Quickly Growing Kumquats!

I thought I was so ahead of the game! I started writing this post before K's 22-month birthday (I know, I know...) and I even faithfully took pictures of her on the actual day she turned 22 months. And then? I lost the memory card. And found it. And went out of town. And got sick. And... well, whatever. So, it's getting close to her 23rd month birthday, but I'm posting this anyway. I really wanted to be sure to get down what she's doing now versus when she actually turns 2.

This week, my little girl turned 22 months old! Ugh. She’s getting so close to being 2. I can’t even believe it. A friend recently informed me that she has now passed the age when I can refer to her age in months without sounding like an obsessive, anal mama. She said it was time to move on and start responding to age questions with, “She’ll be 2 in November.” :)

It’s amazing how much she still changes week to week. We’ll be seeing DKG’s family soon. We were talking last night about how amazed his family will be when they see her. She’s doing so many new things, even from our CA trip back in June. That being said, she is also very much the same. She’s such a sweet, silly, happy, ridiculously-cooperative-but-still-a-spitfire girl she’s always been. I really just adore her and am so very thankful I get to be her mama.

Little Kumquat, you just melt your mama’s heart every day. Here are some of the big things you’re doing now...

♥ You are learning SO much, SO quickly! I can’t even count how many times in the past month that I have said, “I didn’t know you knew that.” Here are some academic-type highlights:

• COLORS: You can now identify red, yellow, green, blue, purple, yellow, white, black, brown, pink and grey. When I come to get you out of your crib in the mornings, the first thing you say is usually the color of my shirt, followed by the color of your shirt, and then the colors of all the various buddies in your bed. :)
• LETTERS: You know your letters! You don’t know the alphabet song just yet, but you’ve got all the letters down. It’s taking up a super-long time to read a book now because you like to point at each letter and tell me what it is. You recently saw the LeapFrog video “The Letter Factory,” and now also like to tell me what sound each letter makes. It’s precious, even though it does slow us down a bit.
• NUMBERS: You can count to 13! I didn’t even know you knew your numbers until recently. We were reading a book with numbers outlining the pages. I heard you whispering “seh-seh,” but I wasn’t sure what you were saying. Eventually, I asked, “Seven? Do you see a seven on the page?” and you immediately pointed to the seven. You then informed me that you actually could recognize all of the numbers from 0-9 and also could say 5 (“mie”), 6 (“sis”), and 8 (“eet”). Now you “count” (point at things and recite numbers) everything in sight and say 1 (“wan”), 2 (“doo”), 3 (“hee”), 4 (“oh-are”), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (“mine”), 10 (“en”), 11 (“leh-len”), 12 (“del”), 13 (“za-deen”)... You also hit 18 and 19 pretty well. And, just for the record, counting past 10 is all you! Your daddy and I had nothing to do with that. You were counting one day and just kept on going.
• SHAPES: Another surprise for us. One day we were trying to get you to say “square” just for fun (not even in reference to the shape) and you went over to a shape-sorter and pointed to the square. Who knew? You showed us that night that you also recognized circles and triangles, even if you couldn’t say them just yet. Now, you can say all of their names, plus you recognize and say star, heart, diamond, and oval.
• ANIMALS: You recognize a ridiculous number of animals, sign and say their names and make their sounds. You still love cat, bear, dog, elephant, and monkey the best, I think. We love to hear you say “armadillo” (“dill-OH”) and to make your bunny face.

♥ You are a busy, active little girl! You’ve become quite the confident climber! Just in the past couple of days, you’ve started to worry your mama a bit, as you tried to climb out of your crib and up the kitchen drawers. I guess it’s time to review our Kumquat-proofing! Most of the time, though, you try to climb INTO your bed much more than out. You just love to jump and dance! You’re so proud to be able to jump with 2 feet off the ground.

♥ You have quite a strong opinion on things. A friend tried to sing “Wheels on the Bus” with you recently and you adamantly refused to join (or act like a remotely sane human being) unless she sang the verses in the correct order thankyouverymuch. As she said, you “like it how you like it.” And that’s the story of my life these days. :)

♥ Your favorite place on Earth is My Gym. It’s something of an addiction. You either call it “monkey” (from the logo) or “see-saw” (from part of the warm-up routine). You beg to go there every single day and you are so, so sad when I have to tell you that “Monkey is resting today.” I may or may not have altered my route to some places due to the complete and utter heartbreak I know will ensue if we drive within a mile radius and don’t go to a class.

♥ You have been in 13 states (or 18 + DC, if you count when I was pregnant!) and love to fly. You point out any airplane you ever hear or see and usually wave and say “Bye!” to it. :)

♥ You have more and more stuffed buddies all of the time (where do they all come from??), but you and Pink Kitty are still BFF’s.

♥ You are going to start “school” (really Mom’s Day Out) next week. Your daddy and I are both misty about that... him more than me, I think. :)

I love what a snuggly sweet girl you are. Waking up and snuggling during a couple cartoons while you drink your milk and I drink my coffee is truly my favorite time of the day. And that says a lot for someone who is not. a. morning. person. :) I wish you could be my sweet baby forever, but I do love you more and more each day and just adore watching you learn and discover new things. It’s precious to watch you overcome a challenge and demonstrate new skills with pride. It makes my heart full of joy watching the big girl you’re becoming already! Love you, Little K!