20/20

Alexis,

You are 20 months old today, and this is one of our very favorite ages so far! 

Each day seems to bring a new word, a new interest, a new discovery. 

Long gone is our baby girl and here to stay is our simply irresistible toddler.

Your daddy and I sit at the dinner table and talk all about you - 

the funny little moments that happened during the course of the day 

and the new things you do that we just can't get enough of.  

Sometimes, for just a minute, we miss our snugly baby. 

But what we wouldn't trade for anything in the world 

is the sweet, sassy little girl you are becoming. 

So, to ensure that we never forget these moments, 

here is our "Top 20" list.

1. The words!
They are coming at full speed now. You repeat words you hear on your Nick Junior shows. And on your car cds. And words that you hear daddy and I say. At last count, you had a vocabulary of about 50 words - with new ones sneaking out each day. Some of the latest (with varying degrees of clarity) include: backpack (thanks Dora!), belly button, toothbrush, Coco (the neighbor's dog), avocado, lemonade, shadow. You also now look for chances to show off the words that you know - making sure we, too, notice every bee, every choo choo train, every baby, every ball, every dog, every banana that we walk past.

2. Music to our ears.
And that voice - it's awfully sweet. I can imagine that every parent thinks the same thing. To watch your little baby grow into a talkative toddler is nothing short of fascinating. Hearing your voice is certainly one of the highlights of our day. Sometimes you are saying actual words. Other times you are having an entire conversation with us - though we have no idea what it is that you're telling us. Either way, we listen to you with open ears.

3.  The Next American Idol.
Lately, you are very into singing. You especially love "Wheels on the Bus", "Row, Row Your Boat" and "Ring Around the Rosie". When it comes to the words you know how to say like baby, beep, shhh, all, merrily, ashes and down...you BELT it out and make us laugh. Nanny says you are very musical, using intonation with the words, holding out a note for a long time, and dancing to the beat. She also says you most certainly get it from her and not your mama :)

4. Your spunk.
While you can still be a little shy in new settings, we are seeing a very confident, a very friendly, a sometimes bossy yet very gregarious little girl emerge. Here's one example: we were on line at Starbucks the other morning and after greeting the staff, you felt the need to continue the hellos. A man stepped in line behind us, and you shouted "Hi" with such excitement and enthusiasm. I laughed and so did everyone else in the store. His response? "Wow, what a greeting. How can I not be in a good mood after a hello like that? In fact, you are the first person who's been happy to see me today, so thank you." During moments like this, I could just eat you up.

5. Little Mommy.
You are all of a sudden very into your baby dolls. You point to them and shout "baby" every time you see one. You take them on walks in their stroller. You feed them from their baby spoon and fork. You brush their hair (and then your own). We love watching your imagination start to bloom.

6. The real deal.
On that note, you are also very into real live babies. You run right over to them. You try to pat them and kiss them. You say "baby" over and over. If we happen to know the mother, you try to help her feed the baby. You are fairly gentle, and you seem to get what being pregnant means. When we see our friends Marci and Beth, you point to their bellies and tell us there is a baby inside (as if they didn't realize it).  It's lovely to see your curiosity as well as this sweet, maternal side of you.

7. Outside.
Along with being one of your favorite words right now, you want to be there ALL DAY LONG. You run right to the front door every time we come downstairs. And any time I mention the words shoe, car, mail, etc. you immediately race right over to the mudroom door. You are a summer girl for sure, and you delight in going to the beach or the pool, coloring with your sidewalk chalk, smelling the flowers, looking for acorns ("nuts"), playing on your swingset, having us chase you - basically anything that has to do with being outside.

8. Waterbaby.
Continuing on that theme...boy what a difference a year makes. Long gone is the little girl who didn't like the sand to touch her feet. You now race down to the water at the beach. You love to chase the waves, try and skip stones and have us float you on your tummy so you can practice swimming.  At the pool, you jump into my arms over and over and over - shouting more before you are even in the water all the way. You have just started floating on your back (with me holding you of course) and I can see your courage building as you dip your head farther and farther, testing how far back it can go before you go under. You let me dip you all the way under, and you LOVE trying to drink the water when I'm not looking.

9.  Daddy Dearest.
You are still very much a daddy's girl. During the week, when I hear you chatting in the morning and open your door, one of your first words is almost always "Daddy?". You seem to hope that maybe he's not really at work, but just down the hall in our room. Any time we're out and about and I tell you we are heading home you say it again, hoping that maybe his work day has ended and he's there waiting for us. And once he does come home, boy do you shower him with attention. You squeal and shout his name and race over to him and smother him with hugs.

10. Mommy Phase.
That being said, you are going through a bit of a mommy stage. When it comes time to begin the bedtime routine, and Vic attempts to bring you upstairs, you lunge for me and say Mama until I take you. Maybe I'm a better bedtime reader, or maybe you just need a little more girl time. Whatever the reason, I'm not complaining. And the other night after I left for the gym, you looked right at your daddy and said "Mommy, bye bye" until he reassured you that I was, indeed, coming home.

11. Parrot.
Earlier in the week I noticed that when I ask you a question or give you two things to decide between, you think very intently and sprinkle in a long "ummm". I had no idea where this came from. That very same night, your dad was talking to his dad on the phone. In between each sentence was an "umm". You are our little parrot, picking up words and simple phrases that we say during the course of the day. Another one you say often is "I see it" when we have something that interests you. But it comes out sounding much more like "oh sh*t" and makes us laugh every time.  Whoops!

12.  Calling Carrie Bradshaw.
You have a little bit of an obsession with shoes. You love to wear your pink crocs, and you also love to point out our shoes "Daddy shoes and Mama shoes" and hand them to us when it's time to go outside. This fascination is likely to continue for all of your days sweetheart!

13. Knock, Knock.
You are also very into doors - you love opening and closing doors of any kind. Playing peek-a-boo behind them remains very fun for you. Sometimes, you close them all the way and then can't turn the knob to reopen them. We love seeing your little fingers sticking out the bottom, making sure we're still there on the other side.

14. Nuts and balls
...as in acorns and toy balls. Long gone is your stick phase, and here for now is a constant quest to find the acorns in our yard. You call big ones "Mama nuts", and at any given point during the day, chances are you have one hiding in your little palm. You also love balls of all kinds. You love to throw them, kick them, chase them, roll them down your slide, hit them with a bat. This makes your sports-loving parents very happy.

15.  Bookworm.
You are also going through a big book phase. You love to climb up into your chair or plop yourself into our laps and read. Current favorites are "Moo, Baa, La, La, La" which you nearly have memorized, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "Olivia". You can mimic many of the words, point out most objects we name, and sometimes you even "read" aloud to us which is always amusing.

16. Little helper.
You like to assist us around the house, acting just like a mommy's little helper. We can always count on you to throw out your diapers, check the mailbox for mail, turn lights off when we leave a room, put groceries into the cart for me, and clean up your toys. Let's hope this enthusiasm sticks around.

17. Busy Body.
You know all your body parts, but the belly button is by far your favorite. Every single night you show us yours, then lift up our shirts to see ours too.  So far you haven't tried to do this to strangers, but that would not be surprising.

18. Math Whiz.
While you can't actually say all the numbers yet, you love to count things with your fingers. You do it for nearly every book we read, when you see buttons on a shirt, etc. You know how to say "two" and "nine", and you often chime in with them no matter where we are in the order.

19. Our shadow.
Often times, you are very independent, happy to explore on your own or play with your puzzles and toys for a few minutes. There are other moments, though, when you are right at our feet, insisting on our attention. This happens nearly instantaneously if either of us: open the computer, get on the phone, do anything in the kitchen, go to the bathroom, get dressed, brush our teeth, and especially, if we sit down to dinner (so basically, when we try to do anything that does not involve you).

20. Foodie.
You are not missing any meals, sweetheart. You love nearly every fruit and vegetable. You eat blueberries faster than we can hand them to you. A favorite snack is raisins (just like your dad and grandpa). You shake with excitement when it's waffle or pancake day for breakfast. Drinking watered-down lemonade or chocolate milk with a straw always leads to smiles and giggles. More, more, more - we hear that at every meal!

We recently learned that you have a mild wheat allergy and a pretty strong egg/dairy allergy, so everything you eat is organic, natural, gluten free and casein free - basically, as healthy as food can get. We thought this fairly restrictive (and frankly, sometimes inconvenient diet) was going to be quite complicated. All we can say is thank goodness for Whole Foods and the organic section of Stop & Shop.

So...there you have it, your very own "Top 20"! We could go on and on, but honestly, this list seems PLENTY long. Can you tell just how much we love our 20-month old? You are the very brightest part of our days, and our dreams at night...all about you Baby Doll.

With love,
Mom and Dad