Josie is 21 Months Old

Dear Josie,

On Sunday, you turned 21 months old.

You came to church with me, clutching This Mommy’s little green bible, and totally unwilling to part with the fish hat she unearthed as we try to purge our house and prepare for our next move.

Developmentally, you are clearly edging towards two. You alternate between sweet, charming, and helpful, and stubborn, willful, and 100% engaged in passive resistance.

Your language development is so much fun. Whether you want help, or are offering it, you look at the person and say, “I helping me!” If it turns out you wanted their help, and they don’t provide it, you scream, “I HELPING ME!” until either they do, or you are somehow distracted from their refusal to help you do whatever dangerous activity it is that you wanted help doing.

You love to read, often asking to read a book when you are right on the edge of falling asleep or waking up. This morning, I offered you the choice between something to drink and a book, after you asked for a book. You repeated your demand for a book, then fell back asleep for 15 minutes.

You love your brother in the sweetest way I can imagine (most of the time).

You love to sing, and we eagerly await the time when we can recognize more than just the ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle in your rich repertoire! You can sing most of the ABC song from memory now, and enthusiastically “count” — especially the numbers between 2-7. I think you fully grasp the concept of “two” but the rest of it is less clear.

At school, you also love water work, especially washing the baby dolls. You clearly also enjoy pouring and sorting work; yesterday, I could barely tear you away from the lentils you were pouring.

At home, your favorite things to do are 1) anything Noah is doing, and 2) coloring, especially your own body with magic markers. We already see differences in your style and what Noah’s was at your age. He liked soft, gentle coloring, and then heavy dots of color, slammed into the paper as if he were trying to spear through the table. You draw furious circles, dark and intense, but giggle most of the time when your will has not been thwarted.

We are getting ready to move to a new house, and in that process, we’ve been packing, making some changes to our bedtime routines, and otherwise doing some things that might stress you out this summer. I hope you understand, as you get older, that we are doing these things to make our family life easier and saner for you and Noah as well as for your Mommies.

love,

That Mommy

Edited to add: I can’t believe I forgot this new thing you’ve been doing: You love to say stop. It has nearly replaced “No” in your vocabulary. Stop, STOP, or STOP IT MOMMY, with the occasional Stop It Noah thrown in for good measure.