22 Month Update

Last week Elena turned 22 months--so hard to believe she'll be two in the very near future.  Where does the time go?!!  I haven't done a monthly update in quite awhile, so here is a snap shot of Elena at 22 months.

 Meals: Elena is a foodie, she loves food (except egg) and will eat it all including her veggies though sometimes not her protein (especially chicken, not so much a fan of chicken or eggs--but I still want 2 chickens in a coupe in the backyard).  Overall she eats balanced meals and isn't finicky.  It is really nice to sit down to dinner and we are all eating the same food.  She also eats with a fork and spoon and loves dip--which could be anything like sauce, pickle juice, milk, yogurt, humus, etc.  She has a funny term for 'meatballs' she calls them 'meat bombs' even though she can say ball.  She loves grapes and it is so cute to watch her say it...it sounds more like "brapes".

Sleep: She sleeps 11-12 hours at night and about a 2 hour after lunch nap.  We have been enjoying the long nights of sleep, sometimes I feel like I'm still catching up myself.

Language: Quite a vocabulary.  She uses please and thank you frequently and correctly.  Now we are working on you're welcome.  It seems like she can say almost anything and can be a parrot at any moment.  She also understands what we are saying, she responds appropriately with yes or no...I do miss "ah-huh" with the head nod.  Recently, Carl had friends over playing poker.  It was time for Elena to go to bed, so I asked her "do you want to say good night to the guys?" and she responded, "uh-huh, night guys".  She seems so young to be able to understand so completely what we are saying.  Needless to say she continues to amaze us every day.

Temperament: Generally always happy, seldom cries and if she is hurt she only cries for a couple of minutes--tough cookie.  Cranky when she is tired, hungry or has been sitting too long.

Physically: She is a big kid, wearing a 2t bottom and 3t top.  She is also very agile for her age.  She runs, jumps and gallops around the house.  She also like walking on and jumping on pillows.  She climbs everything regardless if it meant to be climbed on yet she seems to be aware of her own limits and doesn't usually get herself stuck or hurt.  She can climb out of her crib now but most days she content to stay in her crib.

School: What's not to love?  She can wash her hands when ever she wants, get as dirty as she wishes while playing outside, and colors with markers inside.  She is very loved at the school by the teachers, the other kids and their parents.  

Potty training: well this isn't going as well as I had hoped.  I hoped once she was with other kids using the potty she would want to do the same but she doesn't.  She will sometimes alert us that she needs to poop or already pooped but refuses to sit on a potty.  I bought her a small potty to put on the floor and she likes to take it apart and sit in it like it is a bucket fully clothed or in the case of the picture below with a diaper on.  I guess she's just not ready yet.  I'll keep trying every couple of weeks, hopefully she'll be interested soon!

Neighborhood Park

While Donna and Pat were here we walked the dogs over to our neighborhood park.  She loves going there, it's my favorite park too.  The park is set up for 2-5 year olds in one section and 5+ in another so you don't have to worry so much about the big kids running over the little ones.  And believe it or not, this does happen at other parks we visit.  Today it was just us at the park which was so nice.

 Elena didn't want to slow down and take a picture--she was much too busy!

After playing in the park we walked around around to the t-ball fields and saw squirrels basking in the sun.  Elena and Grandma saw a bunny jump into the bushes.  Elena wanted to show me, so she tried pushing the bushes aside as if they were curtains.  Of course the bunny was long gone by then.  We found a hole in the ground, some one's home but Elena didn't want to go near it.  She seems to have a good sense of when to look at critters and when to walk away.

Ocean Beach Dog Park and the Pier

It was probably one of the coldest weekends we have had in awhile, but we braved the chilliness to go down to Ocean Beach with Donna, Pat, and the dogs.  Rain was predicted for the entire weekend and although we had some rain it wasn't as much as anticipated.  The air at the coast was extra crisp, cool--and lovely.

 It's been a while since we've been down to the beach...last trip was some time before Christmas.  And between that time and now, Elena has become very interested in making sand castles, mountains, and caves.  And surprisingly very little was intentionally destroyed.

After a yummy lunch in Ocean Beach, we headed to the Ocean Beach Pier.  The pier is a great place to take a relaxing stroll and look back at the city.  A storm was brewing and the ocean waves were as big as I've ever seen them.  No novice surfers out there; you could feel the pull of the wave while standing on the pier.  Difficult pictures to take--so I've included a couple family shots :)

Zoo Time

We really love going to the zoo and enjoy our family pass.  We went to see the baby hippo recently born at the zoo.  So cute, so big.  A lot of people were standing around so I wasn't able to get a good picture but here are some pictures of us at the zoo:

 

Super Bowl!

We watched the super bowl game despite not being too interested in who won.  Pop came over for a bit of the game and Elena enjoyed reading with him.  Warning to anyone who comes over: Cooper will want your undivided attention and Elena will want you to read books to her.  She loves her books.

Rockin' the Pony

 Elena has begun to express her curiosity about hair and what we do with it.  She has been brushing her own hair for some time but now she also wants to brush my hair.  This morning while she brushed my hair I asked her if she wanted a pony tail like mama's.  Not only did she say yes but she stood still long enough for me to get a hair band in.

 Dancing and just being cute as she enjoys her new pony!

Have a great week!