Rowan: 21-22 months

Rowan is 23 months today, and I can't believe that a month from now she will be 2 years old?!  When Liam was this age I was just about to give birth to her too.  Time really does fly, doesn't it?  Rowan has really changed a lot over the past couple of months.  Her language skills continue to amaze us.  She really is starting to be able to express herself by telling us exactly what she does or doesn't want. And she is able to express her feelings too.  It is really adorable when I tell her something, she will reply with 'Yes Mama' or 'OK Mama'.  The communication is becoming a lot more of a 2-way street lately, which makes things a lot easier.  She loves playing with Liam.  Although the toys still continue to be a hot spot between the two.  It seems it doesn't matter what she picks up, Liam wants it.  And if he rips it out of her hands she will let him know with a loud scream that she is NOT happy.  She has gotten a ton better about getting dressed, and will even hug me after I'm done changing her.  She also likes to give kisses too after her hug.  Her hugs are adorable, she tilts her head and rests it on your shoulder, and then she will pat your back with one of her hands.  She has been really good about eating lately too.  And we have also gotten in the habit of giving them a very small portion of ice-cream after dinner a few nights a week.  She now will ask for ice-cream for dinner, and all meals really.  It's funny because when she was a baby, I bought a shirt for her when she turned 2 that reads ''I want chocolate ice cream and cookies (for dinner)'.  And now she does!!  She loves pointing things out to us, one example would be the moon.  She has been very enamoured by the moon lately, and she will point to it whenever she sees it.  It has been in the day sky over the last couple of months, so it was quite often she would point to it, as well as airplanes.  She loves to paint, and play with cars, tools dolls.  She really doesn't have a preference between boy or girl toys really, she just LOVES playing!  Although, this past weekend she really has taken a liking to one of our Halloween dolls which is Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas.  She wants to play with her all the time now.  I had to make Sally a bed with a box and blanket to get her to put her down when we need her too. She quite likes that game.  Rowan loves reading books too.  And we have now added that more regularly to our night time routine.  She was having some sleeping issues lately, and both me and Mike ended up having to stay up with her for the whole night!  It was pretty rough for all of us.  We decided that she was old enough for a firm pillow and blanket in her crib.  We are unsure if that was the issue or not, but so far she has been sleeping much better, and also not protesting bed as much either.  I will lay her on her pillow now, and she asks for her blanket, she smiles really big and then asks for a 'Liam Kiss'.

One more thing I wanted to mention was getting her to stop sucking her thumb. She has started to get little sores on her poor thumb.  Her dentist was pretty adamant about getting her to stop asap.  Her pediatrician,and most the stuff I've read online says we shouldn't worry until she starts to get her adult teeth.  Also most of the advice to get them to stop is for older kids....so I asked the periodontist that did my surgery, and he said the sooner the better.  So, we are going to be more proactive about getting her to stop.  Every time we remind her, she puts her other four fingers in her mouth...the ultimate rebellion!!  But, I do think it's helping, and she will take them out, and we praise her for being a big girl. I'm hopeful that it won't take too long.

I'm always so torn about the kids growing up. On the one hand a lot of things get easier, but on the other hand it's hard to know that they will never be a little baby again.  We just need to savor each age as much as we can because before we know it they will be teenagers, then adults!! 

Comment by mom/grandma on 10/26/2011
You are right about them growing up too fast, just keep enjoying them and keep up the blog, then when they are older you can escape back to the good old days when they were little:)