Photoshoot: 20 Months Old

Baby girl turned 20 months old on Sept. 28. Each month on the 28th I take a photo of Miss Alexa and her owl to mark her growth because, as everyone likes to remind me, "they're only little for a short while."

OK, I woke up one day this month and found a full-fledged little girl standing in the crib where my baby used to be. Who is this child, and since when did she start greeting me with "Mama!" first thing in the morning before proceeding to talk my ear off in her toddler language? Who is this child who walks down the stairs holding the rail and runs to the fridge to point out that, no thanks, Mama, I do not want scrambled eggs, I want grapes, duh? And who is this child who sometimes listens to me when it's convenient to her and who oftentimes ignores me when it's not and who gives me the evil eye should I take away her binkie or who smiles real big if I say "cheese!"?

Excuse me while I fan myself to stop the tears from welling up.

She wears 18-24 month clothing. Some 2T stuff (T-shirts mostly). She wears size 6 shoes. She gets excited about shoes, exclaiming "shuuuues" when I tell her it's time to get ready to outside.

One nap a day still. Alexa has been staying up later in the evening, so the odds are good that I can say night-night and read her a bedtime story. She isn't sleeping in any later, though. Oof. Snuggling is very much at her pleasure. If she isn't feeling your hug/kiss/pickup, she will let you know with an annoyed whine.

I'm not sure how many teeth she has. If I did a proper count, I might come back missing a finger or two.

Alexa loves sweet food. Surprise! I'm her Mama, after all, and Sweet Tooth is my middle name (that and Danger). Fruit gets preference over savory foods. She is starting to develop a food personality. When given a sandwich, she will open it up and pick apart the insides, leaving a bread shell. She wants her cereal in a bowl with milk, please. (No matter that she barely gets any on the spoon and into her mouth.)

Her fruit hierarchy is as follows:
Watermelon > grapes > bananas > strawberries > blueberries > apples
And even though apples are not her favorite, they are still better than 95% other food in Alexa's book.

Favorite things: kitties (aka "cicis"), kissing the animals in her books, dance parties (especially when Mama and Daddy swing her in circles), being "flipped" over by Mama, riding on Daddy's shoulders, walking in stores by herself (exhausting for us, but she loves it), anything pink and plastic, balloons (every time she sees them, she points and says "meeee!"), jumping up and down in front of the mirror

New words: Cheese, sunshine, run, shoe, more, boat, some, ball, circle, heart, beach, water, jump, please, phone, butterfly (pronounced bo-fly), peek-a-boo (pronounced pee-bo), night-night, fun

She is getting to be so sweet when she feels like it. Last Friday we got out the baby blankets in her room and made a little bed on the floor. We lay down, and Alexa said, "Night-night, Mama." She then stood up, grabbed a blanket and placed it on top of me as I pretended to sleep. OK, I might've nodded off a little bit.

Heart. Melted.

A few minutes later, she pounced on my back. Oof!

Previous months:

one  •  two  •  three  •  four
  •  five  •  six  •  seven  •  eight
nine •  ten •  eleven •  twelve
•  thirteen •  fourteen •  fifteen •  sixteen •
seventeen • eighteen • nineteen