28 Months (almost!)

Dearest Little Goose,
Man oh man are you delicious these days! You are so verbal, we have complete conversations all the time now. Very occasionally Daddy and I don't understand what you're saying and your sister will translate, but most of the time you're fully able to communicate.

You count to 14 and know that numbers correspond to quantities of things. You will get two pieces of paper and say "Two papers, one for you and one for me" which I guess means you know math, too!  You like to count and will sometimes do it when you're measuring something like colors on the paper or steps you're taking. And sometimes you just count for fun.

You have some books memorized and will sometimes just start saying them when we're out and about. Mostly this is with the Knuffle Bunny books: you will look at me and say "One day, not so long ago..." and I'll pick up, "before she could even speak words, Trixie went on an errand with her Daddy." And then we go back and forth, reciting the story. You do it with Moo Baa La La La, too, which ends with "It's quiet now. What do YOU say?" and you always say "Again!" and so we read the book again.

We had a wonderful time visiting our family in Seattle and you LOVED all your time with your family.

First time eating jam. You're a fan! 

 Dress up in my old flower girl dress

 At Pike Place, watching the flying fish

 Holding hands with "uncle Kathy"

 Hiking with Daddy. You did GREAT!

 Considering sharing your veggie straws with Silly Uncle Davic

 Hoodie Buddies!

 Cousins! We love our Family By Choice

 Uncle Rossy read a LOT of stories to you both

 On a boat with Auntie Ellen!

 Suburban Backyard Sprinkler Dance Party

 Riding in style

 You have pretended to call "Linea" and her friend (and Kaden and Aunt Xan) many days since we've been back. You had a BLAST with them

Kirshenbaum boys are so much fun!

This round of dress up was started by you. As soon as we got to Uncle Mike and Aunt Xan's, you asked for dress up clothes. 

Seattle was wonderful and you loved everyone we spent time with, but it was a long trip and you were ready to go home by the end. The last few nights we were there, when you were overtired and needing to sleep, you would just cry "GO HOME!" And when we finally got home, you were so happy to see your toys and books. You instantly plopped down in front of your Legos and Magna Tiles and just built happily for hours.

You also LOVE coloring and making art. You have been making some fascinating collages with stickers, coloring and using scissors to make different types of fringe. You love to make art for specific people, mostly your sister and Maddie, but also me, Daddy and your dance teacher. 

You also are very into natural treasures. Sometimes when you're walking, you become fixated on "treasures" and need to collect them. "Ticks" (sticks), rocks and leaves are "beautiful!" and you try to fit as many as possible into my pockets. Before handing the treasures to me, you tell me "I love it!" and marvel at the beauty you see.

We had to bring all of this home. Plus about 6 acorns

AND....You started school!!! Well, preschool alternative Brooklyn Nature Days. You go one day a week from 9-12 and this week was the first time I dropped you off. You totally rocked it, telling me when you were ready for me to leave. When I came to pick you up, you looked close to tears when you saw me, but didn't cry and said you had so much fun. And since then, you've been playing "coco time" (circle time) and cleaning up the floor to make room for us to sit in a circle (well, a two person circle) and have tea. You already sing songs from school and talk about your teachers and how you like to hold their hands. I think it's still going to be an adjustment, but you're so proud to have your own thing to do and be a big kid.

And almost 2 and a half, you have no interest in potty training or weaning. We sleep in the same bed and you sleep well (most of the time) until early monring when you want to nurse and then you nurse/sleep for the rest of the night. On good days, you ask to nurse starting at 5:30ish and on bad nights it can be 4 or even 3:30. I try to keep dozing, with varying degrees of success, but you definitely fall asleep here and there. You walk for longer distances, often walking the whole way to the subway or bus stop. You love to climb and climb up whatever you can at the playground. 

You love to dance, and will often request ballet music and then dance around the house. You love to dress up and are often in some stage of costume whenever we are home. You sing all the time, often songs from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (on your first day of school, while we were walking from the train to class, you started signing "Grown Ups Come Back") but also the Annie soundtrack and Fight Song and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds ("my song!"). You adore your sister, missing her while she's at school, asking to play with her and hug her when you see her and counting the days until the weekend.  You love hot dogs and request them for dinner at least 3 times a week. You also ask for lollipops, which I give you most of the time you ask since you hardly ever finish them and mostly just take a few licks. You know you are "'lergic" to eggs and won't try to eat food that we tell you has eggs in it. You like to help cook and are big on doing things "gether" which means you put your hands on whatever I'm doing. 

You love to explore your surroundings and are overall just such a happy person. I feel like no matter how much time we have together it's never enough. I try to see the world through your eyes and be impressed by how beautiful everything is. I try to capture your wonder and enjoyment. I love you so so so so much

26 Months

Dearest Goose,
We are happily in the twos these days. You have a very specific agenda of what you what, how you want it and when you want it (often "in two minutes").

You are big into imaginative play these days. You love to put on fashion shows, talk on the phone, take care of your baby dolls,

talking to Daddy on your "phones"

 ready for a fashion show

 trying to balance a tiara on your head, to complete this outfit

Your motor skills are so strong. You jump, climb, scoot, jump into the pool, run, and hang. You love to be lifted up to turn lights on and off and to pull the cord on the fan/light in the bedrooms to turn on the fan or adjust the light. Your verbal skills are also amazing. We communicate so well, I can usually tell exactly what you're telling me. You tell me what you want, what you are doing, what you did with your babysitter, what book you want to read (you are loving Daniel Tiger these days, which you call "The Neighborhood"), if you pooped, what you want to wear, if you need help, etc etc. It's really fun. 

In addition to your favorite Daniel Tiger book at bedtime, you really love a lot of books. Other big faves these days are Everyone Poops, the Knuffle Bunny series ("bunny books"), My First Colors ("rainbow book"), Curious George and various board books. You are an engaged reader, saying "UH OH!" when Trixie loses Knuffle Bunny, signing along to songs in books, describing pictures and talking about characters. 

You recently starting says "I love xyz" and "I love you." It's the best, little Goose. We love you so much!

TWO!

Dearest little Goosey,
You are TWO! And there's so much two-ness going on. You are talking up a storm, playing pretend all the time, getting yourself dressed, taking off your own diaper, requesting specific food (GACAMOLE!!!), tickling people (particularly that one morning at 6 am where you told me you were going to wake your sister up by tickling her, then did it), and generally marching to the beat of your own drummer.

You are a daredevil and love to use the couch, the table and the top bunk as launching pads. When we ask you to get down, you ignore us. Flat out, total, completely unacknowledging that we're talking to you at all. It's amazing. And terrifying. Though you follow almost every scrape, tumble and scratch with an immediate "I ok!"

this is you showing off your first black eye-you got it running right into a table corner. At high speed. After being told several times NOT to run where we were. For the next week, all you would say about it was "eye better!"

 Dressed up and sitting on the arm of the couch

 Up on a "balance beam" walking to the playground

 Using the Citibike docks as a climbing structure

You have the classic adorable toddler speak, referring to yourself as "me" and making negatives as "no." For example, "Me no want that."

Today, you came inside with your boots on. "Mama HELP!" "Do you want help taking your boots off?" "Yeah....tank oo" "Hey, Goosey, can you put those boots by the door?" "No, I can't. Mama do it"

taking a selfie

This is 20 minutes past bedtime 

 You're very into your goggles

 Cutting your own toenails

 This is what you put on to take out the garbage

 you LOVE playing in water. 

 Monkey!

BUDDA. Easily in your top 10 favorite foods. You like to eat it with a knife

You sing all the time, humming while nursing, signing to me and everyone when you wake up, any time you drop something you start signing "clean up" and associate swimming with the songs we sing in the pool. 

You bring so much joy and laughter and fun and love to our house, little Goose. We are grateful every day that you chose us

23 Months!

Dearest Goose,
Gah, the cuteness is at an all time level high! It's unreal. Your personality is SO funny and defined. You are a master staller, asking for "5 minutes" before doing anything. Getting dressed, changing a diaper, going to the park, leaving the park, brushing your teeth, etc etc. The only time you want your diaper changed is when you poop, and then you immediately find your grownup and demand a diaper change. You love to climb and be up high-on the counters, any playstructure, the kitchen table-but hate going fast-"all done bike!" "NO ZOOM" when you're in the stroller, that time they had to stop the ride at Coney Island to let you off....

doin' dishes up high 

toy kitchens are for babies!

Having a ball until the ride started....

You do not like to be dirty, refusing to put your feet in sand if you're barefoot or in sandals. You are taking a nature play class and every time you get paint or mud or dirt on your hands you demand "soap wash."  We have you signed up for nature preschool in the park next fall and I'm a little nervous about how that's going to go!

washing your hands while everyone else plays with mud

Your vocabulary continues to explode, now including sentences and re-tellings of the day. I can actually get some information about what you did with your babysitter later in the day. It's quite cool! You are also a reliable source of information about who caused what mess and if you ate a specific something. And you SING. It's amazing. You sometimes wake up with songs in your head and start signing before you even get out of bed, that has to be my absolute favorite way to wake up. You sing Moana songs, Twinkly Twinkle and have just started your ABCs: ABAJGGG, Elmo Elmo Sing with me! See what I mean about cuteness level high!?

You have also been very opinionated about your clothes and shoes lately. You like sweaters with hoods and always are happy if you have pockets.

Party dress! Hood!

22 Months old!

Dearest little Goose,
Twenty two months has seen an explosion of motor skills, including jumping (which is your favorite way to go down stairs and exit anything with the slightest height) and mastering of your sashay (which is your favorite way to move, period).

you're going to jump off this step stool any minute!

We've also had an exponential explosion of words (I know I say that every month and every month it's true!) and a lot of little sentences. You sleep with an Elmo and Minnie Mouse doll and when you woke up a few days ago, we couldn't find Minnie. So you kept calling all over the apartment: "Miiii Mouse!! Arrre Choo!?" (Translation: Oh, Minnie Mouse! Where are you?) You know the words to numerous songs and sing along to the Moana soundtrack, Vered songs, Annie (which you call Anna) and the American childhood canon. You told our super that your beloved babysitter has a tattoo on her butt (it's on her hip, but you love to tease her). You relay stories of the day: mama! poop! shoe! yuck! (I stepped in dog shit. It made an impression).  And everything is met with WHY!?  And when we answer, you often nod solemnly and say "ohhhh"

We're seeing so much of your personality shine through and it's super fun to watch. You are just as stubborn as everyone else in your family and want to do things your way, on your own time.  For example, you're really not into sitting in your high chair at meals. You prefer to stand on the foot rest and eat, or sit in a grown up chair. Last night you stood on your seat rest, putting you up higher than we were comfortable with. Daddy told you sternly to get down. You replied, just as sternly, NO.  Okay, then, it's clear who's boss in this family!

You always want to be part of the action, whatever that is. You rely on your vast network of step stools and are always trying to reach higher.

Mama, I really need whatever is up here. 

Some more of you this month:

this about sums everything up perfectly