LOGAN AT 23 MONTHS

Some things I want to rememeber about Lola at 23 months!! 

How she holds my face in her both her hands. 

How she calls apples, "applesauce". (She has had applesauce once in her life but she must have liked the  word; she calls all apples, applesauce.)

Her side grin when she knows she is doing something mischevious.

Her inner desire to be adventurous, but how she still boomerangs right back to me.

How comfortablyand confidently she sits on my hips and snuggles into my neck.

I miss her right now as I write this. 

And I feel like crying as I write this, knowing well from my experience with the first one how quickly this passes and dissolves into a faint memory. Maybe also appropriate that this morning, Lola cried and cried pretty much all throughout getting ready, dressed and breakfast, for no particular reason except maybe she wanted to be held and was overwhelmed by the emotion. I myself oscillated between the emotions of being worn out by the constant cries and the feeling of wanting to stop everything else I was doing to get us out the door to sit down and just snuggle with her for as long as she wanted. Oh woe.

A few sample of the things that she is saying (she is saying so many things!): 

• I'll do it! (She wants to try to do everything by herself, including the things that she is unable to. I'm proud of her for it, even if it means waiting an extra 5 or 10 minutes....)
• Can I see ? (She doesn't want to miss out on anything.)
• I eat food. (Once when Ken called during dinner, she surprised us both by yelling out, "Daddy! I eat food!") 
• No that. (To mean, 'no I don't want that'. And she is very opinionated so this comes up often.)
• I have paper, too. (She often chimes in after Sloane: "I am coloring too!" "I wear boots too!")
• Sit down, mommy. (I am often running around to get food ready for them and they usually start eating first, but Lola often likes to tell me to sit down right next to her and eat with her.)
• Lola's turn, mommy's turn. 
• Mommy where are you?! (She will yell this up the stairs when she is looking for me, with her baby lisp and full throated yell.)

She has been saying "Thank you" and "you're welcome" on her own, appropriately, and it surprises me every time.

She is working on counting, ABC's and singing along to all the songs that Sloane does. She even tries to recite memory verses along with Sloane.

Some of my favorite things is the way she says, "oh" in response to a statement, and the way she says "ummm..." when I ask her a question as if she is really thinking about her response.

She struggles to share sometimes. Her older sister is more experienced at it; therefore, much better at it, and  after seeing the act of sharing displayed by her sister, little Lola will follow suit. In this way, it is right that Lola is the younger sister. Thank goodness for a loving and generous older sister, who is willing to share everything almost all of the time. Sloane is also patient when Lola wants to follow along and do everything she does. I hope and pray they always are able to practice this desire to be together and generosity of spirit.

Her new obsession is going on walks. I think she likes the adventure of it, the being outdoors, and being together elements of it.  She begs to go on walks and cries when we come back home too soon. 

Recently, she has also been showing us how fast she can run and this is an image I've been trying to permanently imprint in my mind; it is the best. She also gets the happiest grin on her face when she is showing is how she jumps; these tiny little jumps that she executes with scrunched up fists and her whole being vibrating with excitement.

I am utterly captivated by her. Transfixed! Sometimes when she is occupied by something, I will just stare at her for as long as she will let me.  How glorious it is to be your mom, Lola.