23 and holding...

Can I really be typing out a 23 month post? All cliches aside, but where has the time gone? I don't even want to think about doing the two year post in a month! So we're just going to hold right here at 23 for a while, ok?

Katie seems to change so much these days - she has developed really good fine motor skills. This is one of her favorite toys - it has 6 doors with different locks on them and she has to open them and then locks them back. She's even tried a few of them with her feet. Aside from that, she loves to color and she loves to peel stickers and put them on anything and everything.

She is generally a happy child at home. Out in public, she is easily startled by other people or new things, but she warms up eventually. She loves the backyard, and thinks this nasty, old, orange chair is her own personal chaise lounge. She lounges in it with the biggest grin on her face while we play with her toys.

She seems to learn new words every day and lots of times they are words that I know we didn't teach her. After her flu shot, we took her to a park to enjoy the outdoors and a picnic and she kept picking up pinecones and saying "pinecone." It didn't sound perfect, but she was clearly saying PINECONE. She is doing better at attempting to say things when I prompt her - she will repeat lots of people's names back to me. She recognizes all of her cousins by their pictures on our fridge. She says Gabe & Nancy to the computer since we have skyped with them before. We still don't have any two word combos other than NO MOMMY, but she's communicating with us much better.

We're digging into fall/winter clothes and most of her 18 month stuff still fits her from last year but is kind of short. Most 24 month things are way too big so we are sort of at an in between stage. Thankfully it's not cold enough for pants all the time and we make-do with dresses since they definitely still fit. Shoes are size 7 for now - but we've been there for a while so I'm wondering if a growth spurt is in her future. Still no sign of 2 year molars - fine by me. Her hair is pretty long, but the sides are so much shorter than the back that we can't quite make a ponytail yet.

Katie has an obsession with band aids. She still has a scar on her chin from when she busted it on our hardwoods a few months ago. If we let her, she will put a bandaid on it every day. The other morning, I hit my hand on something and she promptly went to get me a Dora bandaid and opened it and put it on my hand.

She's very sweet when she wants to be. She can be extremely gentle and loving to animals, friends, cousins, parents. But then something snaps - and she can go beserk and becomes rough with everyone and everything. So discipline has become a big focus at our house but it just never feels right. I'm sure there is a method out there that is perfect for her temperament, but we haven't found it yet.

I love my little family of three. We love to hang out on our bed with Katie first thing in the morning and late at night. She loves to watch stuff with daddy on his BIIIG tv (she just calls it BIIIG - no TV, just BIIIG). She loves to "help" me do laundry. She loves to shop, just like her mommy! She loves to tinker with tools, just like her daddy! Happy 23 months Katie!