21 Months

So this Claire update is way late and we're practically to her 22 month point, but for future reference, I wanted a post! So here we go....

A lot happened between 20 and 21 months around our house, the first and for most being the month of December and all the excitement it holds.

She had such a fun time picking out a Christmas tree, figuring out why we got to bring it inside and the concept of hanging things on it! She loved helping me decorate, bake cookies, wrap presents and of course talking about Santa! She really seemed to understand all the details every time we talked about him and loved to hear Santa stories at bedtime.

Then came the nativity, Bethlehem and baby Jesus....she is completely obsessed with the whole idea and all the "characters." She is still carrying around Mama Mary and Baby Jesus, her 2 favorite! They go everywhere with us and sleep with her every night.

The biggest and best event was deciding to leave Santa (along with his cookies and milk) all of her ba-ba's (pacifiers). We talked about it for several days before and then on Christmas Eve we got them and she laid them out for him to take. We told her that she was a big girl and that Santa was going to give them to babies who needed one and didn't have any. She did surprisingly well with it all and hasn't asked for them one time since that night. She does remind us every once in a while what she did and of course we praise her for being brave and such a big girl!

She is a total toddler now with imitating everything we do....words, phrases, tones, emotions, gestures, pretty much anything! One of her favorite things to do is the name game...pointing to and naming everyone in the room, especially at meal time. Her second favorite thing to do is talk on the phone...to anyone who is willing to listen. She will pick up the phone, real or pretend, dial a number and tell whoever she is talking to what she's doing. It's very cute to watch and listening to her conversations can be quite entertaining!

Well those are the major highlights for now and I'm sure in a few weeks there will be much more to report! Life is never dull around here!!