Mila's 20 Months Old!

Mila is 20 months old today! I can't and don't want to believe it! I just want to keep her as my baby......keep her at this age! Oh- but I must let her grow up. And -people have told me the other ages/stages are fun also.

Here are some updates from this past month:

1. Mila loves to help unload and load the dishwasher. She sits/stands on the dishwasher door and hands me things to put away. I am hoping this will continue but something tells me the novelty will wear off:). She also likes to help clean things up. Today she spilled some water on my bedroom throw rug and kept pointing to the paper towels in the kitchen. Finally I gave her some and she went back into my room to help clean up the spill. Smart girl!

2. Thanks to my neighbor giving us the wooden shape puzzle, Mila can now identify the following shapes receptively: square, heart, diamond, triangle, rectangle, oval, circle, & star. She really can only expressively label the star, heart, and oval (her favorite). I will likely buy her more wooden puzzles as she really loves them. When we finish them she sign/says (more). Not sure what's next? Numbers? Letters? She just loves to learn.

3. Mila has turned into a video/DVD junkie!. A month ago I was dying because she gets up so early and - would hang onto me for 2-3 hours before I took her to daycare at 9 am. After some suggestions via my Facebook friends, Mila now really enjoys short DVDs such as: Little People, Veggie Tales, Blues Clues, Yo Gabba Gabba and Backyardagans. She used to love Baby Signing Times.....not so much anymore. She now requests to watch movies both before and after school. I really try to limit her TV but I can see how....especially when I am tired...it would be so easy just to cave and let her (and I) veg out in front of the TV. The battle begins!

3. Mila loves to feed me! She loves to dip veggies into hummus or ranch and feed them to me. She loves to dip any food, into anything and feed me. My little caretaker!

4. Mila has started to sleep in until 6:30 am! It has happened for 4 days in row so I am hoping it's a trend. It's a Christmas miracle vs. waking up at 5:30-6:00 am.

5. Mila will be moving up to the 18-24 month classroom after Thanksgiving. Yes- I am already having a hard time with it but....I faced my fears and initiated the move after many subtle hints from her teacher. She will be moving up with her best buddy, Nora, who has been with her since she started daycare. We are hoping for the best. When I talked to the daycare provider about it she asked "what do you think?" And I said "well, you know me.....I don't like change and Mila is happy where she is/with her teachers." Such is life....she/we must move on/forward.

Below are a few pictures from our holiday photo shoot with Gail. These are not all of our photos as I am saving them for our holiday card but just know- Gail is an amazing photographer and still has openings for holiday photos: http://www.piccadillyphoto.blogspot.com/