Faith Wilder

She is growing so much that I had to post about my 21 month independent, talkative, loving, and stubborn little girl. Honestly, if I could keep her this age forever I just might do it. Another list of random things I want to remember:

1. She says her brothers names constantly. "Tanner" is "Tana". She adores them and she brings out their tender side all the time. She has them kiss her dolls and help her tuck them in. The other day I watched as Jake patiently kissed her blankie about 10 times in a row, never losing the forced enthusiasm.

2. She calls her blankie and her stuffed giraffe "Bainey" (they are one entity to her) and insists on them when she is tired or hurt or grumpy.

3. When we put her in her crib at night she scoots her whole body into the corner and curls up into a ball, waiting for us to cover her up. She never resists bedtime (OH, PLEASE let this continue!) and when she wakes up in the morning she calls to us insistently, "MAMA! DADDY! JAKE! I AWAKE!". She doesn't cry at all, but just repeats this loudly until we finally (often after an hour) we are ready to go get her.

4. She loves her Nana. Since mom has moved here she has grown quite attached. Even the mention of Nana's name and she lights up screaming, "NANA! NANA! NANA!" in anticipation of seeing her.

5. She is very independent and wants to do everything herself. From putting on her shoes (she's getting close) to brushing her teeth and reading books.

6. Speaking of books.... this girl loves to read. She calls books "Bobos". I think she would be content to sit on one of our laps all day long and read stories, point at pictures she knows, and play "Find The______" in the children's dictionary that we have.

7. She is still loving baseball. She hits a ball in some manner with a bat and then runs around the room yelling "Home run!" and then falls down on the floor dramatically and says "Safe!". I tried to capture her playing baseball while holding her doll as the combination of the two hobbies was pretty cute.

8. Brian's attempts to get her into horses have been successful (Don't ask me why my husband wants to encourage this as I am sure one day she will want a real horse and then, knowing my husband, we'll have to have a very serious discussion about the reality of this move!). She has 3 plastic horses that she loves to play with and is getting a stable from Santa (guess who's idea this was....)

9. She still is very hesitant around any man but daddy. She is her daddy's girl and loves him to pieces with an enthusiasm that I sometimes envy, but if any other older male comes close she breaks out into tears. She was not a fan of Uncle Bill or Uncle John, didn't take to Papa, and is terrified of the assistant basketball coach Ken- a friend of Brian's. Santa is coming to the Barn this morning and I am not holding my breath about getting a picture of her on his lap. Trauma would definitely ensue.

10. She sings the National Anthem. Seriously. It may not be totally recognizable to anyone but family, but there is no doubt that is what she is singing!

11. She has started to say, "I love you" and she says it to all of us- her two brothers, Brian, and me. It melts my heart every time.

So.... that's our Faith at 21 months. If I can't keep her at this stage, then I definitely want to be able to go back and reread this when she is in the midst of the "Terrible Threes or Fours" which I am too much of a realist to deny are on their way.