Jane at Almost 20 Months

I fully plan on posting about Easter, and several other things, and I will but it's been too long since I:
1) posted a summary of Jane's numerous accomplishments and super cute things she does, my sister was complaining that I don't share all the cuteness enough with my family.
2) posted pictures. We ran out of batteries a while back and I finally caved the other day and bought some...
3) shared a pregnant picture of myself. Let me tell you, I'm HUGE!!

Thus, here you go!
She is really into playing with and identifying capital letters of the alphabet and can consistently identify about 20 of them. She tells me that A says Ah and B says Bah quite often, too. She likes to point out letters wherever she sees them, on signs, painting in parking lots, on food items, and of course, in books.

Speaking of books, she likes reading to herself these days. She had a lull regarding books a while ago, but now she's really into them and hands me a book at least a dozen times a day and says "read it!" very clearly. I love to watch her read to herself and hear her copy me in word or just intonation. Are You My Mother? is by far the cutest of the bunch...although she's scared of the dog.

In fact, she's scared of a lot of things these days. Big dogs are one of the worst thanks to some very loud black labs at my sister's neighbor's house. Other fears include: the hair dryer, the vacuum, the blender, and Mr. Noodle on Elmo, among other random things. Most of the time she just needs Mom or Dad to give her a hug ("hug"), kiss (she doesn't ask she just puts her mouth on you), or carry her for a minute "(cowwy?")



It's been interesting to watch her emotionally develop. She's really into sad right now-- she notices when anyone, stranger, friend, or TV character is sad and tells me about it. Daddy can't pretend to cry to get her to eat her food anymore because it almost makes her cry. In church today she was sitting by her cousin Joey who was frustrated he was on his mother's lap instead of walking the halls with dad (and he'd had a bad night). Jane said "Doo-ah sad." To which I had to affirm "yes, Joey is sad" (I affirm i.e. repeat A LOT these days). Then I told her it was nice to share with people who are sad to make them happy. So we shared her snack bag and then some of her colors. Here and there she'd say "Doo-ah sad. Bwack? (i.e. Joey is sad. Does Joey want a black color?) Or offer him something else. She's developing into an aware and sensitive kid.


She's finally really starting to develop an interest in gross moter skills: running, sliding, and swings are the top favorites, with a tiny bit of climbing, mostly onto beds and into her chair for dinner. She loves being outside and loves any kind of slide (which she is, strangely, NOT afraid of...yet) whether it's Dad's legs or mom's belly or the big swirly slide at the park. She says the "s" in slide like a Welshman, even--as a "ll"! (the Welsh "ll" is pronounced like an s but with tongue behind the teeth and lots of saliva involved, kind of like a lisp or a cross between a "th" and an "s"). It's pretty darn cute. I'm really going to miss when she starts talking "right" and all her cute mispronunciations go away. It's already started.

She has an excellent memory which keeps me keeping my promises. If I tell her she can't wear her necklace ("nengnus") to bed, you can bet when she wakes up in the morning her first few words will include necklace!

She still loves music and for the most part, it still puts her in a trance, something her nursery teachers find hilarious. She has started to sing a little bit, though. Most clearly she will sing the "sit and wait" song I made up: "sit and wait, sit and wait, Jane is such a patient girl to sit and wait." She even says patient. In fact, the other day I lost my cool a little bit in the car after some fussing over food and Jane babbled the whole way home "patient. just a minute. wait." over and over again.

Eric and I both very excited to watch her grow up...and I'm already starting to think of her as more of a kid than a baby...*sigh* Guess it's good I'm having another one here shortly.