20 months but going on 20 years

While she’s only turning 20 months this week, I’m suddenly realizing that she’s becoming older much faster than I ever expected in my mind. It’s happening at such a rapid pace, that I can barely stop to write down what’s going on. In short, my mind is literally blown over the recent developmental breakthroughs, and I’m realizing that I have a full on PERSON in front of me…. not a baby or a toddler or whatever random age assignment you want to put on it… she is a PERSON in a little body.

Sure, her id might be might have been running the show full-time, but the ego is coming into picture now and you can actually see her thought process happen in front of you. No really… she fully says, “Ummm…..” and looks up sideways into her brain for the answer and then gives it to you 3 seconds later. It’s astonishing when you think about it, and in the moment it’s downright adorable.

She reads along with her books like they’re old stories from years past. If I didn’t know better, I’d actually think she could read the words on the page.

She climbs into her own highchair, and then declares herself, “Stuck.”

She counts from 1-10 as we descend or ascend the stairway in the house… conveniently skipping 5 and 7 for reasons we’ve yet to discover. And she sings the alphabet some like she knows that they’re actual letters, not just sounds from a song.

She pouts with sincerity when she doesn’t get what she wants… and she knows how to break into a fake cry when she’s willing to put on a show for that want.

She makes decisions, and even when posed with multiple options, she sticks to her guns and asks what she really really wants.

She makes connections between things in the present and the past. On Sunday, I asked if she wanted to go and watch football upstairs. She headed to the stairs, then turned around and said, “Chip?” and walked towards the kitchen. When we had the chips she said, “Dip?” and suddenly I realized that last Monday night’s tortilla chip and guac fest while watching MNF was still fresh in her mind.

She asks to, “try try” all of our food.

She asks to wear certain colors each day. Today it was yellow socks and pink shoes. And when she got to school, the first thing she told her teacher was, “pink shoes! yellow sock.”

She follows multiple directions in one fell swoop even when you don’t expect her to understand half of what you’re saying. “Go in the other room, pick up your blocks and you can have a popsicle,” turns into her doing exactly that and returning to ask for a “cokcle.”

She asks for the the “big box” of Playmobil zoo parts and asks, “Dadda… sit. Sit Dadda” so that Daddy can play along with her.

And this morning, she called out, “Memphis!!” instead of “Mem Mem” … and I think I shed a few tears.

She’s a real person alright… despite any toddling she still might do… a real little person.

Oh what a happy 20 months it has been… with so many more to come!