When they were 21 months...

Because now they're 22 months, and I never got around to posting about 21.  21 months was a continuation of verbal explosion and disclosure of personality.  Exhibit A and B follow.

At 21 months, Blythe rarely said "yes" and had four versions of "no."  Blythe's "No", defined:

1. A simple, diminutive "no" (sounds like "new") meant "yes." 99% of the time.

2. "No, peas": no please.

3. "No, tank tu": no thank you.

4. "No" with vehement head shaking: no, you idiot, do you not understand what NO means???

Blythe is still just our sugar lump. My curly headed, coy, giggly, snuggly little sugar lump. She's the one who rides on my hip while Joy walks, but she's not just a mama's girl. When Jake gets home, Abby Jane and Joy race out the door.  Sometimes Blythe goes, too.  But often she'll go hide and wait for Daddy to come to her.  Smart girl. She is also extremely ticklish and just dissolves into precious hysteria when you find the right spots.

Joy started saying "I love you" spontaneously last month.  But in true Joy fashion, it was all out.  We would be at the store, I would be 10 feet away, and Joy says, "Mama. Mama!  MAMA!!!  I LOVE YOU!" I feel compelled to joke about how I paid her to do that when bystanders start to laugh.  Joy's heart is on her sleeve, for better and for worse, but this is one of the best aspects of that part of her personality! She remains our spice, spunk, spitfire, pistol... you get the idea.  But she'll go straight from amazing you by her aggression (seems to think it's her job to take on little boys as her adversary) and bull-in-a-china-shop nature to just giving this sunny contagious grin that could melt the continent of Antarctica and pucker up for a sloppy smacker. Her heart is genuinely precious and tender. Lord help the man she marries.

A few weeks ago, she had her first two-sentence statement on a spontaneous subject.  I was changing her diaper after naptime, which (I know, I'm lucky) runs til around 4 or 4:30 still, meaning Jake is usually home within an hour or hour and a half of them waking up.  She looked up at me, barely awake, and said, "Daddy home soon?  Luuuuv Daddy!"

22 months coming soon!