What's New at 20 Months Old

Aside from the obvious aforementioned emergencies that have happened over the last month, the kids have been doing pretty well. Gabriel and Ariana have been enjoying the new additions to our "family": their new little sister, Isabella, and their nanny, Brooke.

Gabriel's behavior has definitely calmed down since last month, which is a big sigh of relief for yours truly. He has become much more obedient, and no longer spends the majority of his days in time-out. In fact, he rarely even visits time-out more than once a day. He responds well to the oldest parental trick in the book "I'm going to count to three... one, two...". He has all but stopped the hitting and the screaming, and his consideration for other people's feelings is really making a comeback. The other day, Ariana got an "owie" and Gabriel was just howling out of sympathy and concern for his little sister. It was the sweetest cry I've ever heard out of him.

Gabe has made great strides in learning his alphabet this month. He knows about 15-20 of the letters consistently, and he loves to read letters wherever they can be seen. He will read them off the lightswitch "O", "N", or off magazine advertisements, and he loves reciting them along with his 'Brainy Baby' DVD. He also likes to count along with someone up to 5.

Something that Gabe has begun which just makes me want to squeeze him is his singing and storytelling. He gets really excited and starts singing a song, and then he shys right up and expects you to finish it for him. When he tells stories, he just start to get louder and louder if he thinks that you aren't listening intently -- he's very passionate and verbal. He reminds me a lot of, oh... me.

Since the weather has finally gotten nicer within these past few weeks, Gabe has been finding a personal haven at the neighborhood playground and is loving all the little friends he makes there. Right now, he is a little afraid of the big slide, but he has a blast climbing up the stairs and watching me from up high. He did get attacked by fire ants this month, so I'm having to keep a closer eye on him when he's playing in the gravel and the grass!

On a somber health note (yes, another one), Gabriel was diagnosed with Antithrombin III Deficiency thrombophilia. Sad and scary.

Ariana has had quite the eventful month with her seizure, but we feel so blessed that she seems to be be back to her happy, wonderful self. There was definitely a moment there when I thought for sure that I'd never see the same girl come out of that event, but she proved me wrong. She is such a brave fighter and a sweet spirit all in one.

On that note, Ariana has started getting a real knack for biting people. I think she loves the reactions that she elicits, because she is determined to get someone's body part (whether it be a finger, toe, or shoulder) into her mouth for a chomp. When they yelp in pain, she laughs menacingly -- what a girl!

In terms of her gross motor development, Ariana has recently been holding her head up higher when she is in prone (on her tummy). She has also been doing a much better job of cirular pivoting on her tummy. This means that she is frequently able to turn her body a full 90 degrees, to face a different direction. In this way, she is able to transport herself by rolling in almost any directions. She is really beginning to act like she wants to start commando crawling, but she's just not quite there yet. She brings her left knee all the way up under her and tries to pull foward with her left arm. The only problem is that her strength is asymmetrical (right side is weaker), so she ends up flipping over. She'll get there though!

Ariana is now fully able to hold her bottle with her left hand (whereas last month, she was trying), and she looks so sassy doing it. It looks like she's holding a big bottle of tequila and drinking it like she's a drunk! When she catches you looking at her, she'll flash you a huge grin while still holding the nipple in her mouth like she's knows she's the bees knees.

Last but not least, Ariana's demanding attitude has begun to wane too. I heard that kids are the worst behaved on their half birthdays. Well, I'm glad we're creeping away from that danger zone, because if life is going to rough me up in every other way, I need my kids to be ANGELS.