20 months

wow, well our biggest babe is 20 months today. she is quite the little girl now! she's had an eventful past month obviously, but is adjusting fairly well as big sister. it's very very sweet to see her with her baby sister. her voice gets all high pitched when she talks to her. she tells her "it's okay" and "i know, i know" when adelyn gets remotely fussy. she insists on giving her some love several times a day, sometimes several times an hour. she LOVES adelyn! we have no problems there, but we definitely have more attention seeking behaviors for mom and dad. some are sweet and melt your heart a bit and others, well, they make you clench your jaw and force deep breaths. lol. either way elena for sure makes every day interesting and so so much fun!!

at 20 months elena knows lots of colors, most of her letters and how to count to 14 (skipping 11 and 13 - haha). she continues to have a special liking for animal noises and actions, which started at 9 months. coloring, dancing and playing with her babies are the favorite activities (although going outside will soon rule those). she loves to sing and knows plenty of songs. her vocabulary amazes me every day and we are officially in conversation mode. the other day she told me her shoes were too tight - i had no idea she knew the word 'tight' let alone what it meant or even how to use the word 'too' appropriately. but sure enough - they are and we need to go shoe shopping for our growing girl. she tells us, "good job," "how nice," and "cool" appropriately, as if she's the parent and we're her children! as big as her vocabulary is, she completely amuses herself by speaking 'elenaese' to us. she knows she's not speaking anything understandable and it cracks her up (there's a video of it on my vimeo). elmo, of course, continues to be an obsession. elena has also become an impressive negotiator and has mastered lots of creative stall tactics. she for sure gets an 'A' for effort for these, but it's quite frightening what the future may hold for her teenage years.

her sweet face....






and her negotiating skills...trying to get more food at snack time. "how 'bout....?"

negotiator from Molly Leone on Vimeo.

"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking." ~Buddhist Saying