20 months :)

Another month has passed! Hard to believe how quickly Brooke is growing up. It's crazy to think that she wasn't even 1 when we found out that our family would be growing, and here we are just a few months away from 2! The chickadee changes so much each month, so I hope to continue with these monthly updates even after Baby Reeder is added to the mix.

~ The absolute greatest, most awesome thing this child started doing this month is singing along to, well, everything. A few of her toys have little songs when you press buttons and she knows all of them. She also sings along to the songs in the shows she watches. And, thankfully, she only watches shows that are mostly educational, so she's learning while she does it! (See below for video of this cuteness.)
~ On a similar note, she can read along with books when you read them to her, too. Sometimes I catch her "reading" books to herself out loud; she gets the gist of each page.
~ She's very into doing things by herself now. Everything is "I do it myself." Which is great...most of the time. Until what she wants to do herself takes a million years when we're in a hurry (i.e. buckling her car seat herself) or is very messy (i.e. putting on lotion). But, with Baby Reeder almost here, I guess I better embrace this independence, even if it does mean a little more time or work for me in the long run.
~ She's doing really well using utensils. She can eat cereal w/milk with a spoon, though there's usually a little puddle on the high chair when she's done. She can stab most foods with her fork...when she remembers to use it. Half the time she'll be holding the fork in one hand and picking up food with the other. But she's making definite progress!
~ She still loves popsicles and asks for them daily, but "animal kwackas" are the snack of choice these days.
~ If we're sitting around at home between 7-8pm, we typically watch "Wheel, owange balls, and Jeopady". Brooke loves this hour of television, just like her dorky parents. If it goes to commercial, she'll say "Wheel all gone?" in a sad little voice. And in case you can't figure it out, "owange balls" refers to the Ohio Lottery drawing that happens in between the 2 shows.
~ We're slowly working on better manners. If she wants something, she has to say "May I have ___ please?", used most often when she wants milk or a snack. She also apologizes more appropriately now (rather than say sorry for everything, she says it when she gets in someone's way, accidentally hurts someone, etc.)
~ Brooke gets very concerned when someone else is sad or hurt. If someone is crying, she almost starts crying herself as she asks "___'s cwying?" It typically takes a few minutes of her repeating this over and over and reassurance from me that the person feels all better before she is content. One night, my grandma was over and started choking on some food. Brooke was quite concerned and very seriously asked "Gwamma okay?" Needless to say, we are pretty sure we're going to hear "Baby cwying?" or "Baby okay?" every time the baby makes a noise for the first few weeks he/she is here!

This is a pretty good example of her singing along to tunes. I had been secretly watching her for a few minutes before this video started. I was afraid she'd stop if she saw me but she just kept on going! The songs go a little too fast for her to get every single letter/number/word correct, but I still think it's incredibly impressive and 100% adorable!