21 months

Can it be that our little girl is almost 2 years old? She is becoming more communicative every day. She will repeat just about anything we say, like a parrot, so we are REALLY trying to watch what comes out even more than usual. It's bad enough that she sounds like a sailor when she's just trying to say everyday words, but to have her copy her parents' slips-of-tongue? Ouch!

She likes climbing. Today she climbed onto the back of the grocery cart for the first time. I didn't let her stay there, and it wasn't moving. She can get into almost any chair or couch, but still likes help when she climbs down. She's made it up the 3-rug ladder at the playground, with just a little help from me to keep her from slipping.

Her chuckles and giggles will brighten anyone's glum mood.

She's taking after her Mommy- she has a long torso. even some 2T tops are a little small. The pants fit perfectly. It's so frustrating to dig into the hand-me-downs from Emmy and Maddie and realize some are already too small. She loves to eat fruits and veggies.

She also takes after her Daddy. She loves bread and meat. Last night she must have eaten 3 or 4 ounces of chicken for dinner.

She has not climbed out of her crib, and still sleeps well in it, so we're keeping it up.

She recognizes when she needs to go potty or has already gone, but 9 times out of ten will not sit on it voluntarily. She does like identifying the pictures on her cushy seat insert, though. And maybe when she sees her older cousins don't wear diapers anymore during our week together, she will want to be like the big kids. She will tear of TP and give it to me after I'm done.

She still takes a nap... usually just one.

She loves her evening routine of dinner-bath-stroll. In fact, she likes to go for a ride in her stroller just about any time.

She loves catching bubbles, and dipping the wand, though she has yet to successfully blow the bubbles herself.

While we were at Wal-mart today, she was counting all sorts of things. She skipped numbers here and there, but she pretty much as 1-10 memorized. She doesn't really count for the sake of saying the numbers, though, she usually counts objects.

She likes to help by putting scoops of sugar into the pitcher for sweet tea, stepping on the step ladder to throw dirty laundry into the washer, shoving wet laundry into the dryer, putting silverware in the drawer, putting pop cans in the fridge drawer, sweeping, vacuuming, putting her books away, wiping her tray when she's done eating. I really gotta take advantage of this interest in cleaning and keeping things neat before it goes away!

She likes to brush her teeth by herself... or while Mommy or Daddy brush theirs. But do not try to help her, she's a big girl and can do it herself, thank you!

Height? Weight? Stats- what are THOSE?

• growing like a weed

• healthy weight, with a little belly pooch (ok, big after a good meal)