a year and a half!
EIGHTEEN MONTHS!
My god, she's a year and a half old now. Totally bonkers that we've been parents this long.
She's going through a tumultuous period. A lot of huge tantrums with me and Lynne if she doesn't get her way. If we close a door she doesn't want closed? Screaming fit on the ground. Eating breakfast aon her booster seat? Out of the question. Pants? Nope.
It's been hard, but mostly a delight. Other caretakers (grandparents, daycare, etc.) have not reported tantrums, so this is something she reserves for us. It seems like she's testing the limits of what she's able to make us do, and what it takes to get there, but at the some point, it becomes a positive feedback loop that becomes its own cause.
It's very emotionally and psychically taxing, and both Lynne and I end up more exhausted at the end of the day than we have been for many months.
Juno's speaking A LOT - more words than we can count now, in both languages. She asks for "help" and says "wo yao" when she wants something. She nods vigorously at tasty treats we offer her (yams, eggs, oranges, bananas, etc.), her brow furrowed in passionate intensity. She's starting to put together her first sentences, like "what's this?" and "zhe shi...?" when asking what something is.
She's a silly girl. Now, she's the one who starts games of hide-and-seek - she just pulls a cloth over her face, and waits until someone says "Where's Juno?!" to reveal herself and her huge smile.
Some moments:
- Juno fell off the bed one night, and had trouble getting back to sleep. Eventually, I brought her onto my chest and cuddled her to sleep. She reached up with her hand and rubbed my scruff with her pointer finger until she drifted off.
- Lynne turned away for maybe 20 seconds, and when she looked back, Juno had unspooled at least 10-15 feet of floss. When she looked at Lynne, all she said was, "Halp?"
- One of her favorite games is "BOOSH" where someone throws her face first onto the bed. Sometimes, she also auto-booshes because she loves it so much.
- She loves to run away from us. A lot of the time, she just ignores mommy and baba, but when it actually registers that we want to dress her, a mischievous grin spreads across her face, and she darts away and have to catch her. She thinks it's a game. We think it's exhausting.