20 months.

Had to bribe her with a cookie to take this photo.

Linna is turning into a little lady right before our very eyes. Every day, she amazes us with how smart she is (I'm sure I'm the only parent that says this about their kid, right?!). She is starting to put two-word sentences together, learning her shapes, and how to count to three. In the last month, she went from calling Mickey Mouse "Moose", to actually being able to say the full name "Mickey Moose". So cute. Thanks to Barney, she's starting to recognize shapes too. She definitely knows what a triangle looks like, but as of now, squares and circles are "triangles" too. Linna will randomly point at an object, say what color it is, and most of the time she's right! Yesterday, she pointed to the pole on the bus and said "pink", and the pole was actually pink. Sometimes, everything is "yellow" to Linna, but other times she knows what color she is talking about. She has also learned the answers to the following questions...

1. What does a cow give us? (Milk, or as Linna calls it "Milt")
2. What is a bird's nose called? (Beak, or as Linna calls it "Beet")
3. What is an elephant's nose called? (Trunk, or as Linna calls it "Trunt")

Every morning when we go into Linna's room to get her out of bed, she excitedly says "hi" with a big smile on her face. She then proceeds to point out all of her "friends" in her bed, and has to tell us each of their names (i.e. Barney, RoRo the dog, her pillow "Bear", her owl blanket, and of course "Snuggles". When we take her out of her crib, she runs into our room, jumps into bed with us, and points out our eyes and noses. It goes something like this...

"Nose." - Linna
"Yes, that's your nose." - Mama Saigh
"Mama." - Linna
"Yes, Mama's nose." - Mama Saigh
"Papa." - Linna
"Yes, that's Papa's nose." - Mama Saigh
"Linna." - Linna
"Yes, that's Linna's nose." - Mama Saigh

(Linna says the colors of her ice cream. I was actually very surprised by this one.)

This happens every morning. I think she just likes to reaffirm that she knows these things. The girl loves being right, and who can blame her. She also points to things, says what it is, I tell her she's right, she says "hi" to the object, and then walks up to it and goes "mmmm...mmm...mmmm" and kisses it. So weird, but SO funny! It's things like this that I never want to forget.

AJ took this picture of Linna, when they were at the park
together. She's totally owning her little strut.

"No" is a big part of Linna's vocabulary too. Usually when we ask her something, he answer is "no", whether she really means "no" or not. When I know she's doing a #2 in her diaper, I say "Linna are you pooping?", and her response is "No", even though I know she's making a poo. I then ask, "Do you want to go poo poo on the potty?", and her immediate response is "No". We're not sure if she's really not ready to start potty-training, or if this is just another thing she says "No" to. Time will tell I guess.

Although Linna has pretty much been a 7:30 p.m. to 8 a.m. sleeper, with a three-hour nap in the afternoon, this past week she has been playing loudly in her crib from 7:30 p.m. to about 8:30 or 9 p.m., and she's shortened her naps to about an hour and a half. I know, super stressful, right?! Haha. With Linna, I have learned that she goes through phases. Sometimes these "phases" stick, but most of the time they last about a week. This happens a lot with eating too. She'll go days without eating anything, and then turn into a little piggy. I am hoping this sleep change is just a phase, because I've really enjoyed the three hours of peace and quiet in the afternoon. Linna has also started making us chase her around the house before bedtime. When we say it's time for bed, she starts laughing, and runs off to hide. You'd think it would be annoying, but it's seriously the cutest thing. I can't get enough of her smile.

Temper-tantrums are also becoming a regular occurrence in Linna's world. We're really working on not "giving in" when she has a tantrum, and actually get down on her level to figure out what is wrong. However, sometimes she has a tantrum for a completely ridiculous reason (i.e. not being able to buy a huge bag of candy at the grocery store). I've learned to simply walk away and ignore these tantrums. Yes, I'm the mom in the store that walks away from her screaming child. Get over it. I refuse to let these tantrums become the way she tells us that she wants something. Sorry Linna, not happening.

(Linna's new nightly giggle session. She really cracks herself up.)

We're also starting to teach Linna how to share with other children. THIS has been one of the most difficult lessons she's had to learn, and most of these "lessons" end in tears. Linna becomes very territorial about certain things (i.e. sunglasses, and her airplane toy - so random), and it's a nightmare to get her to share these things with other kids. Yesterday, Linna's friend Marc (the 3 1/2-year-old boy in our condo who speaks mostly German) came over, and they played together so nicely. But the second Marc wanted to take Linna's airplane toy, the tears ensued. There was NO reasoning with her, so I made her sit in our room to play by herself. She simply wanted the toy all to herself. I know that sharing is a tough lesson to learn, but we will get there soon enough. We're also working on NOT hitting. This past month, I've noticed older kids picking on Linna. I hate this. She's been pushed over and hit on the head, which totally breaks my heart, but these are things little kids do. It's not ok, but it's a form of communication. It seriously pisses me off when other kids hit, and now my kid is one of the "hitters". Linna JUST starting hitting other kids this month, and I think it is her way of telling kids that she doesn't want them near her. She doesn't know how to verbalize it yet. She learned how to hit from other kids, so now she's doing it. Woof. When she does it, I simply tell her "no, we don't hit", and then show her a "gentle touch". When I see her hitting another kid as her way of saying "don't come near me", and tell her "no hitting", and then show her how to tell the kid "no" (instead of hitting them). SUCH a tough lesson!

Love this face!

On a more positive note, Linna's hair is really getting long, and her "baby mullet" is finally filling in. She has adorable little curls in the back of her hair when she sweats, which I refuse to cut:) Linna loves spending time in the pool every day in Singapore, and we've slowly started removing the floaties in her swimsuit, to get her closer to swimming on her own. She really LOVES the water, and can even swim 3-5 seconds with her face under water! She's also getting very comfortable not being near Mama Saigh, which poses a problem in public places, when she will simply disappear. If she finds something interesting, she goes to check it out, whether I go with her or not. The other day while I was paying for groceries, and I turned away from her for two seconds, and when I turned around... she was gone. My heart sank into my stomach, as I thought someone took her. In a matter of seconds, Linna and another little girl had literally ran about 50 feet down toward the other end of the mall. How she got that far, I have no idea. I now miss the days when she was attached to my hip!

AJ and I have been catching ourselves a lot lately, just looking at Linna and realizing how old she is getting. It's crazy to think that in just a few months, we will be the parents of a two-year-old , who may be starting every-day school in September. It's times like this when I wish we could keep Linna this age forever!

Some of Linna's "Favorites":

Shows - Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, Barney, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Foods - Yogurt, French Fries, Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pancakes, PB&J Sandwiches, Bananas, Mango, Nuts, Crackers, and Cheerios
Toys - Chalkboard, Blocks, ABC Bath Toys, and Balls
Words/Sayings - "Thank You", "Hi", "Baby Bop", "BJ", "Ernie Bert", "No", "Help", "Oh No", and "More"