Nineteen months

"Cup of tea...owright?!

And this, my darling girl, pretty much sums up where you are at right now at nineteen months of age. Hurtling towards proper speech, a born to be wild attitude, a living breathing manifestation of human passion.

We've lost count of how many words you know, new ones pop up all the time, usually in little sentences, sentences which show us that you are also learning so many other concepts as well:

" Wed car-duh-gin" you said to your Nana yesterday, as you played with the buttons on what was indeed her red cardigan.

"Ah-bee up and ah-bee dohwn"...a running commentary along with the Wiggles' 'twist' and whenever you are picked up or want to get back into the action.

"Cooking", "Cleaning", "Walking" . Those action words are starting to creep into your vocabulary.

" Cold 'ans...cold mummy" you correctly observed as I have undressed you for your bath, unintentionally touching your lovely warm skin with my icy cold fingers

"Hot cuppa tea" is one of your favourite sayings, and you also delight in pointing out your "bot-uhl..warm" as your wrap your fingers around it in the morning.

"Punkin bread oh punkin bread more punkin bread" . It should come as no surprise that you know so many food related words, given your love of tasty treats. At the moment you adore your yellow and orange fruits and veg, and are totally self feeding, which is a huge relief. Your dolt of a mother did not realise that the reason you were throwing meal time tanties was because you wanted to do it all yourself, especially things like yoghurt which you delight in spooning carefully into your mouth. You might not be au fait with your fork, and you often toss the spoon to one side and simply dig in with your fingers...but you do love your newfound sense of total feeding independence.

Colours, temperature, counting...you love to point out two of everything, indeed everything in your world is to be paired up for peace to prevail. The number three is so far reserved for pushing off on your slide, which you climb up with ease before gleefully shouting "Owright" as you stand at the top. This month has seen you gain greater confidence in your gross motor skills. Your fine motor skills are just plain scary, as evidennced by your ability to do up the straps on your booster chair and stroller.

You are totally a Nana's (and Daddy's, and Poppy's...) girl at the moment, saving your best tanties for Mum. Let us not speak of your increasingly frequent outbursts of raw toddler frustration and emotion. "No jumper...hot...no! no! No!!" Enough said.

Nine teeth now grace your mouth: two top front teeth, two top molars, three and a half front bottom teeth and one bottom molar. Teething, like most other things, is not being done in a conventional fashion.

We're back to sleeping well both in the day and at night *fingers so tightly crossed it almost hurts*.

Love you so much, beautiful girl. You continue to delight and amaze us, your Mum and Dad, the mere mortals given the extraordinary priveledge of bringing you into this world. Keep charging full speed ahead!