20.5 months...nearly two?

I cannot believe I have a near two year old, Julie and Annie have near one year olds, Alyssa nearly has a baby, and the world is still turning (hold on!).

So, what is my near two year old up to? We always knew that when she finally started talking, she'd never shut up and she's held firm to my speculation. She yammers on and on, all day, without regard for conversation, or the English language. Who cares about that darn English language when you speak toddler?!

The current word list includes: dinosaur, helicopter, maniac, pasta, banana, apple, bagel, cheese, stroller, car, "our car", blue, green, Clifford, George, Curious George, and many more that I can't think of. She's also getting pretty good with names, and can say, or try to say, most that we encounter. She says Tracy, Wendy, Alena, Owen, Lindsay, Leah, Julie, Luke, and I swear she calls me Katy half the time. Silly kid.


She LOVES to talk to Nonna and Papa on the phone. She'll pick up her faux cell phone, and when I ask her who she's calling, she'll tell me, "Nonna, Papa, Sadie". Or "Daddy" if he's not at home.

I suspect dancing is an inherited trait, since I got it from my mom, and she's apparently gotten it from me. I need to find a mom and me dance class for us to rock out at...or we need to become a fixture on the Baby Loves Disco circuit. There are two new videos up of her rocking out, and if you listen closely on the second one, you'll hear "Maniac" from Flashdance in the background, and her saying, "maniac".

Her current favorite foods include pasta and cheese, though not mac and cheese, but rice pasta and parmesan, and scrambled eggs and applesauce. My kid has an enlightened palette.

When we wake up in the morning, we usually spend some time cuddling in bed, or more realistically, me sleeping and Ry watching Sesame Street. When Elmo is over, she'll try her best to drag me out of bed. Her methods include: poking my face, opening my eyes with her fingers, getting about 1 cm from my face and shouting "mama" at me, yanking the blankets off me, saying "apple" and "hungry" over and over while signing eat and hungry to my sleepy face, and sitting on me. Many times it's a combination of all of these that finally does the trick. Waking up to a stinky-breathed toddler in your face every morning is fun, I swear.

But really, what this all means is that Ryan is truly becoming her own person, full of spit and vinegar, and silly and crazy, a little bit princess, and a little bit maniac. She's pretty fabulous, and pretty fun, and I wouldn't trade her for all the world.