20 Months... What a difference a month makes!!

At twenty month, we are THRILLED to report that our sweet Janie is FINALLY sleeping through the night!  AHHHH! 

The previous month may just have been the most challenging of our parenting experiences so far and it was really starting to take its toll.  Acquaintances were starting to comment about how tired we looked, I had a few mini breakdowns on friends, the whole family was a little lot grouchy, and we knew something had to change!  Honestly, we are not sure what exactly changed with Janie (it could have been that we were so tired one night that we slept through her fuss, or that whatever teething pain she was experiencing for months ceased, or the homeopathic drops we gave her once fixed whatever issue she had), but she started sleeping through the night!  Once it started we got TEN consecutive nights of blissful sleep.  She got sick for a few days, we traveled to Chehalis for a weekend, and then she settled back into this wonderful pattern.  YIPEE!  And with the sleep came a little more independence and a lot less crabbiness from Janie... and Mommy! 

Janie continues to talk (and sing) up a storm.  Her sentences keep getting longer and more complex, expressing her opinions and wishes.  "I yike to eat the cookie,"  "I want to read book on the chair,"  "I want to go upstairs... play with Clara."  Janie is at the stage where she will continue to say the exact same thing over and over until we do/acknowledge it.  No joke, she will say it like 20 times without trying to say it differently or add to what she means.  And while her use of speech is becoming more developed, I am not sure we can say the same think about her annunciation.  Many times we are completely baffled at what she is saying.  This is when the simple "Oh, that's nice" works pretty well. 

Janie seems to use this to her advantage.  She says something like, "I want to eat a cu-ca" to which we often will respond "You want what?"  She will keep saying it, over and over.  Then when we figure out what she is saying by repeating her, "You want to eat a cupcake?" to which she just replies, "Okay." (expecting the cupcake!)

Janie has also come leaps and bounds in her willingness to go to the gym childcare.  I have been trying for months only to get paged just after breaking a sweat to come get my hysterical child.  It seems that a well-slept Janie is willing to do more than before.  It still isn't her favorite thing to do, but she will at least accept an hour of it a couple times a week when ample snacks are provided. 

With some of the nice weather we have had, Janie (and Big Sister, Clara) have been enjoying lots of time outdoors.  Janie likes to play in the water table, blow bubbles, take wagon rides to the park and chase the kids around.  She wants to be doing exactly what the others are doing and has made several attempts to get on Clara's bike.  She has such a happy, adventurous spirit and just keeps growing up way too fast!