Our Happily Ever After: 22 Months Old

Elisabeth, you are 22 months old! I say it every month, but you are just so big! Summer has been such a blast with you this year. Last year you were a baby who was needy and honestly crashed some of our fun, but this summer has been such fun with you. You're big and independent and dramatic and we just all have a ball with you around.

You pretty much talk in complete sentences all the time now. I understand practically everything you say, and it's very rare for you to attempt to communicate something, and me not know what you're wanting (whether you actually get what you want or not is another story). You say the cutest phrases. You say, "Can I" ("TanI") all the time.

I hear this all day:

Tan I have dat?
Tan I see?
Tan I tum (come)?
Tan I do it?
Tan I have some?

You string all the words together and talk so fast and it's really just plain adorable.

And instead of saying yeah or uh huh, you precisely say "yes" when you're answering questions and it's usually in an ecstatic loud tone or an overly dramatic whiny tone. But I love how precisely you always answer with "yes." And you Sweet Girl say, "Thank You" and "You're Welcome" all the time too. We're working on please, but in general you have great manners and always respond cheerfully.

I still hear "I do it myself" all the time too. And you've started saying, "Mommy, watch dis twick" all the time too

As always, you're the boss of your brothers. One morning when we were in Weatherford, you overheard me telling Samuel to get dressed, and I walked into you attempting to put his underwear on him (over his jammies of course). You have no problems keeping up with them and I can't believe I hear words like Darth Vader, Chewbacca, and Ninja Turtles coming out of my darling Princess' mouth :).

You love your brothers so much. Every morning when you wake up you ask where they are (and where Daddy is too). You always tell people that "Daddy's at work." When we drop the boys off anywhere and yell "Bye Nathan and ask him "Tan I have a hug, Nathan? Tan I have a Tiss?" Seriously, it's the sweetest thing in the world.

You absolutely love the swimming pool. You jump in, paddle around, fill up cups of water, get dolphin rides from Daddy and have all sorts of fun. You ask to go to the swimming pool every single day and always insist that "Daddy tum too."

Your favorite toys right now are baby dolls and everything associated with them. You feed your babies, rock and hum to them (also the sweetest thing ever), put them night night. You're such a good mommy to them. You also like to play kitchen and tea party. And you also really like to play with cars and vroom them around. You're getting more interested in coloring, but it doesn't hold your attention very long. When we are outside you always want to swing, climb, blow bubbles or color with sidewalk chalk.

You changed your mind ALL the time when you're watching TV, and it's starting to drive us crazy. In general your favorite TV shows right now are Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Super Why, Special Agent OSO, and Paw Patrol, but you can't make it through ten minutes of any episode before you're asking for something different. When you can't make up your mind about anything, Daddy is quick to remind me that you are a girl. You like to drink your milk and watch a show in the morning and at bedtime.

You continue to nap really well. You snuggle in and know it's time to go to sleep. You nap for about 90 minutes each afternoon. You're staying up a little later these days and going to bed at the same time as your brothers. So we read books and do our bedtime routine as a whole family now. You're always the first one of the three asleep though. You have to have a cup of "fesh wata," be covered up with two specific blankets and have your Baby Margaret next to you before you'll tell me good night and let me leave the room.

You can get into really grumpy moods and have a hard time resetting or snapping out of a fit. Whew, still trying to figure out a way to reset you :). When you do start feeling better, you'll say, "I happy now Mommy." You have big emotions. When you're happy you light up a room and cheer up anyone around you, but when you're sad or angry you can dampen the mood of our entire family.

You are my little encourager. You cheer on your brothers and say, "good job Sammy" or "Yay, you did it" for every little thing. You cheer for yourself all the time too. I can't wait to see that trait continue to develop as you get older. It's one of my favorite things about you.