Lets train

Cecelia at Twenty Months

I've started telling people that Cecelia 'will be two in May' instead of saying she is twenty months old. In a lot of ways I think she seems older than her age and it's hard to believe she is still four months away from two.




Things Cecelia loves:

-Brushing her teeth approximately 8 times per day. Mostly she is just obsessed with toothpaste and tries to eat it constantly. She will say 'teeth!' and run in to grab her various toothbrushes and demands toothpaste, too. We usually just pretend to do a little bit or else we give a speck of it. The girl cannot get enough and we have started closing bathroom doors to keep her out.

-Washing her hands/playing in the sink water. Another reason we shut the bathroom doors. She has also figured out how to pump the soap and will walk around the house with palms full of soap bubbles. Pretty gross and of course she freaks out if I help her wash it off. She loves to use the step stools to reach the sink and is really good at problem solving ways to get at the sink/toothbrushes. Determined little girl can hear if Truman leaves a bathroom door open within 0.2 seconds of him exiting the facilities.

(also loves to 'color'.)


-Calling anything that is a fleck of dirt 'poop'. She is very concerned that all dust bunnies, smears of peanut butter, and old crumbs might be 'poop'. She also calls all diapers 'poop' but will deny the deed when she actually produces one.

-Playing with her big brother, especially first thing in the morning. On our days at home, we keep Truman's Tot Clock set to switch at 7:30 am. Usually both kids will actually wake up by 7 am, so now I will get CC and let her go into Truman's room to 'play' for 30 minutes. He is usually really excited about this, too, and I've heard things like, 'Good morning, baby girl! Want to play with me? How did you sleep? See, my clock is still blue so we have to stay in my room now.' She eats it up and will basically do anything he tells her....this time of the day, at least.






-Using the doppler to check on the baby. She refers to the doppler itself as 'baby' and will get very upset if I deny her the ability to help hear the heartbeat. She also likes to poke my belly and laugh (Pillsbury Doughboy, anyone?) and says, 'baby.' She obviously has NO clue what is about to happen, but it's still cute. When we ask Cecelia if she wants a sister or a brother, she will now say 'sis-ah'. When I say, 'Is mommy's baby a boy or a girl?' she will respond 'guuuurrl'. It's freaking adorable. Again, she is totally clueless but still it's fun.

-Giving kisses and hugs if we 'fake cry' upon her refusal. Meaning, we ask her for a kiss and she says 'NO!' because she is way too busy for that mushy stuff most of the time. So if Nate or I proceed to pretend cry she will rush over to us and kiss us right on the mouth, then she will hug us to make it all better. My little caregiver. Probably not the best way to coax her into affection but whatever!




-Her baby dolls, any push toys, and running in circles around our lower level with Truman.

-Saying 'roar!' to Nate when he comes home from work.

-Trying to stand up in her chair every night at dinner, despite being strapped in. She also likes to be finished with every meal in approximately 3 minutes because she is a busy body who cannot be confined for any length of time.






-Going anywhere at any time. She likes playing at home a lot, too, but if she hears us talking about going somewhere on an errand she will yell 'GO!' and runs to find her shoes. The car rides are 100x better with her forward facing, too.

-Tutus and skirts. She will often help me pick out her clothes (No, not already!!!) and likes to wear the frilliest stuff possible.




Things Cecelia despises:

-Diaper changes. They are the worst right now and she is so freaking strong, it's getting to be quite the Olympic sport to hold her down and clean her up.

-Me, sometimes. At least it appears that way. She will say 'No, Mommy!' over and over again in response to anything that irritates her. Even if I'm in a different room and am totally innocent, she will yell, 'No, Mommy!' in an accusatory fashion while her brother steals a toy from her. Or if Henry looks at her the wrong way. It's not like she is calling me in to tell me something is wrong, it's very clearly a statement made out of frustration. I don't know why I'm to blame for all of her struggles in life, but I suppose I will take that as a compliment.

(Loves her daddy, though. Requests to watch 'Foo-ball' all the time with him in the playroom)


-Getting rid of her nuk (!!) for everything except her crib. We used to be so good about this rule and she'd always throw it in her crib after a nap or to start the day, and we'd also use it in the car. But then we had a horrific week full of clinginess and whining and OMG it was awful. I still think she must have been going through a tough developmental phase combined with teething and a cold or something, but it was bringing me to the edge of sanity. She wanted the nuk ALL of the time, which was not like her, and we started giving in more and more often. But then that didn't even help with her discontentment, so eventually I put my foot down. On the way home from Lori's last week, I refused to give her the nuk in the car. Or at home that evening. Or the next day at all aside from her nap and bedtime. Let me tell you, she was PISSED at me and it was torture for us all. But after about 2 days of her asking for the stupid thing non-stop, she got over it. Now she knows it's for the crib only and will throw it in without question, and doesn't even try to sneak it back out like she did previously. Our next step will be getting rid of it for sleep and I'm not looking forward to that one, but whatever. It's going to happen sooner or later.

-Being anywhere but my hip for the first 30 minutes of the morning, and right before dinner time. Some days are better than others with this but for the most part she just needs to be held by mama. Flattering but also really challenging since those are the two times of day that require a LOT of accomplishments (i.e. work morning hustle and bustle, preparing dinner alone with two kids most nights).

-Having any help with any task. She does NOT want us to hold her hand coming down the stairs anymore, and she even tried to smack me in the face the other day when I tried. OMG. She will undress her lower body completely (including one ill fated incident at daycare involving a poopy diaper and nap time....ugh) and is not happy when we offer to help with the challenging clothing items. Cecelia hates when I carry her plate of food to the table as she wants to do it alone (and spills it every time I allow her to try). She is very independent, obvi.

(I melt over this smile)


Other random things about our girl at 20 months:

Cecelia is really the sweetest little sass-pot around. One minute she will melt our hearts with innocence and the next she will jab Truman square in the eye for no reason. Big brother never had a case of the 'terrible twos' or anything remotely close....but this one might be a different story. She can be very reserved in public and I'm pretty sure she has never ever done anything on command for strangers. If they ask her a question she will just stare. She does not like to be put on the spot, but our girl is certainly a chatter box at home. She repeats the last word of most every sentence now which can be pretty hilarious (like the time I told Henry he was being psycho, and CC said, 'Psychoooooo?').

She is still long and lean, wearing all 24 month and some 2T clothes in certain brands. Size 4 diapers just barely fit now and her size 5 shoes are really too small, so I think it's time for some 6's. I think she weighs about 23-25 pounds now because she loves to pull out Nate's scale in the bedroom and weigh her self, then laugh in the face of those numbers (atta girl!).

(still my baby sometimes)


(brother's boots)


There are some big transitions for miss Cecelia ahead, which probably make me more nervous than it's worth. First, moving her crib into Truman's room (maybe this weekend!) could be awesome or a disaster. But it's time. I want her to get used to sharing his room now and in my heart I do think they will love it. Also thinking of moving her into a big bed sometime after 22 months since that is when we moved Truman. I have no problem keeping her in the crib for as long as we need to, but just like T at this age I feel like she is showing signs of big-bed-readiness. She bumps up against her crib at night and that seems to wake her up a lot, since I will go in and find her jammed against the rails.  Then of course another transition will be becoming a big sister right after she turns two. Maybe I'm being naive but I really think Cecelia will be fine with a younger sibling because she seems so mature to me. She loves to play with her brother and does a decent job of entertaining herself (with him) some of the time.




We love you so much, Cecelia sassy pants. You are simply the best little girl we could have imagined.