Eden - Twenty One Months

I took only one picture this morning.  I snapped that photo, Eden got off of the chair, and a dog immediately jumped onto it, getting his muddy paw prints all over it.  Grrrrrrrr. 

21 months.  Wow.

Eden is continuing to discover the world around her, and it's so fun to watch.  She's starting to realize that all those fun things we read in books all the time are all around us in the real world too.  Which means it takes us forever to read a book.  I'll try to read through "Goodnight Moon" for example, and it goes something like this... We open to the great green room.  Eden sees a lamp on the page.  She points to the lamp in the book and then to the lamp on her table.  Then she sees a rocking chair.  She points to the rocking chair in the book and then to the rocking chair that we're sitting in.  She can say that word, so then she starts shouting "CHAIR!  CHAIR!" (but it sounds more like "CHAH! CHAH!").  Now she sees a cat on the page.  She points to the cat in the book and then to our cat who is usually lounging at our feet.  "CAT! CAT! CAT! MEOW!"  And it goes just like that all the way through.  It takes us like fifteen minutes to read a simple board book.  But it's so exciting to watch her discover things.

She knows all her colors and can identify them when you ask her to, but she can only say "blue", so if you ask her what color something is, she'll tell you "blue" no matter what.

She still loves doing all of her animal sounds and can tell you what a bird, fish, chicken, cow, cat, dog, duck, sheep, horse and monkey all do.  Monkey is my favorite.

She is the sweetest little girl and loves to hug and kiss.  She gives the best hugs.  Dustin especially loves her hugs.  It's the first thing he asks for when he comes home from work in the afternoons, and she can't wait to wrap her little arms around her daddy's neck.  She wants to hug and kiss everything that she loves.  She randomly comes up to me throughout the day and motions for me to get down so she can kiss me, and then she throws her arms around me.  She hugs and kisses the dogs, the cats, her stuffed animals, her baby doll, her books, her rocking horse, her humidifier (because it looks like a frog), her sheets of stickers before she takes the stickers off, etc.  Tonight she was eating a cupcake at her cousin's birthday party,  and after a few bites she went in to HUG HER CUPCAKE, and I had to whisk the plate out of the way before she smashed her head into the icing. 

Oh, and she still loves balls.  By far her favorite toy.  Always has been.  And now she can catch the ball when you toss it to her.  Way to go Eden, way to go!  (clap, clap)

She loves to  hide.  Under blankets, in closets... And when you say, "Where's Eden?", her little voice comes back "gone-gone". 

She still prefers the outdoors, and she loves to pick flowers and smell them.  She also loves rocks.  She hoards them.  We take the wagon down to the gravel road and come back loaded down with rocks.

Okay, I think that covers all my favorite things about Eden at 21 months old!