21 Month Update

 

* This girl has started to get mimicking down to a science. She sometimes busts out with things that I didn't even know she caught on to. (My apologies that all the following examples are hygiene/bathroom related.) First, she found a Q-tip in the bathroom trash and started to clean out her ears with it. Then, she got a panty-liner out of the cabinet, took the back off it, and stuck it between her legs. And lastly, I was peeing and she was in the room with me (we only allow her in there when I'm just peeing - gotta have some boundaries) and she looked at me and said "Book?" and then proceeded to bring me a book to read while on the toilet. I'm still not sure where she got that one! Definitely an eye-opener for me and Puff to start being more mindful of how we act around her!

* It felt like the minute I posted her 20 month blog, she decided to start picking up on a new word every day, and using it correctly. The first few were "milk" and "pizza." Then came "stuck" and "mess." She busts out with words I didn't even know she knew all the time. And is repeating words back to us quite frequently. One night, we went to the grocery to buy eggs and she kept trying to say it, but it was coming out "ass" so she screamed that through the entire grocery store. I love the innocence behind it! She also will sing the theme song to Elmo's World. That sweet little voice.... there's nothing better!

 

* Puff and I are really trying to let Bimmer have some taste of more independence. I feel like we don't try to follow her to every room of the house anymore. (It helps though that The Bungalow is little and we can hear from the other rooms.) It's nice if we are ever home alone with her and need to shower, because she can be trusted to chill by herself. We usually give her a sippy cup and turn on one of her TV shows. Usually, as long as the remotes and phones are hidden, she's pretty good. We want her to learn that if she's good, she can be trusted. In general, she doesn't get into too much that she shouldn't. I probably just jinxed us there!

 

* She still wants to be such a helper. She wants to carry laundry, clean out the lint from the dryer, throw things in the trash. She will carry her trash bag of dirty diapers from her room to the back door. One day, she even got out a new bag and was trying to change it herself. I am trying to let her help more with things like cooking (pouring ingredients together, or stirring) and cleaning (she likes to get a wipe and clean the tables, or her toys).

 

* Her latest favorite foods are pretzel rods and gummy snacks. I had waited *forever* to let her have those, but now that she's had them, she wants them all the time. We got her some Jake & the Neverland Pirates ones, so now she just goes to the kitchen and asks for "Jake." She will eat a lot of chicken (mostly grilled or baked) as long as it has dip on it. The girl loves to dip everything. And it doesn't matter in what... honey mustard, ketchup, BBQ sauce, cocktail sauce, Caesar, Ranch dressing. Whatever... as long as it's dip, she's game. We've been starting to buy her a kid's meal when we got out to eat. I don't feel so bad paying $4 for something when we can take home the leftovers and she gets two meals out of it. Her favorites when we eat out are hot dogs, grilled cheese, mac & cheese, or grilled nuggets. (She isn't too keen on fried ones.) So, essentially, she's a typical toddler. Randomly, she also likes ice.

 

* In a little nugget of hilarity, one night she was walking out of the room and kept saying "bye bye mama" over and over (and over) and so Puff picked her up and said, "You should say bye bye, bitch." And what does Bimmer say? "Bye bye, bitch." I think we are to the point now where we definitely have to start censoring our words around her! She can identify the letters "O" and "K" and when she sees the letter that her name starts with, she shouts "Dee Dee!"