22 months

Tomorrow Annabel is 22 months old.  The best word to describe her at this stage in the game: CRAZY. 

I say this partly kidding and, well, partly NOT kidding.  She is a bunch of fun and honestly one of the best parts of my day is when I get her after her nap and she screams with glee!  She smushes her little face into a cute, funny smile and reaches for me with all her might.  We hug and cuddle and kiss.  But then she starts SCREAMING for her Hello Kitty doll or her Minnie Mouse doll and struggles and twists when I try and change her diaper.  She runs to the kitchen for a snack and AWAY WE GO.  She is ten times the ball of energy she was at 18 months.  She knows what she wants and she wants it – NOW.  The moment she has any type of freedom from her stroller, she starts to run away from me like a crazy wild child.   I don’t know if she would stop or even look back if I didn’t snatch her up in 2 seconds. 

She is also in that crazy stage of wanting something and then NOT wanting it and then wanting it AGAIN and then NO, YOU DIDN’T GIVE IT TO ME FAST ENOUGH LADY SO NOW I DON’T WANT IT ANYMORE.  DON’T YOU GET IT ?  It’s very frustrating, but I also have to giggle.  Maybe it’s because she’s my second child, but I really don’t freak out about her outbursts as much as I thought I would.  She has meltdowns at Target, at Gymboree, at the dinner table, really anywhere and at anytime.  Sometimes they are little and I can appease her with food or a toy.  Sometimes I just sit and watch and marvel at the craziness of it all until she calms down .

We went to get portraits taken at Sears on Sunday and there was one salvageable shot of Annabel. It was taken one second after I placed her on the “X” on the floor of the studio.  (QUICK.  SNAP IT!) After that, there was NOTHING we could do to get her to stop “fish flopping” around.  No puppet, no gimmick, she was just done for the day.  And forget SMILING.  I was just trying to get her to be STILL. 

Today was the mall visit to see Santa Claus.  I was very pessimistic, but, again, you never know what to expect with my baby girl.  She was an absolute darling to all the strangers waiting in the long line.  She smiled and played peek-a-boo with everyone.  She looked and pointed at all the fake snow and fake trees.  Then, after 45 minutes, it was the MOMENT OF TRUTH.  Here is our 2009 Santa photo:

 I love you crazy girl.