Piper - 20 months

My 20-month-old Piper is growing up so fast. She started climbing out of her crib so regularly (as in, immediately after we put her in) that there was no point to keeping her in a crib. So I converted her crib to a daybed before the age of 2, which I never thought I would do. Libby was in a crib till the week she turned 3! Bedtime is a challenge every single night, keeping those girls in their room, but I think it's getting better.

It's amazing how much we can learn from kids. My sweet Piper reminds us to pray before every meal. Usually before I even sit down at the table, she is folding her arms and saying "prayer, prayer."

One thing she likes to do lately is put a blanket over her head and pretend to be a monster ("mon-her").  She also likes to hop like a frog and say "ribbet" and play Ring Around the Rosie ("ring round"). She cannot get enough of jumping off the couch, but she doesn't always wait for someone to catch her. Yesterday, she dove off and landed on her face.

Libby and I like to play a rhyming game where one of us says a word and the other names a word that rhymes. Libby is getting pretty good, but still uses a lot of made up words to come up with a rhyme, and usually those made-up words start with a b. For instance, if I say "what rhymes with table?" she might respond with "bable." Anyway, one day in the car, Libby said "what rhymes with water?" and Piper spoke up and said "bater." Libby and I cracked up. It was so awesome. I'm 95% sure she was actually trying to say "bottle" as in water bottle, which she was holding, but it was hilarious nonetheless. This morning Piper was saying "bater" over and over just to make us laugh.

Piper is now interested in helping in the kitchen. She sometimes helps me put away the dishes that go in the lower cupboards. She likes to press the button on the blender and push the plunger on the salad spinner and add ingredients to the bowl when I'm baking. Of course, she also likes to take dirty dishes out of the dishwasher, rearrange my pots and pans, climb onto the counter and steal chocolate chips, and leave stuffed animals in the pantry.

I'm so glad Piper is still an adventurous eater. This morning, she was munching on frozen kale while "helping" me make a smoothie. She will eat nearly anything and regularly packs away more than Libby. I'm having a hard time thinking of her favorite foods, because she eats everything with the same gusto.