22 Months Old!

It's hard to believe that Delia is almost 2 years old. In some ways, I still feel like she's my baby, but in many other ways, she reminds us that she is becoming a big girl. Actually, if you ask her, then Delia will tell you that she is not a big girl, nor is she a baby. JGray is a big kid and she is definitely not a baby, so she likes it when we call her a little girl (although I'm sure that will soon change).

At 22 months, Delia is:

• FULL of personality. Docile, quiet and demure are not words that we will ever associate with Delia. She is a fiesty, fearless, chatty, loving, happy, and spunky little girl.
  
• LOVES her brother. And we've finally figured out what she's going to call beloved big brother. Drum roll please......"Bobby!!!!" Why? Because since she was born, I've always referred to JGray as "Big Brother." I'd ask her, "Where is Big Brother?" Initially she called him "Ba Ba" but that has evolved into "Bobby." She runs around the house, yelling for him. "Bobby, Bobby, Bobby!!!!" The best part is that JGray answers to it :-) I don't know if the nickname will stick, but for now, it's precious.
• Is very, very close to having all of her teeth. Finally! We're still waiting on her eye teeth to push through all the way, but you can see them. Having top teeth has made a tremendous difference in her speech because now we can understand what she's saying.
• Yes, we finally have a talker (and one that we can understand)! It's amazing what top teeth can do. Delia has always been chatty, but now we can figure out what she's saying. She's started repeating phrases if we ask her too, which is awesome. She's also started putting some her own basic sentences together. Some of our favorite unprompted phrases are: "Mommy, where you going?" and "I love you" and "Go bye-bye." She has a great repertoire of single words too, including dog, cat, cookie, drink, shoes, coat, bow, sleep, ball, swing, and Mommy's favorites, please, thank you and excuse you (she says that when she means 'excuse me').
• Loves to play. She has a doll stroller that she loves to put her stuffed animals and dolls into and push around the playroom and kitchen. She also loves to play pretend with her Little People. She can throw and kick a ball too (one of the many pluses to having a big brother). Unlike a lot of little girls, Delia loves to play outside and doesn't mind getting dirty. She has a pair of Hello Kitty galoshes that she loves to wear (she'd wear them everyday if we let her). They're a little too big, but it keeps her from running too fast :-)

I cannot wait to see how much Delia enjoys Christmas this year. She's such an enthusiastic little girl, so I think she's going to love decorating the tree and unwrapping presents. Great practice for her birthday in January!

Here are a few pictures of Delia at 22 months:

She's growing up so fast!

Delia loves to play on the teeter-totter at the playground!