My little love, I am really amazed at how well you have adapted to the changes going on in our lives right now. I believe you were most upset and confused when the movers took all of our belongings, leaving us with an empty apartment. You seemed frightened of our old home then; not comfortable with being by yourself in those empty rooms which used to house your routines and comfort. After a few emotional days, you seemed to accept that everything was different and that we would often be in-and-out of different cars and sleeping in different places. You have adjusted to having only a few toys to play with for now. You've had to watch more movies than we find desirable, but they have also provided a sense of familiarity for you throughout our jumping from place to place.
Oblivious to the whirlwind of change, your development has soared even further skyward. You have started putting more words together, for example saying "nurse baby!","hi Papa!", or "bye Meow!" You are fascinated with birds and as you see them streaking overhead, cry out "tweet-tweet!" You know all the parts of your body now and can name most of them. Today, you learned what "ow" really means and how to use the word. We were playing on a paved surface, bouncing your ball, when you fell while running and skinned your little knee. For an hour afterwards, you pointed to it and said "ow!" while crying intermittently. Since I put your pajama pants on for the night, you've luckily forgotten about it. On the bright side, you've also learned what "counting" is and you try your hardest to count to five! You'll hold your fingers up and with a grin say, "one....twooo...free...fou...whee!"
Nowadays, you love swinging at the park and will even go down slides by yourself! Your pretend play has really taken off too. Before your play kitchen was packed away to be shipped, you would pretend to cook soup in the little wooden pot, then spend twenty minutes pretending to spoon feed us and your stuffed animals. Your stuffed animals all have names that you've given them - most noteable right now are Baah (your lavender stuffed sheep), Pooh (from the books/movies), and Mau (a little mouse in a red dress). You're also becoming much more interested in other children, not only observing them but interacting with them. After spending a little time with another child, you will willingly give hugs and follow them around, smiling.
You can name the colors: red, orange, yellow, white, green, blue, purple and sometimes black. If I lay out a row of crayons, you can point out specific colors when asked. While we're out and about you often alert us to your favorite color, exclaiming, "more blue, more blue!" You hum almost to the tune of the ABC song and the Ponyo theme song. You're very adept at peeling stickers from their sheet and placing them right where you want them. You know about a quarter of the alphabet now, including the letters O, I, A and P. We taught you last week that "O" is also what's called a circle and after a few demonstrations, you could draw a circle of your own!
You love all types of food, and are usually willing to try just about anything. You love schnitzel, lemonade, pizza (which you've eaten too often on the run, since our busy PCS time began) and eggs. Last night, you devoured three fresh cheese tortellini, a slice of tomato, a big floret of roasted broccoli, half a fingerling potato, two bites of pork chop, three strawberries, four blackberries and a German butter cookie. You like to snack on yogurt, raisins and cinnamon cheerios. If not presented with a fork or spoon with your meal, you will not touch the food until the problem is rectified - you really dislike 'dirty' hands! You also still nurse a few times throughout the day and night. You have grasped the idea of nursing when we first wake up, and then saying "no more mee-mee!" when it's time to go eat breakfast.
You're very good at sharing your food with us and your stuffed animal friends, and surprisingly, it has only gotten messy when you were given a lollipop at a restaurant. The Germans apparently love to give children candy... in addition to the lollipop, you've tried a little package of gummy bears and I've had to refuse a number of other candy offerings.
It is truly hard for me to grasp the idea that in just a few short months, you will be two years old.
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