At 20 months Abbygale:
• Thinks she is a princess. I can ask her “Who is a princess?” and she will reply “Abby Princess.”
• Has high self-confidence, which is exactly what I was aiming for. I can ask Abbygale, “Who’s beautiful?” and she will reply “Abby beautiful.” Every now and then she will say “Mommy beautiful.” Such a sweet girl. I want her to have so much self-confidence at an early age since the world can be so mean sometimes that when she is an adult she is still filled with some confidence.
• Abbygale is wearing 2T clothing. I really think she could fit in 3T too.
• Abby is in a size 5 diaper. Potty training has been put on hold since she has lost interest. I plan to really work with her at 2 even if her interest isn’t there. However, she will tell me if she has ‘poo-poo’ so that is a start. She gets the concept for sure.
• Abbygale’s hair is growing, so curly, and has turned a beautiful blond color. It is now pretty light and oh-so beautiful. She can easily have wild hair though if it isn’t tamed and brushed.
• Abby has started singing on key now. I can ask her to sing a song and she starts talking in her singing voice. Her singing melts my heart because it is so, so sweet.
• Abby still LOVES water. I mean LOVES it. She has an obsession with water. She wants to be in water constantly. A water hose, water table, in the sink playing, etc. I can’t wait for it to warm up so we can start swimming. I think she is really going to enjoy it this year.
• Abby still loves her milk. She wants ‘milk please’ all the time and still drinks way more than she should. She drinks 1-2 cups during the day and 4-5 cups before bed and at night. She wakes up a few times still at night for a diaper change (since she is consuming so much milk) and ‘milk please.’ She is only up a few minutes and then sound asleep again.
• Abby still sleeps in bed with us. Please keep your comments to yourself. We both love to snuggle with Miss Abbygale, even though she also hits and kicks all through the night.
• Abby loves to be outside. She likes to ride her tricycle (the kind I push her on), swing, play with bird seed, and whatever else she can get her hands on and into.
• Abby has gotten pretty good at dancing. She loves to shake her body, turn in circles, jump, clap, stomp, and any other motion she can think of when she is dancing around to music.
• Abbygale is a girly-girl who likes jewelry, bows, toe nail polish, cute clothes and skirts, and pretty shoes. She will say “awwwweeee” and want to change into a princess :)
• Abby is really good at pretend. She loves to cook, push her baby in the stroller, feed baby, play tea party, play doll house, and anything else someone is up for. She has so much fun playing.
• Abbygale Kate loves to color, draw, paint, and write. You can ask her what the note says and she says “B Abby.” She’s close!
• People think Abbygale’s favorite word is Abby because almost every word out of her mouth is “Abby this” and “Abby that.” If she drops something she will also say “Abbeeeeeee.” I must say that a lot to her, who knows. Abby loves herself and does love to talk about herself. We think it is the most precious thing there is.
• Abby’s socializing skills can use improvement but we have been working on it. I have been taking her to birthday party after birthday party and any other event I can to get her exposed to people she doesn’t see every day and other kids. She has definitely been improving but it takes her some time to warm up. Abby is a very shy little girl and doesn’t like to be out of her ‘norm.’ I hope by continuing to expose her more and more to others she will stop crying because she is scared and be more friendly and playful with other kids. Update to come in a few months.
• Abbygale loves television. She laughs at her shows, claps for them, and talks to them. Some shows she watches currently are “Wow! Wow! Wubzy,” “Curious George,” “My Little Pony,” “Team Umizoomi,” “Barney,” and “Max and Ruby” among others.
• Abby still doesn’t eat very well. I know it is because of all the milk she drinks but she insists on her white liquid. She has improved but still eats very little. Some of her favorites at the moment are sliced cheese, French fries, chips, ham, and mashed potatoes. I am hoping her eating will continue to improve in the coming months.
• Abby is an expert at the iPad. No joke – she has become very good. She can unlock it, navigate to different apps/videos, start/stop shows, do puzzles, paint, etc. If she gets the apps all shaking in edit mode she will say “uh oh” for you to help her fix it.
• Abbygale has started saying the awful word “mine.” I am trying to get her to stop using this word because it is so ugly. “Noooo mine” you hear her saying when she is mad. Not a pretty sight. Maybe time out in her near future!?!
• Abbygale Kate can find every “boo boo” possible. She will constantly point out anything that is not perfect and say “Uh oh” and point. I think she may be becoming a perfectionist like her Mommy.
• Abby has really started talking a lot and talking in phrases much more. She will say “Abby do” a lot for “Abby will do it.” She also says “Mommy, Daddy, Abby house” when we are driving up to our house. She is such a talker and it amazes me how well she is communicating in phrases. The above are just a couple of examples but she says tons of stuff. She will be talking sentences and setting me straight before long I just know it.
Abbygale Kate Helford is our miracle and she is just so sweet, so loving, so beautiful, and so very special to us. She is spoiled rotten (anyone will tell you) and perhaps needs more discipline than we give her but she makes our life light up and brings joy to us each and every day. She is so perfect in my eyes and means the world to me. Mommy and Abby are a team forever. I love you to the moon and back and more. XOXO!
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