Mini Fashionista

Dear Lila,

You have learned to say a lot of words lately! Your newest ones are mine, kiss, good, bad, yi yi (Chinese for bad), bed, hot, cold, box, gen (again), pear, blue, purple and done (whenever you finish your food, you hold up your empty plate or bowl and exclaim, "Done!").

You are also becoming quite the girly girl. You love shoes, putting on jewelry and wearing dresses and skirts (sometimes, I catch you twirling and admiring your outfits in the reflection of the oven door, too funny!). And tonight, you actually refused to wear GuhGaw's hand-me-down firetruck pajamas. When I took them out of your dresser and tried to put them on you, you pushed them away and wailed, "Noooooooo!" I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I asked, "Do you not want them because they're GuhGaw's boy pajamas?" "Yeah," you woefully replied. "Do you want to wear girl pajamas?" I asked. "Yeah," you said. I took a pair of pink and blue ice cream cone pjs out of your dresser and your face lit up. Almost two years old and already so opinionated about what you wear!

This outfit was Lila-approved!

Love,
Mom

Bedtime Battle

Dear Lila,

It's funny how you and your brother have had completely opposite reactions to all of the different milestones in your life. GuhGaw was a picky eater when he started eating solid foods; took his first steps and was practically running by the next day; and freaked out the first few times I gave him a shower. You, in contrast, have always eaten almost anything I feed you, took your first steps but didn't become a confident walker until months later and didn't even blink an eye when you took your first shower.

So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you and your brother reacted differently to switching to a toddler bed. When Daddy converted Connor's crib into a bed, we thought he would spend the first night constantly hopping out of it and refusing to go to sleep. He surprised us and stayed in bed the whole night. And ever since, once Connor gets into bed, he almost always stays in bed (that doesn't mean he always falls asleep right away, though--sometimes he spends hours constantly calling out for me to fix his blanket, bring him some water, fix his blanket again, give him a pair of socks and oh my god, fix his blanket again).

You have done what we thought Connor was going to do. We converted your crib into a bed 10 days ago (you are so big now that it's a struggle for me to lift you up high enough to put you into the crib!) and it has not been a smooth transition. You stayed in bed the first night (you were still in awe of the novelty of it, I suppose) but every night since then has been a battle to get you to a) get into bed and b) stay there. I used to be able to put you in your crib, say good night, leave your room and let you fall asleep on your own. Now I have to corral you into bed and sit next to your bed until you fall asleep; otherwise, you keep climbing out of bed and coming out of your room to find me (and now that you've learned how to open your safety gate, it is completely useless). And even when you fall asleep in your bed, it doesn't mean you stay there. When Daddy woke up this morning, he found you asleep on the floor next to your gate. Oye.

Love,
Mom

Jailbreak

Dear Lila,

Things you did today:

-Said the word "apple" for the first time

-At the end of a phone conversation with PoiPoi, waved at the phone, said, "bye," hugged the phone and gave it a high five (your nanny always gives you a high five when she says bye to you at the end of the day and you've started doing this, too)

-Were playing *inside* your room when I went into the shower and were playing *outside* of your room when I came out of the shower

So you can open the (supposedly) childproof safety gate for your room now. GuhGaw managed to do it for the first time last month and you are almost as big as he is, so when you put all of your weight on the foot pedal, you are strong enough to push it open. You actually first figured out that you could do this last night and today, you kept practicing and managed to open your gate three times. Crap. There go my long, leisurely showers while you safely play in your room!

Love,
Mom

Recent Events

Dear Lila,

A few recent happenings:

-You have learned to say many new words, including shoe, yeah, bib, boo boo, bottle, nose, me (and you point to yourself when you say it), bed, more, book, hug, baby, door and floor

-You "let it go" on Halloween and looked adorable!

-When I was cleaning up some crumbs underneath the dining room table, I bumped my head and said, "Ow." You immediately ran over to me, patted my head and hugged me. Aww, thanks, sweetie!

-Goodbye, crib! You switched over to a big-girl bed last week!

-When I read a story or sing a song to you, you attempt to follow along and say or sing the words with me.

-I used to have to cut your bananas and string cheese into tiny pieces so that you could eat them, but now I can give them to you whole and you can bite into them on your own. It's funny how these little displays of independence can be so bittersweet for a mom.

-You were sitting on a bench, throwing your baby Ariel doll up in the air and saying, "Weee!" It was really cute and of course made me think of the day, way in the future, when you will be doing that to your actual baby :)

Love,
Mom