20 months

I missed the 20-month mark! Last Friday was the 15th, and Valerie was 20 months old. Yeah, I don't think I'll be keeping up with these after she turns 2.

She's been talking a lot more these days, and babbling more as well - experimenting with different sounds and different things her mouth and voice can do. A favorite new word is "hou" (house); also "Emo-mo-mo-mo" (Elmo). She just starting saying "dado" (for cuidado, Spanish for "careful," which I always say when she's close to the edge of something) especially as we come down the stairs. She says "Hi!" now, and seems to really derive tremendous pleasure from this simple word.

She loves to climb things, and since she's getting taller there's a lot more she CAN climb! Her legs are still short (some 18-month pants are too long) but she can get up and and off of adult-sized chairs by herself. I'm continually surprised to see what she can now reach that she couldn't a month ago - shelves, drawers, etc.

She's experimenting with crayons and magnetic drawing boards, just making little marks usually as opposed to lines. But she can identify at least 6 shapes, the basic colors, 40 different animals, and nearly all the letters of the alphabet (still confused by G, J, Q, U, W, and X). She likes putting together Lego blocks - and pulling them apart again.

And she continues in her love of dogs, elephants, turtles, and cows.

I think we need to work on her social skills, though. Her latest thing is kicking people off the comfy chairs. She'll pull on your knee and say "Off! Off! Off!" insistently, until you get off, and then she climbs on and sits like a queen on her throne.

She's still eating really well, a great variety of foods, although the sleep is still a bit hit-or-miss. We have "problem" nights about 1/4 to 1/3 of the time (meaning night waking for an extended period of time).

I'll probably think of 20 more things after I publish this!