangle!” which made you giggle.

You’ve started to realize that “you” isn’t always the appropriate way for you to refer to yourself. If you see a photo of the three of us, you will now say, “It’s me, you and Daddy” but you still use phrases such as “Daddy hold you?” when you want to be held. It’s adorable.

You are also beginning to experiment with speaking in different tenses. If I give you a kiss, you will say, “that was a kissy!” or if you were recently held, you say, “Daddy was holding you”. We’ve only heard you use the future tense a couple of times and you usually speak in present perfect tense, but it’s still really neat to see how you’re language is being developed. You’re getting to be such a big girl!

For Christmas, you received some very wonderful gifts, but you mostly seemed to enjoy looking at and holding the wrapped presents so your Daddy and I unwrapped things for you. One of the most delightful parts of Christmas morning was hearing you exclaim “Oh how wonderful!” when you saw the little cups your Aunt Rachel got for you. You squealed with joy when you realized the blue quilt your Meamaw made you had duckies all over the other side and this blanket continues to be a highlight of your day. You like me to “make a pocket” (fold it in half) and then you scoot your little self inside it and just roll around.

You are going through a Daddy phase. BIG TIME. If we are both in the room, you only want Daddy. If I go to get you from your crib in the morning, you respond to my “Good morning!” with “No Momma. Only Daddy!” to which I generally say that he’s busy and you’re stuck with me, sucka. We were traveling in the car recently and you were having a rough time. We had stopped for lunch and you refused to eat anything so we got back in the car and while J was using the facilities, I said, “Momma and Daddy both love you very much, I’m sorry you’re having a rough time right now” and you looked at me and said, “No Momma loves you! Only Daddy!” which naturally upset me. I was nervous about our return to the regular routine after having Daddy home for ten days, but you were completely unfazed. Once Daddy left for work, you just sat down on my lap and asked me to read you book after book like usual.

I’m so thankful to have you as my buddy during the day. You like to help out around the house and usually Raggedy Ann or Big Duckie help out as well. Last month, I was getting the laundry out of the dryer and you came up and patted my back and said, “You’re a great helper, Momma!” which warmed my heart!

There are some big changes coming soon. We know you’re going to be a great big sister and we pray that the transition is smooth as we begin to live it up as a family of four.