20 months old

Dear Ingrid,

Today marks your twentieth month. Twenty months sounds dangerously close to 24 months...TWO years old. EEEEK. I still want you to be my little baby. But you are a big girl in so many ways. This past month you had to go through more changes. That's all your life has been for the past three and a half months. You had to go from seeing Mommy all day, every day, to just in the evenings when I get home from school. You are adjusting very well. You've definitely become clingier to me when I'm home because you realize you aren't seeing me as often. Another change you've undergone is having Liv sleep in your room. She's been sleeping in her crib for the past week and sometimes she wakes you up when she wakes up. You've been a champ and you've gone back to sleep each time after Mommy has explained to you that Liv has to get up to drink her milk. I'm so proud of you for rolling with the punches.

You are interested in the alphabet more than ever!!! You love playing with your ABC flashcards and magnets. You can name 22 out of the 26 letters very consistently. The letters that trick you the most are J, L, and W. Sometimes Y. Your favorite letter is "I for IngIng." You can find I's everywhere. Tonight we were reading a book and you stopped reading with me and started staring into space. Or so I thought! You were looking at the WARNING label on Liv's car seat. You walked over to the car seat and said, "IngIng's car seat Mama." I told you yes it was yours when you were a baby but now it is Liv's. You pointed to the warning label and said "I-N-G for IngIng." I had a good laugh at that. Then you proceeded to spell out your whole name--trying to get the point across that I-N-G was indeed in your name. You are a smart little toot!

You love reading books, singing songs and nursery rhymes (a couple of your new favorites are Itsy Bitsy Spider, 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, and I'm a Little Teapot), playing babies, building with Legos, coloring, stickers, and playing with "your guys." These are the little people and animals that live in your barn and doll house. You love to have them go to food parties and eat every food you can think of. It's quite a fun game.

This past month, you became completely obsessed with jumping. At first, you couldn't get both feet off the ground at the same time. You wanted to so badly. You kept trying, and trying, and trying. And you've succeeded! You can now jump with both feet leaving the ground. And you are very proud of yourself. You jump everywhere all the time. You are so full of energy. Running, dancing, jumping. Whew! You keep me on the move. You love to use silly names sometimes. You call yourself Ingy-Boo-Boo. Liv is Livy-Pooh or Livy-Lou-Lou. I'm Mama-Tootie or Mama-Boo-Boo. We all crack up at you all the time.

I love you so much. You make my days brighter than the stars.

Love,
Mama These pictures are special to me, because you are wearing a dress Mama made for you!