20 months.

Liana turned 20 months old last Wednesday.

And I'd just like to tell you all that 20 months is pure bliss.

This little girl is the most remarkable thing I've ever been a part of.

Every ounce of joy in my life is because of her.

I never knew that I could love someone so deeply. So purely.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... maybe even every day for the rest of my life... she is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

So, here's a brief snapshot of my little girl at 20 months.

She speaks sentences now. Sure, they're short sentences, but they still count! A few examples would be "Get down Moose!" or "Come Bauer!" or "Daddy go bye bye?". She loves bossing everyone around (hmmm... wonder where she gets that from?!) but somehow she still manages to be sweet as pie. In the morning, the first words out of her mouth are "Mickey Mouse?" because we watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse every.single.morning from 8-9:30. She doesn't sit in front of the television for long though... often she just watches the opening sequence and then runs off to play. But the minute she hears the 'hot dog' song, she's back in front of that tv singing and dancing. And during the closing sequence, she always chimes in to the "clubHOUSE" part. (With a clear emphasis on house, because she's been saying that word for so long). I'm certain that she says at least 50 words by this point.... maybe even 100. I'm thinking of starting a list to find out for sure. It's incredible how her language is expanding daily... I swear she tries to repeat EVERYTHING we say to her. For that very reason, we had to forewarn Mike's brothers to watch their mouths on Thanksgiving Day. (And they did a pretty good job with only a few minor slip ups... one even coming from Mike!) I even heard her say "Wind Board" last week while watching a Baby Einstein video. I'm telling you, she picks up everything!

At bedtime, she no longer lets me read to her.... no no.... she reads to me. Her Baby Einstein book, which is full of pictures with their names under it, is known by heart. We can go through each page and she knows just which word belongs to which picture. For example, my kid knows the difference between a cello, an accordian, and a violin. Yep, that's my smart girl! She'll walk into her playroom, where we have most of her books on a shelf, and pull them out to read. She sits on the floor with the book in her lap and with her finger, she runs across each and every word while "reading" (aka babbling) out loud. She learned this pointing thing from me, as I found it was one way of keeping her focus on the reading task when I was reading to her. Liana can also count and it's definitely her new favorite thing. She's got 1-9 down pat, skips #10 (ironic, since it's Mike's favorite number! maybe I'll finally have an ally in this house after all ;) and goes straight to 11, 12, and 13. She counts EVERYTHING.... the steps as we walk up them, the ducks in her bathtub, the food on her plate. It's amazing.

We've finally broken her (actually, this happened more than a month ago) of her paci during the day. She now only gets it at naptime and bedtime and she knows it doesn't come out of her crib. In the morning, she throws it in there like the big girl that she is along with lovey and she hasn't asked for either one during the day at all. I'm so glad she wasn't terrible about giving it up, because I surely love seeing that smile of hers without having a purple pacifier in the way!

We've started introducing the potty to her. We're not in potty-training mode yet, but I figured it'd be good to slowly get her used to the idea. So, we spend about 20 minutes a day sitting on it and that time is usually decided by her. Once she sees it, she says "Potty?" and wants to go on. We give her books and show her lots of new things to explore as she sits there and she's content as can be. She'll even point down to the potty and say, "Doo doo?" or "Potty?" We haven't had any "productive" moments on it yet, but when we do that will surely be cause for one very big celebration. :)

We've got all of our teeth except our final four molars... but she's had them all since early summer, so that's not really news.

Last week, she got her first bout of the "flu"... while at Nana and Papa's house on an overnight. Nana said she threw up NINE times. My poor baby! Part of me hated that I wasn't there to hold her through it, but another part of me felt relief because I can't imagine seeing my baby sick like that. (Which makes me think of you, Linda.) And after she got it, ALL of us got it.... my dad, my mom, my sister, me, but NOT Mike. Don't ask me how he managed that one. This mama was lucky enough to even get it two weekends in a row. Not so much fun, I tell you.

She still hates the car. With a passion. Even 10 minute road trips are awful... I hate to rely on a machine to entertain my child, but I'll admit to letting her watch her Einstein DVD's if I know the ride will be longer than 10 or 15 minutes. She also hates getting out of the bath. She loves to get in and she'll stay in far past the point that her water is warm anymore. For this very reason, I hate bath time. I hate forcing her out... I hate the temper tantrum it results in... I hate that she won't let me wash her hair... I just hate the whole thing.

She now knows almost every one of our family members and closest friends by name. This includes: Nana & Papa, Auntie (Brittany), Grandma & Grandpa, Gigi & Gipa (my nana and papa), Bauer & Moose, Rachel, Blair, Dan, Ben, Ash (Ashley), Kate, Jaeger, Lily, Graham, Mo (Megan), Matt & Laura, and my cousin Dustin. If I have a picture of you up in this house, you're known by my little one. So get me those pictures people! :)

There's so much more I'm sure I'm missing.

But, the moral of this story is quite simple: my 20 month old is ridiculously fantastic. She makes this mama's heart smile in a way no one else can. She makes every day, even the worst ones, completely worthwhile. I've said this every month for the past 11 months, but 20 months is definitely my favorite so far.

I'm completely smitten. :)