twenty months

Dear Julianna,

This is the first time ever in your whole life that I haven’t started this letter before the day I needed to post it. Time has just gotten away from me and the month has gone by way too fast this time. It really seems like I just did one of these last week. And we have been sooooo busy. Running here and there for the holidays and when you finally get a chance to sit down and breathe you remember ten other things you needed to do so you get up once more or you just sit there and rest so you don’t lose your mind. ANYWAY, you’re still mama’s wonderful little girl who never ceases to amaze me.

This month you’ve somehow learned how to count to ten. You’ve also expanded your vocabulary by leaps and bounds. I can’t even begin to keep up with all the words you know now. Just now you climbed in daddy’s lap to read a book and you quickly said the name of the book, “Shapes,” a word we didn’t know you even knew. Things like that actually happen all the time now. You’ve learned almost all of the basic colors and you can point them all out to us although you can’t say a few of them. You’ve learned a good bit of the alphabet and now when we go to Nanna and Pap’s house you prompt me if I forget to start singing at exactly the right spot on the way.


You’ve also had a little bit of a “mean” streak going lately where you hit and push people when they want your toy or when they ask you to do something you don’t want to do. Mama and Daddyyou’re your favorite people to hit although you’ve managed to swat at a few others. We’ve still been using time out when this happens, but you don’t seem to mind too much.

It will be interesting to see your interpretation of Christmas this year considering that last year you hardly understood anything. This year though, I think you’ll start to get a little bit of what’s going on. I know I sure have had a blast explaining the season to you and seeing you process it all so far. It makes me feel like a kid again. I was so excited to take you to see Santa at the mall the other day and you did really well with it. It took some warming up, but you finally sat on his lap and you’ve talked about it lots since then.


We put up our Christmas tree the other day and you’ve been fascinated with the “biiiiiiiggg tree” in the house as well as all the ornaments. The nativity set that I had as a little girl has brought you lots of joy in the last week or so. You set all the pieces out in a line and then transfer them to a new location one by one and amazingly display them in the proper positions. Occasionally you pick Baby Jesus up and give him a gentle kiss.



You’ve had some fun playing with a few friends this month. You can tell that you’re learning more and more how to interact with the people around you. You recently took a bath with your friend Baylee which you haven’t stopped telling us about since and you love going to Mamaw’s house so you can go visit and play with Abby and then later tell us about how Abby cried, “Waahhhhh.”



Potty training hasn’t been going very far. You will sometimes go days without wetting a diaper, telling us every time you need to potty and then after that you’ll go back needing lots of prompting or never wanting to use the potty at all. It’s so confusing sometimes why it goes that way, but we’re still giving you all the time you need.
You’re doing really well in your big girl bed. You’ve rarely gotten out of bed at night and you’ve taken many more naps there this month so I feel we’re doing great. You’re growing up so quickly! In a few of the pictures we took the other day you look eight years old already!


Finally, I want to tell you about Thanksgiving a couple of days ago. We celebrated with family as usual and as Thanksgiving often prompts, I’ve been thinking about what I’m thankful for. I’m thankful for the early mornings you bring. I’m thankful for the messy highchairs and dirty kitchen floors. I’m thankful for filthy bathrooms and cars with squeaky brakes. I’m thankful for that extra roll or two of fat that I have gained this year and I am thankful for your small temper tantrums. I am thankful for your problem-solving daddy even when I just want him to listen to me rant. I’m thankful for money problems and always needing more hours in the day. I’m thankful for the past and the future. I’m thankful for hearing the word “applesauce” 1,822 times and for that really annoying “Candice Can-Do” book. I’m thankful for every bit of my life. And I’m thankful for you, Jules. I love you, baby girl.

Love,
Mama