22 Months

This post could also be titled "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Phoebe?"

I got the original Sound of Music from Netflix for Charlotte to watch (none of this Carrie Underwood business!), and she's really enjoyed watching it. She's so quick to learn lyrics to songs, so when I heard her singing "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" I quickly thought of our dear Phoebe.

This child. Oh, this child. In two short months, she'll be two. Two!





It's just so amazing to witness her personality unfolding. Phoebe is so different from Charlotte in temperament, you'd think they were unrelated.

Phoebe's verbal skills continue to improve, practically exponentially. She can sing her ABCs very clearly. She sings "Let it Go" from the Frozen soundtrack (only the Let it Go part). She watched the video "What Does the Fox Say?", and now sings "What does the Fox Say? Ding, Ding, Ding."

Phoebe is very opinionated. She knows which shoes she wants to wear, which jacket is preferable, and if you do not choose wisely, you incur the wrath of Phoebe! She even tells me which song to sing and when I should stop singing it: "No ABCs, Mama! Let it Go! Okay, now Jingle Bells!"

Her proclivity for daring tricks continues. She has figured out how to launch herself from the rocking chair in her room into the crib. She long ago figured out how to climb out of the Pack N Play at daycare. The only reason she hasn't climbed out her crib at home is because we continue to put her in a sleep sack at night. Unfortunately, she has figured out how to unzip her pajamas and take off her diaper, so the sleep sack is a must. Yesterday, she took off her diaper at daycare and things got, um, messy. Witness from today, when we sent her in with a sleep sack and a onesie on:

Yes, you read that correctly. She had both managed to get the sleep sack off and unzipped the crib tent. I guess the onesie worked. Baby Houdini!

You can't keep your eyes off this girl for a second because you don't know what she's going to do next! She pulled the little toddler chair up to the stove and ignited the gas! Thankfully, I was right there. Phoebe loves jewelry and usually goes around the house with about five Mardi Gras beads on (along with two Hello Kitty necklaces). Lately, however, she has started to go after the jewelry in my jewelry box, which is a BIG no no.

Sleeping has been a bit of a struggle. Mainly, getting her to go to sleep. Her appetite for books is never-ending, so it doesn't matter if you read her three or ten books, she will always protest when you're done. We've started leaving books in her bed (books we don't care about much because she tends to shred them), but even this is not solving the problem entirely. On Sunday night, she screamed off and on for over an hour before finally settling down. Gah!

But for every exhausting moment, there's a super cute one (like the above video). She loves talking about all of us. "Cha Cha, where are you?" or "Where Daddy go?" She has really great manners and will say "Thank you for the cookie, Mama! Welcome!" (as in, you're welcome - she seems to know the two words go together). She named the baby doll she got for Christmas Baby Susie, which is what she calls Ms. Susan and melted "Susie's" heart when she heard that.

Phoebe has determination and persistence, something Charlotte, our easy-going child, lacks. She will keep trying to do something even if she can't do it right the first time. I predict she will be our athlete. She amazed me by running almost the entire way on our walk the other day. She was in the stroller while Charlotte was riding her bike, and she decided getting out would be better, and she just started running and didn't stop until we reached the end of the bike path. When Charlotte runs, she'll stop and tell me "I need a little break."

I really just can't wait to see what life has in store for my little lovey.