1 Year and 3/4 (21 Months)

We are only 3 months away from counting Chloe's age by years instead of months.  However, as we approach the terrible twos--Chloe has 2 terrified parents because getting to 1 year and 3/4 has been a power struggle.  The most difficult thing of late is changing diapers and changing clothes.  She is very content staying in her pajamas and full night time diaper until the diaper cannot hold any more and starts to overflow (which usually is at 9am in the morning).  You would think she loves to be in her PJ's so much that she would love changing into them, but that is not the case.  First it is kicking and screaming to get the PJ's off and chlothes on and then kicking and screaming to get the clothes off and PJ's on.  I have become quite good at the stand up diaper change and Ami has a technique of holding her in his lap so she is sortof upside down.  Both do not occur without a fight.  It seems like the easiest thing to do is have her eyes glued to Elmo on the TV and then we can do pretty much anything.  Except when Elmo is over she wants more Elmo--Thank goodness for DVR.  I'm going to start telling her stories about when Mommy and Daddy were little and there was no DVR and we had to wait until the next day to see another episode of Sesame Street and when we were little there was no Elmo--we had to make due with Big Bird and Bert and Ernie. 

We have also taken steps to turn her room from a baby's room to a toddler room--she is still in the crib and I'm hoping that she lasts in there until the end of the year when she is 2 1/2. But we took out the changing table (since she hated being on it and thought it was a launch pad for her new found jumping skill) and the rocking chair (Rocking chairs are for babies and so it is now in the babie's room).  I ordered a sling book shelf from Wal-Mart.com that has her name on it.  It is the perfect size and she can pick and put away her own books. 

We also took her toy bin out of the closet and made a little play area for her.  I found both the rugs at Target for $29.99 which was much cheaper than the PotteryBarnKids one that matches her bedding, but I think they go quite nice with her decor. 

She loves playing with her stuffed doggies.  Ruff-Ruff is still her favorite, but she has a red and white dog named Bubba and several baby Ruffs and baby Bubbas and sometimes includes her pink teddy bear in the mix.  She often wants to sleep with all of them and then wants to take all of them out and down to breakfast.  She has discovered her lego blocks and loves to build towers. She also likes puzzles and stacking toys.  Her drawing skills have greatly improved and she can now draw curved lines when before all her artwork was linear.  I know we are only days away from her first circle.  And much to our amazement, she has discovered her baby doll.  She will feed the baby doll a bottle, kiss him goodnight, and put him in his bed with a teddy bear and cover him with a blankie.  A couple of times we have tried to put the baby to bed and she goes over and throws (and I mean throw) the baby out and instead puts her doggies in the bed (The baby bed is a basket in her room).    She also loves to dance and cracks us up with her moves.  She must learn them from Choo-Choo Soul and Dance-a-lot Robot (more of her Disney Channel Faves).  Eating is still an adventure, but she is doing well and eating a variety of foods including veggies. Sitting and eating is still a challenge as she likes to get up and wonder and walk over to the pantry to stare at the endless supply of food.  She is talking more and more and we love to hear how her day at school went even if we can't understand a word of her story.  She knows songs and often "sings" along to Itsy bitsy spider, twinkle twinkle little star, and knows how to fall down at the end of Ring around the Rosie.  Probably one of the best things is that she has learned how to give kisses and hugs. There is nothing better than a night night kiss from Chloe after a diaper changing induced tantrum.  She is getting some more teeth, so perhaps that is making the tantrums worse--I can see at least one upper and one lower canine coming in and she may be getting all four at once. 

Sometimes we look at her and wonder how she got so big.  But she is about to become a big sister and is ready to become Miss Independant. 

Chloe chillin' with baby ruff!