Kiwi recently turned 20 months old, and I love my curious, spunky, opinionated toddler more each day.
She’s moved past her static cling stage (mostly), though she still loves Mama time. She is growing up fast—but not too fast. And I’m definitely not pushing her to speed up!
At 20 months old, Kiwi is learning something new every day and exploring the world in the way she best knows: through experience. She gets into everything, which is simultaneously infuriating and hilarious, like when she finds the pots and pans then reaches into the utensil drawer for a spatula. Instant drum set!
There are so many things I love about my toddler, but I wrote about just 10. Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.
What I love about my toddler
1. Her first three-word sentence. “Ouauau dah shhhhhhh,” Kiwi said to me the other morning. Translation: “The chihuahua dogs are sleeping.” I may be the only one who can understand this toddler, but she’s communicating!
2. Her jumping. This child loves to catch air, and she’s finally getting off the ground on her own at 20 months old. She also will jump off furniture and land directly on her bum, sign “hurt”—and then do it again. Repeatedly.
3. Her dancing. Kiwi loves to groove, and her signature move is a squat-shimmy that’s too hilarious. She, Peeper and their Nana also take turns doing dance moves at the breakfast table. And sometimes we’ll break out in family dance parties. (Hi, neighbors!)
4. Her night-night routine. In the last month, Kiwi’s before-bed routine has included both screaming fits, in which I have to pin her down with both feet to get her diaper changed, and the most tender moments. When I ask her to say “night night” to the family, she runs to each of us (including Finn!) and wraps us in a big hug.
5. Her admiration for Big Sister. At dinner the other day, Kiwi watched Peeper eat peas. So Kiwi ate peas. Then Peeper filled her palm with peas and popped them all in her mouth. Kiwi copied. Finally Peeper spit the bite out (“Too many!”)—and, you guessed it, Kiwi followed suit. Kiwi will do whatever her big sister does.
6. Her newfound love of reading. Kiwi took a little while to take to books—she wouldn’t sit still long enough for me to get farther than a page or two. But now she asks for “buh”s or signs “book” throughout the day. She’ll even read them to herself.
I could watch this video of Kiwi reading to herself a million times.
Kiwi reads to herself from Catherine Ryan Gregory on Vimeo.
7. Her curiosity. Using sign language, Kiwi will ask, “Where’s the cat?”—the cat we saw out the window like five days ago. She pauses during our walks outside to point toward an unfamiliar sound. She peeks into the garbage can to investigate what I just threw away. And the other day, when Peeper got a ladybug to crawl on her for a half-hour, Kiwi watched the bug from centimeters away. She may look serious in photos, but that’s just her intensity as she takes in the world.
8. Her growing confidence. Kiwi is not only climbing and jumping like she has no fear; she is exploring unfamiliar situations with new self-assurance. When we went to a kid rave produced by Portland’s ABC Family Dance Party, she didn’t even wait for me to pay for our admission before wandering off to play with toys. She bounced in the bouncy house, danced onstage and grabbed at bubbles among hundreds of other people. No fear!
9. Her generosity. Even at 20 months old, Kiwi shares with her big sister without a fight—most of the time.
10. Her singing. Even as a baby, Kiwi proved to be a musical prodigy (evidence here). Well, sort of. At 20 months old she loves to sing, though she just belts out a tune with no words.
What will the next month bring? I can’t wait to find out.
What a wonderful list of some highlights of what she’s like now – you should definitely considering doing this every once in a while to just help mark changes in what she’s doing that maybe you can look back on to recall all these details!
Oh, totally. So many of these tiny memories we forget—unless we write them down one way or another.