20 months!

Our little baby girl is now 20 months old! Isn't this about the time that you stop counting the months and start just telling people that she is 1.5 years old? I don't know if I feel ready to stop counting the months? That is yet another thing that makes me feel like my baby is gone and my toddler is here. I know this truly is the case and in a way that is a very good thing since we will be having a new baby in a few months. It is better to have 1 baby and 1 toddler than 2 babies right?
Anyway, Brooke is getting big, well not big, just getting mature. She is still little, that's just her, Im sure she will always be petite. Suddenly though Brooke seems to be maturing on such a quick pace. Daily she is saying new words and phrases. She is now singing 3 entire songs "Happy Birthday", "The Wonder Pets Theme", and " Ring Around The Rosie". She is quite the little talker and I am not sure if there is even a moment in the day where she is not babbling something. I love it about her and just talk to her all day like she is my best friend. I found myself at Target the other day asking her if she liked the white sandles or the black ones and which she thought I would wear more often. I noticed a stranger looking at me like I was crazy and at that point realized that I do this type of thing all the time with Brooke and never think anything strange of it until that moment. O well! She's my best girl buddie, what can I say? I even got us matching shoes!

Brooke has also been coming out of her little public shell a bit. She seems to be developing more of her personality. It is so fun to see her doing this. Brooke is always crazy at home but a lot of times in public she sticks close to me and does not interact much with other kids. She is perfectly fine interacting with and demanding attention from adults. Just recently she has been interacting more with other kids and has been willing to wander further from me at places like parks or other play group type things. Brooke does much better with older kids! She is not too fond of kids her age, especially boys. I think it's because kids her age and size are a bit more aggressive with her than older kids. She tends to be an easy target for feisty kids. She does not defend herself well and is timid with other kids. I want her to grow out of this a bit and toughen up but I am at least glad she is not the kid that picks on others and is the one being picked on? Which is better really?
Another new thing that she has been doing is playing pretend. She loves to play with her little Fisher Price Animals. She can play for quite a while with her little imagination. It is so cute to see her at this age. It's nice for me too that she is at a more self entertaining age. She is OBSESSED right now with these 2 little Rubber Duckies! She has them EVERYWHERE with her, even demands to bring them into the stores sometimes. She LOVES to let them swim so I have a little bowl of water for them set out in the kitchen half the time. More than the bowl of water she LOVES to take baths with her duckies! She takes at least 1, usually 2 baths a day with those little guys!

Brooke has also been showing an interest in potty training. I was not planning on doing this yet, I was thinking I would try a little closer to 2 years old but she seems to be wanting to give it a go? I am not sure if I am going to let her pace herself or if I am going to just give it a go and try to potty train her pretty soon here? She has been telling me each time she has gone pee pee or poo poo and then goes and grabs a diaper and lays down for me to change her. She also asks to sit on the potty randomly through the day. She LOVES the potty (too much) I need to actually keep her away from it or she would be playing with the potty 24/7 if I let her. I randomly let her run around nude or with her bottoms off just to give her the chance to go pee pee on the potty. She has not had an accident in months and has now peed on the potty 4 times. Maybe next week I will give her more of an opportunity and see how she takes it? Anyway I have gotten some cute shots of her during this pantsless time of the day.

Another thing she is loving these days is washing her hands! SO CUTE!

Something Brooke does at some point daily is coloring. I now just leave the markers and the coloring book out for her use whenever she chooses. I love these magic markers that only draw on the special paper. What a genius invention! She is so serious most of the time when she is coloring. It's impressive to me!

Other things Brooke is into right now:
~ The moon and finding it every night
~ Looking for Buggies
~ Reading
~ Froggiess, Ladybugs, Fishies, Piggies, and Sheep
~ Going on walks
~ Bouncing on pretty much anything she can bounce on
~ Swings and Slides
~ Target ("The Ball Place" as Brooke calls it)
~ Wonder Pets
~ Pringles, and Popcorn
~ Choo Choo's and Big Trucks (especially Trash Trucks)
~ Practicing on going up and down stairs like a big girl, none of that tummy stuff!
~ Counting! She is counting everything right now! She usually counts 1-2-3-5-6-10. We are working on getting at least 1-5 right. Just missing that 4.
~ Brooke is also loving learning colors
~ Loves having to choose between 2 things. This door or that door? This blanket or that blanket? This drink or that drink?
~ Still on 3 Pediasure's a day but is eating a little better
~ Still has 4 I teeth that need to stinkin cut!
~ In bed at 8pm-7am and then naps from 2pm-4pm'ish
I think that's her in a nutshell for her 20 month update? If I come up with more I will add it to the post. I also need to get back on track with taking pictures. I have been SO BAD at pulling out my camera lately. I don't know why because she is at such a dang cute stage right now!
This kid is my world and I love her more than she will ever know or understand!