23 Months!

Aurora,

One more month and then you will be two. I am not sure how this happened! Where did my little baby go! You are such a big girl now!

In fact, we moved you this past month to your own big girl bedroom. I was a bit nervous about it, but we had been talking it up for awhile now, how you will move to your "Tiki Room", so when it came time to move, you did great! I was very surprised and happy to see how well you adjusted to your new room. You also, thank goodness, have decided to stay in bed and have not roamed out of it yet. I think adding the bed rail has helped, but either way, that was my big worry and so far you have stayed in bed. You also have stayed sleeping and haven't woken up in the middle of the night or earlier than normal, which both daddy and I are very thankful for! We are still transitioning though so most of your clothes are still in the nursery. Your dresser was just delivered, so hopefully soon you will be fully moved over to your new room. You have also taken well to the new routine needed to go to bed in your new bed. We had to cut out rocking as the rocking chair is in the nursery. You have only panicked once about that, which I was not sure how you would handle that as you love to rock. Instead though, I climb into bed with you and lay with you while you fall asleep. I know I should not stay with you as long as I do, but I know my nights of having just you are coming to an end soon, so I am soaking up as much just Aurora time as I can.

I know I say this every month, but you truly do amaze me each and every day. You are getting so smart and are talking SO much. You speak now almost always in sentences, which is amazing. You also are learning how to ask for things, which is important. You sometimes forget your please and thank yous, but we always remind you, and you are getting better and remembering on your own. You also will count now and have started to say your colors (though most things tend to be green!). Your counting is what really amazes me. I am shocked every time you do a countdown and do it correctly!

You also hit the tantrum stage a bit this past month. I know they say this is normal for two (or in your case almost two year olds), but I hope it is a quick stage! You really can go from totally find, to a major meltdown in 2.5 seconds. We try and not give in to the tantrums, but sometimes, to be honest, I am tired, so I will cave! Luckily, most tantrums seems to be at least short and you do not do the drag out lay on the ground and kick your feet forever type. You will lay on the ground and pout, but we can usually distract you out of it quickly enough.

This month was also the first time you became "scared", or at least you were able to verbalize it to us. You get a bit clingy and just say, I scared. We hold and comfort you. I actually wonder sometimes if you are really "scared" or you just like the attention. You tend to talk about it a lot afterwards. Same with when you get "hurt". You will talk days later about something that happened to you at school or if you fell down. You haven't gotten majorly hurt, but it seems to leave an impact on you as you bring it up a lot. I think it is because during these times you get a lot of attention, but what do I know!

I look so forward to this final month of you being a one-year old and look very forward to what being two will bring! I know you will continue to amaze me each and every day. And I am thankful every day that I get to be your Mommy. When you give me a hug, it is truly the best feeling in the world! Those little arms wrapped around my neck, I cherish each and every moment! I love you more than words can describe!

Love always and forever,

Mommy