20 Months!!

Thank you for hanging in there with me while I continue to post bi-monthly updates on what Maura has been up to. I work better with deadlines, so holding myself to writing these posts is the best way for me to actually get this done...for myself. and our family:) and for anyone out there that cares what the world's smartest and cutest 20 month old is up to;)

So, she's 20 months now! Hard to believe. Like we're getting close to turning two years old here!!! I love this stage, it is so fun. I tell her every day that she's my best friend!! Here's this months' bunny chair pics:

Check out the hair!! It's growing so fast! I've been wanting to try low pigtails in the back, but I keep forgetting to the buy the right elastics/pony tail holders. (I've heard from a couple of people that those clear ones work best. Anyone else with thoughts on this?)

The way she is communicating and the concepts she understands continue to amaze me.  She's putting two and three word phrases together at this point. She tries to repeat everything we say (and is fairly successful) except for "thank you". For some reason, she clams up every time I say "Can you say thank you?" Really?! But she's very good at "please"...cause she knows it will get her what she wants:)

In my last post (at 18 months) we were working on colors but she wasn't really getting it. I'm happy to report that she has now nailed her colors. She knows red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, black, brown and grey!

{her tow truck Mater is never far away...she knows "brown" because of him}

I still struggle some days with getting to her to eat (mostly because I know she can inhale stuff when she's in the right mood..and she'll love something one day and then I'll try to give it to her three days later and she wants nothing to do with it). I just try not to let it get to me now. We try to eat dinner with her, and she has what we are having, about 2 or 3 nights a week now. (I always eat breakfast with her, but before Paul and I always used to eat dinner together after she was in bed.) I think its helping with the whole social aspect of eating and she has tried a few new things (and liked them) because of it. She still doesn't really like many vegetables (she does love corn and likes "salad" - which is really just the crunchy part of the lettuce spine with some balsamic vinaigrette dressing on it)..but she loves those squeezable pouches (with the straw-like top) that are fruit and veggies puree, so hopefully that makes up for it?!

Our nap time and bedtime routine has changed somewhat. She wants to read a ton of books now before going in her crib!

Easter was definitely a lot more fun this year because she could actually open her Easter Basket herself and run around and do the egg hunt with her cousins.

We still attend a mommy and me type class at My Gym every morning and have started swimming lessons every Wednesday. Despite the fact that Maura loves the bath, the shower and the ocean (she will try to run into the water and swim if we are at the beach, even in the middle of winter), I can not say she is loving swim class. She cries a lot during it, her teeth are constantly chattering (we do it at the Y, but the pool is still a bit chilly) and she clings to me like her life depends on it (kinda hard to get her to float, or kick or anything when I can't break any of her limbs away from my body!). We've had three classes so far and I finally noticed a bit of an improvement this past week. Like definitely still not loving it, but hating it a bit less. I'm hoping the newness of the pool, or the chlorine, or the big open space, or whatever it is that's making her feel uncomfortable will wear off by the end of the 8 week session and she'll start to have fun.

 What we've been up to lately (in no particular order as you can tell from the outerwear or lack thereof):

{coloring with chalk}

{collecting rocks}

{having play dates}

{swingin'}

{playing with trains at the Children's Museum in Boston...this girl likes anything with wheels}

{exploring nature and watching the season change}

{climbing big rocks}

{playing in sand}

{going on walks}

{having adventures...checking out the Mayflower II in downtown Plymouth}

Love you more and more every day, girl!!!