Your Royall Blogness: 19 Month Letter

To our little love,

This month was a fast one! 2 weeks of which we spent sick in Oklahoma over christmas. Only the second time you have been sick, and it hit us hard! You were a trooper though. You really wanted to feel good and play with your cousins, but you spent most of the trip nursing, pooping, puking, coughing, snotting and in your mommy's arms. You did start saying "I don't want to" during your sick days because you didn't want to puke again. Your longest sentence to date. Sad, but impressive. You also said "I'm sorry" after you puked one time. Broke my heart. It made me so sad to see my baby girl sick and not be able to make you feel better.

My note taking was poor this month, so I don't have a lot of specifics. Your personality grows bigger everyday. Your vocabulary is through the roof. Sometimes you can be demanding. The occasional "no" has become more of a "no, no, NO NO NO NOOOOOO!!" . When you agree or want to say yes to something, it is an emphatic "OK!" Lately, when you are really excited about something it is "OOOO-K! OK OK OK!!" My favorite is how you make it sound like it is my idea. For instance, you'll be whining by your stroller and when I finally ask "Do you want to go on a walk?", you answer with an excited "OK!" like you hadn't thought of that before.

You will exclaim "whoa!" or "so cute!". You like to pick out your clothes from time to time. You like to pick out your shoes and try to put them on and off your feet. You still think it is fun to put on mommy and daddy's shoes and walk around. One of your favorite activities is to carry around your purse or bag and go "shopping" around the house which just means you stick random items in your bag and sit in your car stroller. You also love to play with all of your play kitchen items. You discovered your love for soup when you were sick. You often ask for it to eat and you always make a batch in your play kitchen.

Did I mention you were becoming more demanding? Especially when you want "milkies" which is the official term you coined for breastfeeding. Before you were sick you were down to only nursing around sleepy times. Traveling and being sick for 2 weeks, and you are back to wanting it all the time. You are starting to show a sassy side of your personality more and more. We call you "Sass-quatch" during these times. You say "go" when you are ready to leave. You love our walks to the park which we really missed while we were in OK. It is really cold there! You will ride in the car stroller or jogger stroller, but you like to walk/run part of the way too. You will touch/examine every plant/flower/structure that we pass. There are so many cool and different california plants in our neighborhood. We see something different on every walk.

You still love to dance and sing. Your hip shake gets me every time, and you have now started tapping your foot to the beat. You like to try to clap to the beat. You play air guitar in your car seat and you make up your own songs. You LOVE singing itsy bitsy spider and you have the hand motions down. One night, your aunt Lauren was singing Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off" to baby Norah, and you started singing it! I have heard it a few times now. "Play play play play" and "Shake it off!" Your dad is not a taylor swift fan which makes this even more funny.

You still love reading books and you have some of your favorites memorized. You love kicking balls and you are quite coordinated! Soccer player? You love your baby dolls and I let you bring one with us on walks and on car trips. You will pile up your dolly stroller with as many dolls/toys as you can fit on it and push it around the house. You also got a little, little red wagon for christmas that you like to load with items and wheel around.

You loved seeing all of your cousins and second cousins over christmas. Even though you did not feel great, you tried your best to play with them. We try to hang out with your friends Isla, Wilder and others as much as possible. You are recently into building forts, thanks to the Everage cousins. You will say "fort" and want us to build with the couch cushions and make towers out of pillows.

You love to count. Lately it is "2, 4, 7, 8, 9". You love to "color" and you will shout the color of things you see…although you usually always say "blue!" for everything. Your hair is getting longer everyday. You have the cutest little curl wisps behind your ears. You are still at 16 teeth and you like to show off your chompers when eating. You love to eat cereal and milk in the mornings and you are getting better with the spoon.