This Hetrick House: Addy: 21 Months!

Dear Mommy's Big Girl,

You continue to be a wonderful big sister to little Emmy, and you love it when I call you a big girl! You are so nurturing with Emma; you love to kiss and hug her, hold her, burp her, and dance and sing for her. I know that soon enough you will provide endless hours of entertainment for your little sister, and I can't wait to see her interact with you.

Whenever Emmy cries (or makes any noise actually), you run to her and say, "It's OK Emmy."

Whenever she sneezes (or coughs), you are the first to say, "Bless you Emmy."

Whenever you want to play, you dance around the living room and say, "Dance Emmy!

You love your little sister so much and it warms my heart every day :)

This past month the firefighters came to your school. Your teachers told me that many of the kids were afraid of them, but you walked up to all four firefighters and shook their hands, saying "It's nice to meet you Addy". Yup, you always include your name in there. I corrected you at first, but it's so cute, so now we just let it go. You love to "meet" Mommy and Daddy and anyone else that will shake your hand.

You have started stringing a few words together, and you'll say things like "I'm flying" when Daddy makes you fly through the air. I can't believe how fast you are growing up right before my eyes. All of our family members that came to NC this past month commented on how much more you are talking now. It really is amazing! You are also saying your ABC's, and you can count to ten! Now, you might mash a few letters together in the ABC song, and you might skip some numbers when counting to ten, but you are learning fast!

I am so glad that we decided to enroll you in preschool, because I think you are getting a lot out of it. You sing a clean up song that you learned in school whenever we ask you to pick up your toys. I wish I could understand what you are singing, but all I can make out is "Clean up! Clean up!" It sounds more like, "Clean bup! Clean bup!" So cute :) You also love all of your class mates and teachers, and hearing you say their names is so sweet. I'm going to try to get a video of that soon.

You still love books and Daddy reads you one or two (or three!) every night before bed. Your recent favorite is "Go Dog Go". You get so excited and yell, "Go Go Doggy!" You are learning some of the words to lots of your books and will say them along with Daddy while he reads. You also will often sing along with Daddy when he sings to you before bed. Twinkle Twinkle, Rock-a-Bye Baby, and Row Row Row Your Boat are your favorites.

Speaking of Daddy, you call him Daddy now, not Dada. So now we are officially Mommy and Daddy in your book. You have also started referring to your little sister as Emma, not Emmy. I wish you still called her Emmy, because it's so cute to here your little voice utter that name. You kind of intersperse both names right now, but I guess Mommy and Daddy do that too.

You still love the Fresh Beat Band and you request that we put it on the TV every day, multiple times a day.

Your new favorite thing to do is color! We have some big crayons that Aunt Tina bought you and you love them. If we are ever looking for something to do, coloring is a surefire way to make you happy! Usually you tell me that you are coloring a castle or a truck with a ladder (which you remember from when the firemen came to your school). Your two favorite crayons that you always pick out are the brown and the black. Not much for color, huh?

You really love playing with older girls. The neighbor girls love you and they often ask if you can come out and play with them. You love Sophie, Jenna, and Megan. The older girls at church love to play with you too, and you just eat up all of the attention! I think that is one of the reasons that you love church so much. You run around like crazy and they chase you around during the fellowship dinner before music class. No wonder you are so tired on Wednesday nights when we get home!

You are a pretty good eater, and definitely a good snacker! You love nothing more in life than a good snack...especially fruit snacks. They are your new fave.

One my fears about bringing home your little sister was that you would end up waking up in the middle of the night when Emmy would cry. And then we would have two crying children to contend with. But, thank goodness, you are still an excellent night sleeper. Still sleeping about 13-14 hours at night (7PM-8:30AM). When you wake up in the morning you start your day with some singing in your crib before we come to get you. I am usually feeding Emmy in Daisy's little room on the glider, and I hear your sweet little voice singing things like "Hello to Emmy. So glad to see you!" That is your favorite song from music class and you go through all of us (including Daisy) in your rendition of the song. I love feeding Emma, listening to you singing away in your crib :)

We love that you are talking more and can really communicate with us now. It makes life so much easier. I have a feeling that you will do most of the talking for Emmy too, just as I did for Aunt Tina when she was little. You already think you know what she needs! When she cries you will look at me and say, "Hold", or "Burp", or "Rock". You turn to me with a very concerned look like, "Come on Mom. Get with it. Emmy needs you." It's hilarious!

You are so much fun at this age Addy! A bit trying at times with the tantrums, but overall lots of fun! Here are some of the pictures from your 21 Month Birthday:

But let me preface them by saying that you weren't feeling very well that day. You are getting more teeth (you currently have 14), you have a cold, and you had a fever that day. So needless to say, you were kind of out of sorts.

These first few are pre-Tylenol: