21 Months

Her 21st month started with some very warm weather after all of the much-needed rain that we've been having here in California. It felt like spring arrived weeks early, and even before daylight savings had begun.

She continues to be an absolute delight. After an action-packed morning at Pretend City with her Grandpa and Uncle Glen, she went down for a record 3 1/2 hour nap. When she woke up, we took her with us to have dinner at our friend's place. 

But first, it was time to turn around her car-seat, a definite milestone.

Newly married and home owners, Doug and Jessica don't have kids just yet, but are both so good with them. As the evening progressed, a few more friends arrived. Although we were the only ones with a child, we didn't feel like 'those' people because she was so well-behaved. She had her very first drumstick, courtesy of Uncle Doug. We left by 7:30pm, (okay, now we're 'those' people) and she loved the ride home because she now has a much better view.

My brother turned 32 on March 8th. Although she's been "jumping" for months now, it was on his birthday that she actually got off the ground. We all jumped together in the back yard before leaving for Dave and Buster's and she was so proud of herself. 

Glen's birthday was a good excuse to start my cake-baking skills, since I want to make the cake for her birthday. She had a blast running around and looking at all the lights and pressing buttons. 

Our week was really hectic and so I planned a low-key weekend with *gasp* no plans. I had no idea how much I would love staying home for two whole days! It was revolutionary, really. I was able to get some organizing done, continued cleaning out the garage and regaining our workout space, did some gardening, went on our walks. Wait a minute, every weekend could be like this, I realized. I'm an adult and I can say no! This sounds so simple...but, I never thought of how I was in control of preventing us from being too busy. Each event I would commit to individually sounded fun but collectively, they become overwhelming, and never leave us with a free weekend. Since I'm the one who sets our social calendar, I realized it was within my power to change it and I made a vow to do it. My husband is excited about the prospect, but is reluctant to believe I can really do it.

In keeping with that commitment, I planned a Disneyland trip with her Thursday right after work, instead of on the weekend. We rode Alice in Wonderland and spent the rest of our time in Toon Town. She loved Minnie's house. 
On Friday, we had Aunt Cassandra and Dell over for corned beef and cabbage, just like Mom used to make.

Our only plans the following weekend were a visit to Marina Park with Granka and Uncle Glen. I love how, in this video, she walks confidently off to go down the slide again, but comes back for me saying "Mommy, slide." She started putting two words together this month. Other examples include "Trevi no" and "Mommy coming" when she wants me to go somewhere.

This time, she didn't wade in the water, but loved the park area. We all climbed up on the lifeguard tower, and she didn't want to come down.
We finally had our hot-tub fixed, and are left wondering why we didn't do it sooner. She absolutely loves it, and asks for "bubbles" or "swimming" when we get home. We've been in there for an hour every single night since it was fixed. 

For the first 10 minutes on the first night, she had a death-grip on me. I told my husband that pretty soon, she probably would not want to get out. I didn't think it would be that very same night!

So far, she's not comfortable going under water. But she has been walking on the bottom and on the sides while holding on. She will also "jump" to us from her special seat that we say is designed just for her because it's higher than all the others. She loves playing with the jets, and the lights at night. I'm hoping that as she becomes more comfortable, we can teach her to float on her back and some basic swimming techniques. Water safety is going to be an important thing for her to have because of our visits to Oregon.

Things I do not want to forget about this month:

• Crawling around the house on our hands and knees, pretending to be horses with Daddy. Stopping to eat grass along the way.
• "Introducing" me to her friend at daycare. I was by her side when another girl walked up to us. She turned and looked at me and said "Anya." I heard Anna, and asked staff, who nodded and smiled with the slight correction "Anya."
• New words: Almost too many to list now...Trump, Daisy, Coco, Sasha (dog-sitting), tree, food, swimming. She's also starting to put two words together, like "Trevi no" and "Mommy car." Previous words: Yellow, purple, one, two, three, yea, please, sorry, red, boo(blue), Granka, feet, her name, thank you, nose, some,  bike, ball, bubbles, TV, cream, ciao, boat, plane, Mommydada (one word), shoe, meow, Trevi, apple, yummy, pay (while handing Daddy's credit card), Sunshine, cool, ouchie, book, cold, rawr, baa, animal, Dory, bow, bee, house, car, Dada, cat, tea (and some letters of the alphabet), fish, eye, cheese, no, mommy, more, mooo, ruff, baby, my, Nana, uh-oh, MoMo, baba, hi, bye, dog).
• Sharing tea with me. When she sees it in the fridge, in mom's jug she will ask "Tea? Tea?" She likes starbucks passion fruit, or mint. I give her anything that is caffeine-free...so much better than juice, which is just sugar.
• Walking around and saying "cheese" while trying to take selfies with my phone.
• How she points her index finger when she says "no, no" and moves her hand.