22.5 months

I can't wait until her 2 year update because she's really great RIGHT NOW and in another 6 weeks, she'll be different. There's already so much that's changed just since Garrison was born. She's leggy & her hair would touch her shoulders except the back curls up while the front remains resolutely straight.

OK, so my 21st century baby, iPad & Fitbit were some of her first words. She navigates touch screens with ease, which I'm sure is some sort of commentary on my parenting, but whatever. The Endless Alphabet & Endless Reader apps are HUGE hits. Bonus, she's learning to identify letters & has started repeating the words she's spelling. This week's show on repeat is Finding Nemo, and that's rad. "Nemo? Watch?"

She's never said "yes" because she says "yeah" instead, with great enthusiasm. In her more stubborn moments, when I'm asking her a list of questions and gets stuck on one answer, usually "no", she catches herself and when you get to something she wants to say yes to, it comes out as a compound word, "noyeah." Just this week "yeah" changed to "yep." Cup is "tup" now and when we dog-sit for my brother she's very excited to shout "Tukko!"

The little mimic will tell you she'll be right back when she leaves the room (be back!) because apparently that's what we say. All the time.

Because Jeremy rarely leaves the house without a hat, she asks for a hat and purse when it's time to leave the house.

Oh, she used to say thank you (Dane Q) and sign it at the same time. She still signs "please" half the time she's saying it. BUT! Now when you ask her to say thank you, she responds with "yo welcome" and that's the cutest. She'll even say it to you unprompted if you thank her. She says "bess you" when you sneeze, and "cuse me" when she burps. She announces her toots like a true Boswell.

She's getting the concept of ownership and runs around proclaiming things that are hers, or identifying ours. Elnoy's bahdee (which is blankie), Elnoy's woom, Mama's purse, Daddy's coat. She's starting to put words together on her own making little sentences. "Ama bye-bye? Papa bye-bye? Home?" after my folks left was both adorable & heartbreaking.

She loves showering with me, brushing her teeth,chasing the dog, her little shopping cart that folds out into a play kitchen, her first tea set, being naked and telling everyone about it (NAKE!), yogurt, cheese, most of the vegetables (though avocado has fallen out of favor), playing in my makeup (yips!, cheek), having her toes painted, books, and drawing, preferably with the pen in using to pay bills instead of her 100 or so crayons.

Oh! Singing! So, a few weeks ago she started asking for songs. We sing to her all the time but when you're curled up in the glider, and she asks to snuggle (nuggle?) and wants you to sing to her? Who can resist that? Not me. When she was littler, she'd point to your mouth, sometimes quite... vigorously when she wanted a song, but now she says the words. And at night, it's totally a stalling tactic as she's started saying "more song? One?" Yep. Manipulation time.

Oh yeah, she counts to three. And says nine. And she's started singing to us now. Itsy Bitsy spider & the ABCs. Of course, she only says 8 or so letters, but when she gets to the end, it's adorable. "A,B...E..H,I..N,O...Q...S,P...now know...sing." Now if only I could catch it on video.

She's just wonderful. Frustrating, defiant, boundary-pushing, patience-testing, inventive, sweet, affectionate, creative, messy, adorable & runs me ragged more days than not, which is wonderful.

Short cuts

There's this thing J does when he's dpepperawing up a bath for me that I was going to call a "life hack" because that's the catch phrase, right? Then I heard TJ in my head saying, "not everything is a hack!" She's right. And most of the "hacks" are short cuts, but I don't know if this even qualifies as that because it actually takes longer. Whatever. It's a useful way of doing a thing I do a lot that gets better results than the way I usually do them. Anyway, he lets the tub fill from the shower head. This is neither novel nor revolutionary. However, it does keep our tiny bathroom warm & steamy much longer, creating a sort of sauna-like atmosphere. Only wetter. A hot tub in a sauna. It's fantastic.

Then! I was making dinner. A Philly cheese steak casserole. All apologies to residents of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the greater New England area as well as to lovers of the cheese steak everywhere. I've never had a cheese steak. I promise not to form am opinion on them based on this dish. Whatever. I'm making dinner, in a casserole dish, that has ground beef, onions, bell peppers and provolone topped with biscuit. Only vaguely in the neighborhood of a cheese steak. All of this is mostly irrelevant because what I'm trying to get around to is the part where the recipe have me a handy new way to cut bell peppers. Forgive me if you've been doing this for years. I'm new here. So, you cut a little of the bottom of the pepper so it stands up on its own. Then you cut from the stem down, leaving these long strips attached to the stem. HANDY!

I haven't used a dust pan to fill a bucket with water from the faucet, but I did buy a what'sit to organize my hair dodads, of which I have way too many considering the length of my hair is such that I don't do much with it. I'm sure you could DIY something like this in a jiffy. I have small children and a grand desire to sleep rather than craft.

There should be a clever unifying conclusion here, but I have to go check on my casserole.

Edit: 

1) If you fill the tub from the bottom using the shower, the water chills quicker, so either only use the hottest water, or fill tub halfway with the faucet and finish with the showerhead.

2) After slicing all around the bell pepper, you can cut around the stem or just snap off the strips. Its handy to be able to use the whole weight of the pepper while cutting it into strips so they aren't falling everywhere. 

3) The cassarole was delicious.

Made up make up

So, I've been thinking about what to do with my ever growing yet increasingly neglected cosmetics collection. Then Ginger posted her beauty goals, and so I'm doing the same. Making a list of house stuff has led to us getting new towels & soon an actual bed skirt. Maybe doing that with beauty stuff will help too.

1. Wear make up. OK. It sounds simple, but I rarely leave myself the time to put on  makeup. Between toddler wrangling, baby whispering, housekeeping, and the swiftly expanding list of kdramas I NEEEEEED to watch, eye-shadow & blush are falling off the radar.

2. Blush. I have some that I like but my naturally pink face means I rarely wear it. It seems silly to cover the pink with foundation just to re-pink it with blush. I don't have highlight/contouring skills, so blush is just something to add a "healthy glow." Anyway, I put some of my pretty MAC blush from the Disney Villains collection. It's Maleficent & the cookie is canned Briar Rose. I don't have pictures, but all day I was quite pleased with my reflection. So now I want to figure out how to wear all my blush.

3. Highlighting & Contouring. It's all the rage on Pintertest. When I got a MAC makeover a few years ago, I remember being stunned at how they changed the shape of my jaw & gave me cheekbones with just make up. It's nothing new, but I want to learn how to do it on my own face.

4. Good skin care. I have a Clarisonic Mia (it's purple) & my skin really seems to like being cleaned with oil. I've been pregnant/nursing for almost 3 years, so I'm not really sure what my skin is really like, but I'm (hopefully) going to be nursing most of this year too, so best to take care of this version of my skin.

5. Neutrals. I want to learn to use the pretty nude palettes I bought, like Naked3 & some Benefit stuff. Natural eye-shadow isn't what I'm used to or good at. But with blush, I think natural might be a good direction.

I think that's a good start.

Twooo Months

The Vitals:
15 lb (I didn't believe it but I weighed him on two different scales)

23.5" ish. Hard to tell because he still doesn't stretch out much 

Highlights:

The weather was nice enough for us to take a couple of walks around the neighborhood which he slept right through

I left him at home! (With J) He took a bottle of pumped milk without any issues. Hooray.

He went to his first coffee house & his first concert... which was just Queen Anne's Lace singing at the coffee house, but I'm counting it. 

Skills:
Holding his head up
Smiling!
Falling asleep just as his sister wakes up from her nap
Rolling from belly to back

Works in progress:
Laughing. He's so close to a real giggle.

He likes:
Being naked. He grins when you unsnap/unzip his sleepers
The swing & car rides. Motion of most any kind

He dislikes:
Um... not much, to be honest. He's a mellow little guy

I dislike:
Baby puke & cradle cap

I like:
The smiles! Totally the best part of my day.
Sleeping. He's slept for 6hr at a stretch a few times & getting more than 2 uninterrupted hours of sleep makes me feel like a whole new human.
Surprise cute outfits. Like this gown. The dinos on the hands were a total surprise and just made this my favorite gown yet.

He continues to grow & charm the socks off everyone. He hasn't peed on me in a while. We've fallen into a rhythm if not really a routine yet. Next week we go for his 2m well care exam, so I'm looking forward to hearing that he's practically perfect in every way.

It's impossible for me not to compare things though. There are many things about a squishy, immobile infant that are much easier than toddler wrangling. I set him down and he stays put. I don't have to discipline him or worry he's getting into trouble when I'm not looking. I don't have to plan his lunches or chase him down to get dressed or change his diaper or go to bed. 

On the other hand, there's a lot of freedom with Eleanor. I put her in her chair with her lunch & can go about my business without worrying about her choking. When it's time to get dressed, she can help--no forcing limp noodle arms & legs into her clothes. She can bring me things & tell me what she needs (mostly).

2 months