Gage 21 Month Letter

Dear "Mine!", You just turned 21 months old last week and it's crazy to think that you'll be 2 in just a couple of months. How the heck did that happen? We only JUST celebrated your first birthday!

You have really adjusted well to the new daycare you're at. You love playing with your friends "K" and "M". You, obviously, were drawn to K first, since she's an older woman. They are 3 yr old twins, one boy and one girl. You really seem to have picked up a friendship with M and I've seen him make you laugh really hard. You also don't care to be picked up when it's time to go home most of the time.

You've learned a LOT so far. You have a word of the day, and you remember several in a row. You have also been saying "mine!" a lot, which I understand is because you're now in a more sharing situation. But, kid, I HATE THAT WORD. It's just not nice hearing it from your mouth every 3.8 seconds. And, you're also incredibly fond of saying "no". I realize that has a lot to do with your age and how you're learning about the world. But, again, super annoying after a while.

Other than that, you're proving to be incredibly smart and a very fast learner. You pat my tummy and say "baby" since we explained that's where the baby is. You ask questions and you make your requests pretty clear. And, of course, throw a royal fit when you don't get what you want. We try not to pay too much attention to the fits, and try to focus on positive attention, and making sure you feel like we're paying attention when you say something or follow along with you when you say "um on!" and beckon with your little hand. I do love following you around the house to see what it is that you're excited enough about to show us.

 You've discovered just how much fun it is to play with the baby powder if I am stupid enough to leave it ANYWHERE CLOSE to where you can reach it. Let me just tell you that your room will probably smell like a fresh baby's bottom until we move out. There's only so much you can do to clean that mess up. Perhaps this would be the time to splurge on having a house cleaner come visit for a couple of hours. If only...

You LOVE to help. You have been helping me feed the dogs by bringing Mimi's bowl and helping me scoop food into it, and even carrying it back to where she likes to eat. (out of the kitchen, away from the little terrorist dogs). You throw away trash. You like ti put things back where they belong. You even clean up your toys if I am very specific about where to put them. Yesterday I asked you to put your books back into the dump truck (you like pushing them around in it) and not only did you pick them all up, you pushed the truck back into your room. I was very proud.

You still love to dance, and still use it as a way to distract us from getting on to you about something you shouldn't be doing. Of course, we're not THAT dumb, but it is awfully cute that you try. (I am 100% certain that you get this character trait from your dad.) You have stopped eating like a Hoover, and more like a kid who eats regular meals. You definitely were all over my dinner plate last night, picking shredded cheese off of my chili dog and calling it rice.

You love lotion and if I put some on you, you always help rub it in. I am looking forward to taking advantage of this by letting you help me rub lotion on my belly as it grows and gets all itchy. You're really getting big, and I think I am loving it more and more every day now. We are so proud of how smart you are. And how much fun you can be. I am personally very proud of your vocabulary, as I can take a lot of the credit for it.

Gage, you're outrageous!

Love, Mommy