My favourite

Listening to Lily's voice and hearing her language develop over the past six months has been my favourite stage to date. I wonder what's next?

Joy

Despite the trials and tribulations of parenting a toddler, having Lily in my life brings me immense joy. Having a child was the best decision that we've ever made. I've never experienced a love so deep and so profound. It is a true wonder to watch her grow, learn, and develop into her own person.

I love you

After waiting for many months, Lily has finally started to tell me that she loves me. She's been telling me that she loves her daddy and that she loves Cara but she didn't say anything about loving me until a few weeks ago. What an amazing thing to hear from your little one!

When you were two (and three months)

You talk up a storm. Considering that you were a bit late to the talking scene, it's amazing how many words you can say now. You are a little reporter and can parrot almost anything we say, including the swear words.

You love reading books and doing puzzles.

Bambi is your favourite movie, even if there are a few clips that scare you.

You love playing hockey with your Daddy.

You could play outside all day long, especially if there was a sandbox involved.

You are scared to ride your run bike but you are obsessed with Mom and Dad's bikes.

You love throwing rocks and bark mulch.

You are tentative and a little shy sometimes but you quickly warm up to people.

You transition easily to new situations and happily go with the flow.

Your favourite foods are Mini-wheats, quesadillas, and noodles with cheese. You occasionally eat some fruit but rarely eat veggies (other than corn).

You are feisty and independent. You love doing things on your own and get mad if we try to help you.

You get frustrated when you don't get your way and can throw off a glare that would stop a horse in his tracks.

You are happiest when you are with your Mom and Dad. You are a pleasure to be around and we couldn't be prouder of the child that you are becoming.

Toddlers are weird!

After approximately eight months of mostly eating only four foods (rice, cereal, noodles, and quesadillas), Lily suddenly decided that she likes all food again and will eat pretty much anything I give her. And it happened overnight. Weird.

First sentence

Lily's been talking up a storm these days. She can tell me when she's hungry, when she wants water, and that something's yucky. She can repeat almost every word we say to hear although some of them are still gibberish. Plus, she's starting to speak little sentences. Her first one was this weekend - "I want another cracker". When I asked if she wanted a cracker, she says "yes please". SO cute!

Chatterbox

Lily hasn't been super quick to develop language skills but she's coming along. It's SO cute to listen to her yammer away while she's eating or playing with her toys. Her word repertoire to date includes:

• Dog (has been saying this forever! It was probably her first real word)
• Momma
• Dadda
• Apple
• Puppy
• Baby
• Bubble
• Ipad (not sure how I feel about this)
• Happy
• Happy hour (what kind of child am I raising here?!)
• Brett (pronounced "Bet")
• Auntie
• Up
• All done

There's probably a few more that I'm missing but this is what I can remember right now. I can't wait until she's talking more often but I'm sure that I will live to regret that statement!

Caving in

After resisting the urge to let Lily watch TV for the past 18 months, we caved in a few months ago and now let her watch movies on the Ipad. She loves watching the first 10 minutes of Kung Fu Panda and is fascinated by the penguins in Happy Feet. I have mixed feelings about this decision - I know that TV isn't great for her brain development but it sure is nice to have a few minutes of peace and quiet while I'm trying to get ready for work in the morning. We still greatly limit the viewing of movies/TV to less than 30 mins and only allow her to watch a couple of times per week but I still feel a bit guilty about it all.

Lily as of late

She blows her own nose with Kleenex

She finds matching socks from her sock drawer

She can put on her own snow boots, toque, and mitts

She can unload all the silverware from the dishwasher (and even sorts them into categories ahead of time)

She's obsessed with the dog - feeding her, chasing her, harassing her...

She loves playing outside and regularly points to her jacket to indicate that she wants to go play. I love that she loves being outside!

But how do you figure out who's won?

Dealing with a non-verbal but highly opinionated 20 month old is like playing a never-ending game of Charades...