20 months

Dear Lil' Bit,

Oh, how I love you! Each month I can't believe how old you seem to be getting! Where did my baby go? And yet, it just seems to get better and better :o). I get such a kick out of just talking with you and can't believe how much you understand...it's scary! You are such a joy to me and I can't help but think you are the most fun little 20-month-old out there.

1. The big news of the month was that we found out you were getting a baby SISTER!!! In my family and in daddy's there is only one girl, just like it is with all our cousins and their siblings, so we aren't really sure what to expect out of sisters. But I am really excited for you gals! I know you will get to share lots of special things with one another, probably have some tiffs, but you'll always be sisters! I can't wait to see how you will interact with her, but I already know you are going to be so sweet. Even now, you talk about her in my tummy and notice the things we had gotten for her. It's gonna be fun!

2. You can now count to eight, but still get a little tripped up with nine and ten. Now, sometimes you get stuck at two also because the first way you learned to count was 2-5-5, but most of the time you get it on your own! Super cute :o).

3. Daddy and I made a big "no-no" this month! We thought it was so funny when you would mimic us saying "no way". Well...the problem with that is that you now say it ALL THE TIME! And it doesn't sound all that respectful, as you can imagine. So, we are quickly trying to reshape that little phrase into "no sir" and "no ma'am". Thank you for teaching us a little lesson!

4. Yellow has always been your favorite color, but his month you seem to be more interested in purple. I really think it's just that you like how it sounds, but maybe it's your new favorite :o).

5. We have done a TON of traveling this month and you've been a real trooper! First, we went on our first family vaca to Branson, MO which was such a blast. We all really enjoyed our time away and can't wait to go again. Our next trip was a whirlwind...we drove to Dumas for mommy's 10-year reunion and then on to Abilene for the Carlisle family reunion. You met so many new people and were on the best behavior! I am always SO proud to show you off (and your daddy, too) so these trips were very fun!

6. Wow, do you LOVE books!?! We finally created you a little reading area in the playroom so that you can get to your books by yourself and you are really enjoying it! I'm sorry it took us so long to do that because we know how much you love to read. I could just sit and watch you all day as you pour over all the pages and have clear favorites! Right now, you are loving Ballerina Bear, The Number Book, The Happy Birthday Book, and your Bible.

7. We're so excited for summer to be here and have done a lot of swimming! You love putting on your "dora diapers" (swim diapers) and your "sim suits". I have to admit that I'm a sucker for swimsuits and you have WAY too many, but we use them all!

8. Well, you are definitely down to one nap a day. It was quite a process as you went back and forth from one to two, but now we've got it. I actually love having a bigger chunk of time to hang out in the morning and we have lots of fun. Then, you take a good three-hour nap in the afternoon and mommy can have some time to work. Thanks for being such a good napper!!!

9. I know I mentioned it before, but we had our first official family vacation this month and had such a blast. There's just something about getting away and having just the three of us spend time together! We knew we wanted to take a trip with you before sister came and loved getting to make some sweet memories with our little family of three :o).

10. While I still don't see it, a lot of people have mentioned lately that you are looking more like mommy! How exciting is that!?! I really think it's just that you make many of the same facial expressions as I do, but I'll take whatever I can get! Now, what I really need to do is show them all a picture of your Aunt Sarah at your age and there will be no doubt who you look at :o).

11. What do you love to do right now? "Colorin'". If I haven't kept every single writing instrument out of sight, I will no doubt find you "colorin'" with it! Now, we've been very fortunate that you have always made good choices and only write on paper, but I know the day is coming when I will find on of your masterpieces on a less than desirable canvas :o)

12. This month, we decided to push your bedtime back from 7:30 to 8:00. You've gone to bed at 7:30 for as long as I can remember, but we had noticed that you were spending more time playing in your crib after we put you down than usual. So, you now have a "big-girl" bedtime. We're actually really excited about this because we know that it will mean we still get some good two-on-one time with you after baby sister goes to sleep! And daddy is loving having a little more time with you in the evenings!

13. Your love of puppies is just crazy! Your own dog, Tatum, is your favorite friend! But you don't really discriminate either...you love ANY dog. You chased around all the puppies at our family reunion (near torturing them) and get so excited anytime you see one. In fact, one time I pulled up a YouTube video about puppies and now you constantly point to the laptop saying, "see puppies!". Ha!

14. Well, maybe you are becoming a little "girly-girl"! You are starting to really enjoy dressing up in your beads and bracelets and girly tutus. But you also love to dress up in all of daddy's stuff too...his watch, ties, shoes, hats. It's terribly cute! We are planning on getting you a really fun dress-up box in the near future :o).

15. We started swimming lessons this month and I can tell you love it! Daddy is really enjoying spending this time with you and we can't wait to see how much you will learn.

16. I am LOVING some of your words lately! You use such funny pronunciations and often get your sounds all mixed up :o). My favorites right now are: Courtney - norkey, Kennedy - ke-dy, flip flops - shoe bops, and Laura - Ro-la. You're such a cutie!

17. We have been so blessed that you haven't gotten sick much during your little life! So when it does happen, I'm afraid I don't really clue in very fast...sorry! This month you got a crazy rash all over your little body which I just assumed had something to do with using so much sunscreen. But when it didn't go away, I finally took you to the doctor and found that you were already fighting off an infection AND had a bad ear infection. I'm so sorry I didn't catch it!!! Luckily, you are all better now :o).

18. We love to see how your mind works! It's crazy to me how you associate different toys or different situations with mommy or daddy. Every day when daddy gets home, you immediately ask to "play baseball" or "play golf" OR you will start running around like a crazy woman trying to get him to chase you, but you never try to do those things with mommy. Of course, there are things you associate with mommy too, and would never ask daddy to do...things like pretending to put on make-up and putting rollers in her hair :o).

19. So it looks like you've inherited mommy and daddy's love of "rubs". See, mommy loves to have her feet rubbed and daddy loves to have his back rubbed. You, little lady, seem to love both! You tell us all the time to "rub my back" or "rub foot" and then "other foot" and we are such suckers that we do it! We're just hoping that it will pay off and that you will return the favor one day :o).

20. This month you went to your very first camp...music camp! It was just like the class we took during the spring, but was every day for one week. I could tell that you had missed it and was so excited to see you really "shine" this time around. You were a lot more involved and get really excited to hear those song that you knew from before. I know I got a little spoiled too, because I got to go to camp WITH you. I know that won't last forever so I'm enjoying it now :o).