20 Months

It has been 20 lightning fast months since this girl came into our lives. She has changed so much in such a short amount of time, but something that is always a constant is how much joy she brings to my life.

A few things I don't want to forget...

She is an amazingly affectionate child. I can never get enough of her kisses and hugs and, thankfully, she is very generous with them. Sometimes when I come and get her in the morning, she'll hug my neck, lay her head on my shoulder, and whisper, "I missed you, Mama." It completely melts my heart.

She is not stingy with the 'I love you's' either. In addition to telling me and her daddy that she loves us, she likes to profess her love to popsicles, oranges, and other various favorite foods. It cracks me up to see her say, "I LOVE you, banana!" with as much passion and feeling as she says, "I LOVE you, Daddy!"

Sometimes, when she's feeling particularly sweet, she'll say, "I love you soooo much!"

She loves the ABC song. She can't sing it all the way through yet, but she does sing, "Now I know my ABC's" which is good enough for me.

She can count to five, although she often skips the number two for some reason.

Her vocabulary has exploded in the last month and she can now speak in short sentences. It still amazes me that a quiet girl like me can have such a talkative child.

She still sleeps in her crib even though we really should convert it to a toddler bed. The hold up can be blamed on me. It'll make me so sad to see my baby in something other than her crib so I'm prolonging the inevitable as long as I possibly can.

But no matter how hard I try, there's no stopping time, or even slowing it down. Remembering this fact helps me to cherish every single moment. Even the ones that aren't as sweet and fun (tantrums in public and the constant mess) because I know that these moments don't last forever and one day when I'm sending her off to college, I'll actually miss them.

Had a blast at a friend's 4th birthday party.

Daddy's girl