23 months!

Kathryn turned 23 months on Friday, but I've been having trouble loading pictures, so am just now getting around to her post! I know, it's kinda crazy that I'm still doing monthly posts for her, but she's doing so many new things that I couldn't wait until she turned 2 to post all she's been doing! She's really loving taking care of her little brother, and copies what she sees me doing with her baby dolls sometimes. Last week Jackson was having a particularly fussy day, so I was wearing him in the sling a lot. Finally Kathryn came crying to me with her baby and pointing at my sling. So, I made her a makeshift sling from one of her blankets. As you can see, she took her job very seriously!She also had her first coloring uh-oh, on the lamp! Of course I had to take a picture of it, after telling her we don't color on things besides coloring books and paper. Even as I'm typing this, she sees the picture and is telling me "Uh oh!". Thank goodness for Magic Erasers...got the crayon right off and the lamp is good as new!
She still loves to help me cook, and I can't even heat up a mug of water for tea without her dragging the kitchen chair over to help me!
She likes to taste along the way as she cooks! I promise if we make food for other people, I watch her closely so your food isn't tried!

One thing she really likes to help with is salad. It's easy for her to help me with that too because it's not hot or juicy, so if she spills, it's easy to clean up. She likes to put all the cut veggies in the bowls. Of course, we usually end up with salads missing our tomatoes and cheese because she steals them from our bowls and eats them!
She also helps set the table. Somehow only one fork made it to the table this night...
As I mentioned, she loves to help me with Jackson. Some of her favorite jobs include: getting his paci, telling him "shhh!", burping him, rubbing his back, holding him, getting his burp cloths for me, helping me change his diaper, and taking baths with him.

Her language is also really coming along. Some new words include: ice, comb, buddy, ball, brrrr, boo, two, go, bubbles, and I'm sure others that I'll have to post later! She loooooves singing, and is often singing along with any music that's on or making up her own songs. Of couse I can't understand what she's saying, and sometimes it's just humming, but she loves music (especially her kid music). I am starting to hear her get some words correct in some songs. She also recognizes tunes, which I think is really cool. She'll push the music buttons on her toys until she hears the songs she wants, usually The Itsy Bitsy Spider or Bingo (those are some favorites right n0w). She still will only let us sing Jesus Loves Me at night before bed. If we try to sing any other song, she shakes her head no until we stop!

She is generally a pretty good kid. Of course, at this age discipline is a constant thing anyway, and she has her good days and days when she tests us. She still sleeps really well at night (as long as she's not cutting new teeth), going to bed between 7:30 and 8:30, and sleeping about 12 hours. Naptimes are a little different. She'll go down for her nap anytime between 12:30 and 2:00 depending on the day and what we're doing, and sleep anywhere from 1-3 hours. The average is about 1.5 hours, and I'm happy if I get at least that long out of her. Any shorter and she's pretty grumpy for the rest of the day. She loves taking her bath at night, especially when Jackson gets to join her. She likes trying to wash him and pouring water on him when we're not watching her closely enough. Poor guy takes it like a trooper! She's really into coloring and reading still, as well as her abc's and counting. When we write letters, she'll often start "writing" while saying "S" over and over again. She'll also say "A" and "buh" for B. She can count to two, and makes up words for the other numbers. She also walks around saying "Mama" all the time, sometimes to "ask" me something, sometimes to get my attention, and sometimes just to be saying something I think. I hear it probably 34,587 times a day! Just in the past few days she's been jabbering more in a different way. I really think she's on the verge of a language explosion. It's still hard for me to imagine her talking to me in sentences and answering my questions (and asking her own questions, too!). I can't believe the next time I do one of these posts, she'll be two years old. Thank You, God, for such a wonderful, fun, sweet little girl. May You work in her heart to continue to draw her to Yourself, that she may live for You!