20 Months!

Let me start this post the way I start all of them -- oh, I can't believe it's been so long! Really, though, I can, because it's not like I have been a very good mommy blogger. I didn't realize I had let three months lapse, though.

Maisie Munkin is now 20 months old. At her 18-month check-up, Maisie was 35 3/4 inches and 26.something pounds. Roughly translated, that means she is super tall and weighs just plenty, although she is so tall that she is quite lean. No idea of her measurements now, two months later, but I think she's grown a little. She should, she eats like a real human. Today she polished off my bag of potato chips which quite frankly I was not planning on sharing.

The funniest thing about her now, at 20 months, is the talking. Talk talk talk all the time with the talking. Jake gets her up in the morning while I sleep in (I know!) and I love to hear them. She starts talking before he's even in her room and it doesn't stop. "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Hi, Daddy! Good morning, Daddy! There's Baa Baa! Hi, Baa Baa! Fi? Fi? Downstairs? Come on, Fi!" This morning I heard her as she discovered my keys in my purse on her way down the stairs -- "KEYS! Mama keys! Target? Target?" (Ouch... I guess we go to Target a lot. Oh, well, it's not like the Smithsonian is a few blocks away... oh, wait...)

We spent a good long while this afternoon sitting on our front steps having a snack (well, I was trying to have a super late lunch and she took it -- I managed to finish my sandwich, but she claimed a lot of the aforementioned chips). She loves to sit outside and watch the people, dogs, cars, and buses go by -- especially the dogs. She loves a good squirrel spotting too. So far I haven't taught her that squirrels are pretty gross. Anyway, a lot of times we blow bubbles but sometimes we just sit and watch. Today she was having an especially good time as she sat down on the step next to me. "Mamie outside. Mamie sit. Mamie eat chips. CHIPS SO GOOD!" I had to laugh out loud. (She doesn't eat chips usually, I promise, but I have a feeling she will be asking for them again in the future. She doesn't forget.)

She loves Sesame Street ("Elmo TV? Elmo TV? Watch Elmo TV? Okay!"), especially Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Abby, and Zoe. And Snuffy and Telly and Zoe. Wait, is that all of them? Yeah, that's about right. She loves all of them and she calls them all by name. "THERE SNUFFY! HI SNUFFY!" Oh, everything is so exciting and enthusiastic when you're 20 months old.

She likes to hide, although she always hides in the same two totally visible spots and then yells, "WHERE MAMIE GO? WHERE MAMIE GO?" This is my cue to pretend like I can't find her. I'll say, "Where did Maisie go? Fi, do you see Maisie? Oh, I guess she must have gone to Safeway. Or maybe she went to yoga. Do you think she went to New York to see Aunt Coco?" At that, Maisie usually pipes up from her "hiding" place and cries, "Yeah, yeah!" So you see, she's not so good with the hiding yet, but she does enjoy it. She also likes for me to hide -- that is, she says, "Mama bye-bye? Mama bye-bye? Bye, Mama." Then I'm supposed to go around the corner out of sight, at which point she says, "Where Mama go? Where Mama go? Abbeville? New York? Where Mama go?" Then I pop out and say, "I came back!" She hollers with laughter and says, "Yay, you came back!" It's a pretty fun game, actually, although I'd be fine playing it, say, twice a day instead of 12-15 times.

Maisie loves people, animals, her books, her doll stroller ("stollie"), and any stereotypically female accessory that you can think of. Lately she's been asking for me to put her hair in a ponytail, which she then wants to admire in the mirror. "See Mamie? See Mamie? See Mamie ponytail? Oh, so purty. Purty ponytail." She compliments her own dresses ("Oh, so purty! Purty new dress!") and is way into these pink sandals she just got ("Wear new shoes? Mamie new shoes?"). This morning I put on her regular shoes because it was cool enough that she needed socks and she said, "No. New shoes? Mamie new shoes? Mamie toes? Toe shoes?" I realized she wanted her sandals and was describing them as "toe shoes" since she can see her toes in them. She is bossy and quite particular.

Mostly, though, she is a sweet, sweet baby, and she is great company. I love our days.