monson.life: June 2014

Dear Whitney,

At 22 months old, you are learning how to ride a strider bike. You stand and walk the bike for the most part, and you are getting pretty good at steering and turning. Every day, you get better at it. You really like it! We also got you your first trike. You aren't able to pedal it, but you enjoy being pushed around on it and walking your feet on the ground to go forward and backwards.

This month, you became interested in stacking foam blocks and legos. You like to make really tall towers and then knock them over with one exuberant swipe of the hand. This is the first time you've really taken interest in putting the legos together rather than just taking them apart. Tea parties, playing with your dolls, lining up like items/toys in a straight line, Mr. Potato Head, the felt board and listening/dancing to songs are among your favorite past-times. Ring Around the Rosie (you call it "Ashes") with Daddy is also a big hit these days, along with piggy back rides on his back--every chance you get, you ask to get on his back! You like to pretend to talk on the phone, too! Oh--and you've mastered your shape sorter--you can sort them without me helping you.

Since the weather has been quite warm, we spend time every day playing outside with water activities. Going to the splash pad with you is so much fun. You run around like a little maniac and scream and laugh. The backyard hose is a great substitute, too! You enjoy pouring water from one cup to another cup, back and forth, when playing at the water table. You even have a kiddie pool to splash around in. We will survive the hot summer!

One day, you decided that you didn't want to wear a sleep sack for sleeping anymore. You just refused. You sleep just as good without it, even though you don't keep blankets on you for warmth. Growing up :(

I forgot to mention in last month's post that you can put your (velcro) shoes on all by yourself!

One of the things that has delighted me the most this month is listening to you sing and watching your cute dance moves. You are very musically-inclined! You always ask me to turn on the music. Lately, you are quite obsessed with "Mickey song"s on Rhapsody. Watch this!

The other thing I love about you is that you love to pray. You will keep holding hands even after we've finished praying because you want to pray again. And again! And again! :)

A cute new word for you this month is "o-tay" (okay). Your vocabulary is developing so fast, I can't even keep up with all the new words and phrases. You know all these colors: red, blue, green, yellow, pink, purple, orange, and brown. Wow! And you are always counting things: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10 (sometimes 7 and 8...but you always leave out 5 for some reason).

Another thing that you've started doing is sucking on your fingers when you are in social situations. It is a nervous habit that you have picked up out of nowhere...

Last, you are obsessed with pee pee and poo poo. You don't like being wet or dirty. You always tell me when you've pooped. And you always ask to see it when your diaper is being changed :) Fascinated. When Mommy and Daddy are going potty, you like to look and announce what we did and then say, "Bye bye!" when we flush. So funny! I think you're ready to start potty training, but the problem is that I'm not ready :/ Bad timing with Levi's birth just around the corner.

Your little brother Levi is just days away from being born. When I think about how these are literally the last moments of having just you around, I get a little sad. What a wonderful and fun-filled couple of years it has been having just a daughter--just you. I will absolutely love having our completed family, but all these memories of life when it was just you are certainly very precious ones! You are still too young to fully comprehend the change that is about to take place in our family. You know that there is a baby in my tummy and you ask to see it daily (lifting up my shirt and giggling, you always say, "Oh!" and then pull my shirt back down). You kiss my belly and I wonder how much of it makes sense to little you. It is going to be a pretty awesome moment when I get to see you meet Levi for the first time :) I hope you like him!