22 Months
Here we are, closing in on two years old! Very much the toddler-preschooler, just a little bit of baby left.
Heidi's talking is out of control comical. She comments and questions nonstop, all day long, with increasing volume if we fail to respond. And now she's funny enough to introduce my favorite feature: Conversations with Heidi! Two gems from this week:
[Heidi puts on some sparkly sunglasses]
Me: Looks good!
Heidi: I look amazing.
[Waddling and grabbing her diaper]
Heidi: Poopy, mommy. Poopy. Check my butt. Wait, let me check my butt. Why? Because.
My favorite syntax quirk is you/me. Many verbs are "whatever-you," so if she wants someone else to do (or not do) something, it comes out "cuddle you me," "swing you me," "no tickle you me!"
Poor third child is getting potty trained in the most haphazard manner. If we're home and hanging out for a few hours, I try to get her to run around sans pants. But sometimes she doesn't want to. And we're not home for uninterrupted stretches all that often. She's getting pretty good at holding it but not that great at going on the potty. A few successes here and there but mostly she holds it until I put a diaper on her.
She loves playing with her bigs. Ingrid started school a couple of weeks ago and it's actually more work for me. Things were easier when she was here to entertain Heidi!
She occasionally fixates her anxiety on something and we have to talk about it a hundred million times. One day she pooped in her favorite Hello Kitty underwear and lost her everloving mind. Then we had to talk about it a thousand times a day. "Where kitty underwear? Diaper pail? Trash truck? Where? Trash dump?" And then she was terrified of the skunk in the bathtub in the Thankful Book (Todd Parr illustrations are intense). We had to hide the book. "Where kunk? Downstairs? Grandpa Alan closet? Not bother me?"
She has been experimenting with tantrums like a good two-year-old. Sometimes she's genuinely upset and can't control herself. Sometimes she gets down on the floor to cry and pout in the most deliberate manner. It's so obviously just for show. We're on to your game, thirdbaby.
I think she's having a growth spurt because she's sleeping a ton. We put her down at 8 or 8:15 at night and I have to wake her up at 8:00 in the morning to get the day started. Then I put her down for nap at 1:30 and almost always have to wake her at 4:30. At 39 weeks pregnant, I appreciate this enormously. The other night she woke in the middle of the night -- apparently a nightmare -- and we had no idea what to do with her because she literally hasn't woken up at an odd time in over a year.
I'm savoring these last few days of Heidi being the baby of the family. I know from hard experience that Heidi will be our "baby" when we head off to the hospital to deliver her brother, and when we come home, she'll seem like a giant, grown-up child. It's always bittersweet, but this one especially so, because I have enjoyed her baby-hood so much. We're spending a little extra time sitting quietly together and cuddling before every bedtime.
Heidi's talking is out of control comical. She comments and questions nonstop, all day long, with increasing volume if we fail to respond. And now she's funny enough to introduce my favorite feature: Conversations with Heidi! Two gems from this week:
[Heidi puts on some sparkly sunglasses]
Me: Looks good!
Heidi: I look amazing.
[Waddling and grabbing her diaper]
Heidi: Poopy, mommy. Poopy. Check my butt. Wait, let me check my butt. Why? Because.
My favorite syntax quirk is you/me. Many verbs are "whatever-you," so if she wants someone else to do (or not do) something, it comes out "cuddle you me," "swing you me," "no tickle you me!"
Poor third child is getting potty trained in the most haphazard manner. If we're home and hanging out for a few hours, I try to get her to run around sans pants. But sometimes she doesn't want to. And we're not home for uninterrupted stretches all that often. She's getting pretty good at holding it but not that great at going on the potty. A few successes here and there but mostly she holds it until I put a diaper on her.
She loves playing with her bigs. Ingrid started school a couple of weeks ago and it's actually more work for me. Things were easier when she was here to entertain Heidi!
She occasionally fixates her anxiety on something and we have to talk about it a hundred million times. One day she pooped in her favorite Hello Kitty underwear and lost her everloving mind. Then we had to talk about it a thousand times a day. "Where kitty underwear? Diaper pail? Trash truck? Where? Trash dump?" And then she was terrified of the skunk in the bathtub in the Thankful Book (Todd Parr illustrations are intense). We had to hide the book. "Where kunk? Downstairs? Grandpa Alan closet? Not bother me?"
She has been experimenting with tantrums like a good two-year-old. Sometimes she's genuinely upset and can't control herself. Sometimes she gets down on the floor to cry and pout in the most deliberate manner. It's so obviously just for show. We're on to your game, thirdbaby.
I think she's having a growth spurt because she's sleeping a ton. We put her down at 8 or 8:15 at night and I have to wake her up at 8:00 in the morning to get the day started. Then I put her down for nap at 1:30 and almost always have to wake her at 4:30. At 39 weeks pregnant, I appreciate this enormously. The other night she woke in the middle of the night -- apparently a nightmare -- and we had no idea what to do with her because she literally hasn't woken up at an odd time in over a year.
I'm savoring these last few days of Heidi being the baby of the family. I know from hard experience that Heidi will be our "baby" when we head off to the hospital to deliver her brother, and when we come home, she'll seem like a giant, grown-up child. It's always bittersweet, but this one especially so, because I have enjoyed her baby-hood so much. We're spending a little extra time sitting quietly together and cuddling before every bedtime.
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