Twenty months

Can it really be possible that the poo monkey has reached her twenties?

Two new teeth are on the scene (another bottom jaw molar and eye tooth...when are you going to get your top second incisors?), you are taller and still delightfully rounded in that delicious way only toddlers can be.

Over the past month we have again seen you take great leaps with your speech, you love to parrot sentences and love to use your action words and personal pronouns of sorts. As I have written earlier, you occasionally use "I do it" and "you do it", although mostly you stick to "abi x..mum x, daddy y" etc etc. You continue to astound us with the number of words you know and add to your vocab every day. "Up", "down", "on/off", "in/out", "yucky/better" are all used in their appropriate contexts.

You also own everything, it's not our car it's Abi's car, Abi's 'puter...

You also speak many universal truths, like "Red stop" and "green go"...our little backseat driver!

Conversations with you are gorgeous, going along the lines of:
Poo monkey: "Dip! Daddy dip!"
Daddy: "Do you want to go on the slippery dip"
Poo monkey: "Okay!"
....as if it was our idea in the first place!

Mummy: "We're going to put your socks on because it's cold"
Poo monkey: "Ahhh....better!"
...this Poo monkey seal of approval is particularly cute.


You are also developing manners, always saying "Thankyou Mummy/Daddy/Nana"...and even "Thankyou much". We're also getting the occasional "Pliz" too. Let's hope this stays with you during the teenage years.

It is utterly hilarious to hear you say "Abi burp" and then fake one. Then again, your mum has always had a sophisticated sense of humour.

You can count from one to ten, well mostly-nine is your stumbling block- and if you don't feel like counting all the way you just go "...ten HOORAY", all pleased with yourself as you should be.

It is utterly adorable to hear your attempts at singing "Twinkle twinkle little star", complete with actions. And it is recognisable to persons other than your mummy! You also love to unambiguously do the actions and sing along where you can to assorted Wiggles songs, especially "Quack quack", "Jonie works with one hammer" and "Five little ducks", rapidly improving on the skills you were only starting to display a few months ago.

Your love affair with the Wiggles grows everyday, as does your associated Wiggles vocabulary ("henry puss" "wags woof", "jeff", "murray"). So far your parents are using your brand recognition skills for good rather than evil. When you need a top up of dairy food all we need to do is pull out a Wiggles yoghurt and you're away ("'iggles ogurt..yay!).

You are starting to enjoy more grown up activities such as Play dough ('Tay-do! Tay-do!'), cutting the dough (Abi cut it), flattening the dough ('hammer! hammer!') and pressing moulds ("press down"). You still love your stickers and drawing. And reading of course. Nowadays you love to tell us the story from your favourite books, especially "Goodnight me".

You love to 'help', especially sweeping, pulling clothes out of the basket and 'cooking' with your very own cupboard of plastics. "Abi too" is heard an awful lot around these parts.

Your fine motor skills are amazing, you love to undo and put on lids and caps of all descriptions, which has led to your Daddy and I having to be a bit more vigilant with objects previously safe from your reach. Especially Mum's lip balm...there is nothing in this world you love more than your "lippy".

We're making lots of progress in the gross motor skills department too. You are absolutely delighted with your ability to climb on and off things like your see saw rocker and ride on car....doesn't mean you like to use your own legs to push though..."Mummy/Daddy do it...better!". You love nothing more than to climb on and off the sofa nowadays too, and are attempting to jump and sometimes run.

I could go on and on...and I usually do...but you are now up and happily eating a yoghurt all by yourself in the chair adjacent to mine- and this yoghurt won't last forever.

Love you so much our little girl, for you truly are a little girl now.

Mummy will also let you in on a secret: if all goes well you might be on your way to becoming a big sister next year. Whether or not you'd appreciate that remains to be seen!

[ETA: How could I forget to mention how many colours you know: red, orange, pink, green, purple, yellow and blue? Or that stand your ground with a strong "Enough"?]