22 Months

Our little girl is 22 months old, ya'll.

22 MONTHS!


And actually, I've been working on this post for two weeks now. So, she's really almost 23 MONTHS. I die.

For the most part, my mind has already sped ahead to her being a 2-year-old. Because to say she's "1" just doesn't paint an accurate picture. When I think back to the 12, 13 or even 18-month-old toddler that she was earlier in the year, her abilities pale in comparison to  all that she can do now. She's been displaying all the trademarks of a 2-year-old for months — jaw-dropping tantrums, insane displays of independence, personality, personality and personality. She's like a little person now, with opinions and preferences and sass! One day she trotted into the family room and happily proclaimed to me and Jeremy "Let's color, guys!" My jaw literally dropped because A) she called us guys ..... GUYS?!?!? That's ridiculously cute and familial and casual and, B) because "no, honey, we're you're mom and DAD." 

So here's my little attempt to record a snapshot of Maribelle at 22 months for safe keeping in the time capsule that is this blog.

Coloring -- I have to start with this, because it's what she wants to do all.day.long. We bought huge sketch pads for her and she just goes to town drawing circles, scribbles and generally covering the page in a matter of seconds. We go through paper (and crayons) FAST around here because she prefers blank paper over coloring books most of the time. So with her love of coloring, we've dabbled in water colors and glue as well. Yes, glue. (I know, it's very brave of me, thank you.) I try to do some sort of art/craft project with her everyday, so our fridge looks like a little art gallery. It makes me so very happy every time I walk by it and adds so much color and cheer to our kitchen.

Football -- The girl LOVES football. She's always asking to watch it and gets so excited whenever she sees it on tv. She will actually watch a good portion of a game (more than I have the patience for!) and claps, runs around and pretends to "kick!" She also proudly exclaims "Go Guckeyes!!," which of course is supposed to mean Buckeyes but sounds way cuter with a "G" at the beginning. Jeremy has even taken her to the local football fields to watch the community youth leagues, and she loves running around the field when the games are over. And although we like to think her favorite team is Ohio State, she actually prefers the Oregon Ducks. Because she likes their mascot. Awesome.

Dancing and Singing -- The girl has a knack for polka, let me tell you! For months now, she's been dancing to a German record that we bought from the thrift store called "Gluck in den Bergen," and it is the ONLY one she wants to listen to. If we try to play another record, she freaks out and insists we put on the polka music. She's always asking to "Dance? Dance?" and loves it when mommy and daddy join in. Her overall style is very interpretive, I must say. And the singing is one of my favorite little tricks of hers. We play lots of nursery rhyme songs for her, and she picks them up right away. Every night after we've read a few books, I sit in her dark room with her on my lap, and we sing songs. She makes requests and joins in when she wants to. It's one of my favorite parts of the day.

Talking -- Oh boy, the talking! It's amazing how all of a sudden she started forming sentences over night. Last week she looked at me while we were eating dinner and said "Daddy and mommy color with me." Amazing. And the sentences just keep getting longer and more complex. Other cute little phrases she's saying right now: Whenever we approach a street or parking lot she says "Careful! Beep, beep! Walk"; she asks for "a bit" when she wants to drink juice from a glass; she's constantly asking to "have it" or "hold it"; and if she had it her way, she'd have "nani and cheese" for every meal, which of course is macaroni and cheese. Oh, and her newest words this week: "gross" and "boogers." Classy.

Development -- She can recognize the basic shapes, including circle, triangle, square, heart and star; she puts on her shoes all by herself (many times on the right feet!) and her daycare provider is thoroughly impressed; she knows many of her numbers between 1 and 10 (when she's in the mood); and we're working hard on colors (pink, blue, black, white and brown seem to be the ones she notices most); she likes singing along to the ABCs and hits key stress points within the song; 

Babies and Stuffed Animals -- All of a sudden, she's developed a real interest in baby dolls and stuffed animals. She's never really cared about them before, but now she's all about caring for them, hugging them, kissing them, and telling them "It's OK" (apparently they cry ALOT). Her crib is always packed with friends, especially her various Yo Gabba Gabba characters. And she notices and pleads for whichever character is missing. I've even had to run out to the car to fetch one (usually Foofa) in order for her to settle in her crib.

Sleeping -- she's still a champion sleeper and sleeps about 12 hours every night, with a two to three hour nap during the day. And I thank the Sleep Gods every single day for this.

Eating -- mehhhh, she's a typical toddler when it comes to food. When we can get her to sit still long enough, she loves to eat her carbs (pasta, crackers, bread) and is hit and miss when it comes to veggies, although she slammed a bowl of homemade onion soup last night. She loves eating peas and corn and most fruits, except melons, and will eat greens if they are chopped small enough and mixed into a soup or pasta. Thankfully Jeremy is really clever and resourceful when it comes to incorporating healthy veggies into his main dishes, and I'm telling you, she will eat ANYTHING he makes. With my food, it's a different story (And I can't say I blame her.) Some of her favorites at the moment include: "nani and cheese" (macaroni and cheese, of course), pastina, cold shrimp with cocktail sauce, plain yogurt with honey, olives (we're talking the fancy and bitter full-on garlic-and-herb flavored olives), cookies, chips and clementines.

Random obsession of the moment: the moon. She looks for it and points it out day and night. The other day while we were driving in the car, she kept yammering about the moon, even though it was the middle of the day. Jer and I didn't think anything of it until we saw a very faint outline of the moon in the sky, and decided that our little girl is well on her way to being a lunar scientist.

Or, a professional polka dancer. And we will most definitely be supportive of either career choice.