stella at 22 months

Stella at 22 months is a chatterbox starting first thing in the morning. She usually wakes up saying "hi Dada, hi Dada, hi Dada," and gets nose-to-nose to wake him up. She's also been known to sit up and point to her pillow and say "Stella's pillow!"

She is in her element in music class every week as she is now following along, finding rhythms, copying movements and generally enjoying the sh*t out of the hour-long sing-a-long. We listen to her music class cd in the car most every day (save me!) and she now requests certain songs and chimes in on lyrics she remembers. When I turned on NPR last week she yelled "hot dog!" from the back of the car so many times that I finally turned on the hot dog song just so she would pipe down. I didn't mind having to listen to the same song over again as I was happy that she vocalized what she wanted without any prompting. I'm always surprised and amazed when something clicks in her brain and she gets it. It's pretty magical to watch.

In general Stella is great about telling us what she wants. One of her most used phrases is "I want." "I want to go to the park." "I want mac cheese right here." "I want boobie on the couch right now." 

Stella is a big fan of collaborative drawing at the moment. On more than one occasion she has taken off her shoes in a restaurant and demanded that we trace the outline of her foot. She also demands we draw kitty cats on the backs of her hands, fish, dogs, and Pap-pap (my Dad).

When I'm in the next room and Stella is quiet for more than a minute I know she's doing something she knows she shouldn't. Isn't that the way of every child? Last week I walked into our too-quiet living room and Stella held up the fuchsia pencil she's been using to scribble over color-in the leaves on our off-white chairs and said "hi Mommy!" as she glanced from me to her pencil and back. Finding she has climbed onto the back of our couch and is staring out the window is usually accompanied by a wave and a "hi Mommy!" as well. Dropping her toothbrush down the sink drain when my back is turned also elicits a wave and a "hi Mommy!"

Some things Stella loves right now:
All Johnny Cash, but especially Ring of Fire
Going to the park with her Aunt Olivia ("Aunt Eee")
Broccoli with cheese
Going through tunnels
The puppet show at Fairyland
Grammy and Pap-pap's pool
Drawing
I'm a Little Teapot
Mango lassi
Kitty cat shoes (they're actually bunny slippers)
Stickers (we finds them everywhere)
Brushing her teeth