23 months old-- almost to 2!

I thought I'd keep up with Leah's monthly updates at least until she's 2, so this post is just for her-- the big sister. Leah seems to have definately hit the terrible 2's. I know part of it is that she's still adjusting to a new baby brother, but mostly I think she's just learning how to test mommy & daddy to see what she can get away with. "No" is her new favorite word and she tries it all the time-- sometimes even when she really means "yes." She gets in her little brain something that she wants to do, and she is going to do it no matter whether she knows she will get in trouble or not! She teaches us patience every day, and reminds us of both the discipline and grace that God himself gives to us.

Leah talks non-stop now & uses a lot of complete sentences. Sometimes it is just so funny to hear what she has to say! In the morning when I get her up, she will say something like, "Where Daddy at?" and if I say "Daddy's sleeping" she will respond "I was sleeping too." It's so fun to actually be able to carry on some semblence of a conversation!

She is still sleeping fairly well at night, although now that I'm not getting much sleep at night I'd love for her to sleep past her usual 6:45 am! Her naps are usually only about 2 hours or less now. I've been struggling to find things to keep her busy this past week since I've been home-- I'm not really up for much active stuff-- I'm not really ready for a trek to the park where I have to chase her around & help her with everything-- so we're really kinda stuck at home and often she gets bored with her same old toys. I try to give her some sort of creative outlet every day, and go outside (even just to run around in the yard), and of course there's always "Elmo movie"-- she would gladly watch Elmo movies all day long if I let her!

She really does seem to have adjusted well to her baby brother and makes attempts to "help"-- getting me diapers & throwing the dirty ones away. She loves to kiss him (esp. when he's trying to sleep) and wiggle his fingers. She gets very concerned when he cries-- and that's the only time she really whines about not getting attention. She did want to have a bottle when he had one, so I obliged and she lost interest fairly quickly. She also had a meltdown when I put Andrew in her crib for just a second.

We're going to attempt the switch to the toddler bed probably this coming week, although I dread it-- it is already in her room now & she loves to sit on it to read her books but so far has balked at the idea of sleeping in it. We moved the rocking chair out of her room, so she is no longer rocked to sleep, and now she has her very own table & chairs that she loves to sit at to look at her books! She does still love her books and often "reads" them out loud-- her own version, of course!

It's hard to believe she's almost 2 years old! She's still my sweet, cuddly little girl, who loves to give hugs & kisses and loves to snuggle on the couch. I can barely remember when she was as small as Andrew (which reminds me every day how quickly time flies and reminds me to enjoy every day with him!).

We set up her new table & chairs in the living room before moving it up to her room, so here she is playing at it in the living room. And when we moved the love seat over during Grandma & GRandpa's stay, she loved looking out the window behind the sheer curtain! (And yes, those are shorts on her head!)