22 + 23 + 24 months

Well, here we are, at the last of the monthly updates.  I'm pretty impressed with myself that I actually managed to take a picture of Lilly every month, for 2 years.  I know I started slacking on the updates by year 2, but I'm still glad I have done as much as I have.  

The past 3 months have gone by so incredibly fast.  Really, the past 2 years have gone by incredibly fast. I wish I could slow time down, but since I can't I just try to hang on to every little memory I possibly can.  22 Months was full of memories, with the holiday season!  I posted all about it already, but the holidays were really so much fun this year.  And I know it will only get better as she grows!

23 Months was equally fun, and we saw a real language explosion this month!  She had been saying words, and lots of them, for quite a while, but around 23 months she started putting words together more frequently, and just talking a ton.  One of my absolute favorite things is when she tells us a "story" - I can usually only get about half of the words figured out, but she is just so serious and into whatever it is she is talking about.  This girl's facial expressions are killer.

And then all the sudden I had a 2 year old!!  I can't believe she is a full fledged TODDLER now.  This age is really so much fun, and I love every minute of it, but I also can't help but feel like it was just yesterday she was a tiny little blob coming home from the hospital.  Seeing how much she has grown and changed in just her 2 years of life, though, is remarkable.  She has such a personality now, but is still the happy kid she's been all along. She can make anyone smile, and frankly she is the best cure for a bad day.  She has developed such an imagination, and pretend play is where it's at right now.  I love watching her play "mama" to her dolls, and cook us endless meals in her play kitchen.  Right around her 2nd birthday she started talking even more, now putting 3 and 4 words together.  I can pretty much have a conversation with her now, which blows my mind.  It certainly makes you feel more sane when you're at the store with a kid that can actually talk back to you and doesn't just look at you funny when you talk or ask her questions. :)  Also this month mama & daddy went on a trip (311 cruise part 2 - more to come on that!) where we left her for an entire week with Grandma (and a night at Aunt Sarah's).  It was so incredibly hard on me, and I missed her SO MUCH, but she had a blast.  And although I missed her terribly, we really did have a blast and an adult vacation was quite nice!

Alright, on to the last monthly(ish) update!  I will probably do a yearly update going forward...that seems doable. :)

Stats ~ nothing official still - due to issues with my company changing insurance, then me changing jobs, and after a lot of appointment scheduling, canceling and re-scheduling, her 2 year appointment isn't until the end of April. Thankfully after all of it, she gets to stay with the same pediatrician she's been seeing since she was born, and I'm very happy about that! 

Size ~ a few 18 month or 18-24 month things still fit, but she is mostly in 24 month and 2T clothes now.  2T pants can be a little big around the waist (but she needs the length! long legs on my girl!), but that's nothing a fluffy cloth diaper can't fix.  She's still in 18 month jammies, but those are finally starting to get small.  24 month and 2T jammies look HUGE to me, but I'm sure they'll fit fine once I put them on her...I'm still in denial that she is out of the "month" sizes.  Sigh.

Sleeping ~ not much of a change here, she goes to bed around 8 still, wakes up sometime during the night (sometimes pretty early - 2 or 3am, sometimes not until 5 or 6) and comes into our bed.  She is usually up for the day around 7... lately she's been an amazing snuggle buddy in the mornings.  In fact, I may or may not have been late to work a couple days recently because I just couldn't talk myself into getting out of bed.  You get up when an adorable 2 year old is laying next to you, with her arms around your neck, snuggling you - it's impossible!  Naps are still kind of all over the place...while she does still take one every day, it ranges from 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours.  She naps much better for Grandma...on the weekends I'm lucky to get her down for 45 minutes it seems like.

Eating ~  I am so happy to report that we are still going strong at 2 years of breastfeeding.  I never in a million years thought we would make it this far, but I am so thankful that we have!  I know that she has already reaped so many benefits from nursing, and I absolutely love the bond it has given us.  She currently nurses before bed and when she wakes during the night, and my plan is to let her wean on her own when she is ready (which I still don't see happening too soon!).  Other than that, she is a great eater still - she loves a variety of foods, and surprises us regularly with how much she eats at a meal!  She loves mac & cheese (really anything with cheese), strawberries, avocados, "bobo" bars, raisins, bread, and about a million other things.  She tries just about anything, and there isn't much she doesn't like!  I still think that Baby Led Weaning was a huge help in making her the great eater she is today.  We have also started having smoothies each morning (made with fruit, spinach, greek yogurt & almond milk) and that has become a quick favorite of hers as well.

Likes ~  "cooking" in her kitchen, playing with her babies, bath time, eating snow (we didn't get a ton of snow this year, but the few times we did she pretty much just wanted to eat it...), playing with her big cousin Lexi (they have started playing together so well, and it's just the cutest thing!), forts, Daisy, stickers, drawing, doing things by herself.

Dislikes ~ getting her diaper changed (for some reason she is not a fan of it recently...I think she just doesn't like being torn away from whatever it is she is doing), uhhh that's all I can think of!  Have I mentioned she is like the happiest kid???

Current Nicknames ~ boog, boogie, Lills, baby Lills 

Words ~  like I said before she has started putting 3 and 4 words together, and speaking in sentences.  Her signature phrase right now is "four-five".  It's random, and we have no idea where she picked it up, but anytime you ask her what time it is that's her response.  Or if you ask her to do something or go somewhere, she'll often say it (as in "four or five more minutes please"...)  I will have to try and get it on video because the way she says it is just the funniest thing!

Well, there you have it folks, 2 years in the books!  I'm really glad I stuck with it and wrote these down, I already love looking back and reading what she was like at different ages.  Time flies!  The next time I blink I'm going to have a 3 year old....not possible!!