The Gentry's Journey: 21 Months Old *November 3, 2011*

Another month has passed, and Lila is inching her way closer to two years old. She is definitely gaining more of a two year old attitude, and is learning to listen and follow directions so much better. She is getting really good at staying with me in public places rather than running around everywhere like she had been doing. However, the doesn't mean that she always follows our directions, even though she definitely understands what we're saying! She is very strong willed, and I can't wait to see what she will accomplish in these last few months of being a one year old!

*you weigh 26.4 pounds and are about 32 inches tall.

*you are having such a great time at Mother's Day Out and are learning about your letters. In October, you learned about letters D, E, F, and G. You also had a great time at your Harvest Party on October 25^th.

*you are wearing mainly 18 and some 24 month clothes. You moved up to size 5 diapers this month.

*you absolutely LOVE your pink bunny stuffed animal and used to call her "daby," but lately she has been calling her "Abby." You also have a newfound obsession with Pooh this month!

*you LOVE to take your diaper off, but you have to move your belly to see how. It's funny to watch you lift your belly and undo the straps. Many times we have found you in your crib with your pants and diaper off after your nap.

*you love to scour the countertops to see what you can find to play with. You will pitch a huge fit if we don't give you what you are asking for (which is about 90% of the time!).

*you still love to throw anything you can get your hands on. You are getting much better at throwing only balls though.

*you still drink about 3-4 cups of milk per day and still call it "k." I'm not sure why you only say the last part of the word, but I'm not going to correct you because it sounds so cute. You will also drink water, if it's from a straw.

*your favorite foods these days are waffles, bagels with cream cheese, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, oranges, carrots, peas/green beans, honey nut cheerios, Chick Fil A chicken strips, goldfish, any kind of bread, sweets galore, ravioli, penne pasta noodles with any kind of sauce, Doritos, Salt and vinegar chips, egg and cheese biscuits, hashbrowns, and mac and cheese....but you are still pretty finicky about what you eat and when.

*you really hate to sit down for meals, and will eat much more if you are allowed to roam around and graze.

*you still love to play in your crib, and when your teeth are coming in, it's the only place where you are truly happy.

*bedtime is between 7:30 and 8pm and we usually get you out of your bed around 9am (unless we have somewhere to be that morning).

*take one afternoon nap at around 1:30/2 until around 4/5.

*you love to brush your teeth, and you especially love to chew on the toothbrush!

*you have 16 teeth now, four more came in this past month and are working their way through. You are not much fun to be around when you have teeth coming in!

*you talk all the time, but don't say too many real words. Your favorite words are "ball", "shoes", "juice," "milk" (sounds like 'k'), "dog", "Alli" (sounds either like "a-yee" or "a-dee", "lila," "Auburn" (sounds like 'Aubie'), "night-night", "hi", "bye", "this", "cool"(you love to say that everything is "so cool"), "wow", "uh-oh", "baby", "sister", "mama", "daddy or dada", "Pop", "love you", "Pooh" also "Winnie the Pooh", "waffle", "book"-sometimes

*this month you started saying "duck" and "cat". You still call dogs "woo woo woo"s.

*anything else that we try to get you to say still comes out sounding like "dada", but at least you try and humor us!

*your favorite tv show is definitely Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and you love to dance and sing all of the songs in it. You will also try to get as close as you can to the tv to watch it.

*you are starting to love Winnie the Pooh too. You are enchanted by his stories!

*you love to sing and will hum tunes on occasion. The other day you were rocking your sister in her car seat while singing "my baby my baby" to her. It was SO cute!!

*you still love to make a mess and to climb on everything.

*you love to giggle and laugh. Your teachers say that you giggle all day long, especially during lunch time. You're such a silly girl! You can also fake cry, which I taught you on accident while playing a game.

*You love pumpkins and had a great time this month visiting various pumpkin patches and picking out your own pumpkins.

*you really love your sister (most of the time) and are so sweet with her. You are learning to be gentle, but don't always like being gentle with her. You love to try and lay on her or pick her up. You like to watch her play on the floor, and you also like to read with and sing to her. I hope that you are always this loving of your sister!!

*you celebrated your second Halloween this month and had a great time with all the fall activities this month. You were a lady bug and a strawberry fairy.