Deia at 20 Months

Sweet Deia turned 20 months on June 1st. She definitely keeps all of us laughing. And on our toes. One minute we are all laughing and having a good time, and the next she might be screaming and biting. I like to think of it as passionate!:)….. Deia has a zest for life and wants to run around taking it all in. Literally, she just does not stop moving. Her legs and arms are more defined than mine. She can pull herself up on a bar further than I can. And man, she’s got some good dance moves! The words in her vocabulary are Mama, Bapa, Gaga, aqua, MAAA (for mas/ more), uuuuuuuPPPP (up). And sometimes we can get her to say “baby.” She loves to give hugs and blow kisses when people are leaving.

She has this push-pull thing going on. She will (literally) push someone away from me but then seconds later she senses that she may have hurt someone’s feelings or something. And then she’ll go stand close to them or hug them. She will bite or pinch or pull Gavin’s hair, but then immediately recognizes that it wasn’t ok so she’ll give a hug and kiss. She has pulled chunks of Gavin’s hair out:(….. and left marks and bruises on his skin. I keep telling myself that this will all come to an end once she starts talking and can communicate her feelings. So I find myself antsy for her to speak and have more words.

Deia has a way of making everything light and funny. She laughs at herself and does some pretty funny things for a 20 month old. Her laugh is infectious, as is her smile.

The love that she has for her family is so sweet and heart warming. She has a strong connection with Spencer and asks for him when he’s at work. When his car pulls up she SCREAMS “BAAAA- PAAAA” and runs outside and screeches. She loves to put her head on his shoulder.

If Gavin is upset or crying, Deia is the first person to run and give him a hug and kiss.

She gets so excited around dogs and cats and wants to pet them. She doesn’t mind if they lick her face.

Deia loves the water. We were at a pool party the other day and had been playing in the hot tub. She just kept leaning her head backwards into the water by choice. Awhile later we were out walking around, and while walking past the hot tub she decided that she wanted to go back in I guess. And thank goodness I was behind her. She walked over to the edge, and JUMPED into the center of the hot tub. She went all the way to the bottom, of course…. and it all happened so quickly but I had to jump in in my clothes to “save” her. So talk about NO fear. She loves the water and obviously isn’t scared of it. Swim lessons are right around the corner I guess!

When we go to Three Tables and go rock hopping/ scaling- she tags right behind Gavin and wants to do it all on her own. It’s incredible to watch this little 20 month old toddler scaling rocks and taking big leaps. We hold her hand, but she’s so set on doing it on her own. Once again- no fear!

She’s a very finicky eater. And most of the time she chews up things, and just when I think she’s finished, she will spit it out. I can’t even say what her favorite foods are because things change hour to hour, day to day.

She loves to sit/stand on the counter while I’m cooking. the high chair is long gone because she learned how to escape and/or would scream and screech if I made her sit in it. So now she roams around while she eats and it makes us crazy!!!….. but I’ve surrendered to the fact that I have to wipe everything down 4 times a day, and we have to do several outfit changes.

Deia already knows what she wants to wear. I will set things out and she will shake her head no- or yes. And she always wants to wear shoes now. Especially her boots.

Here she is on the kitchen counter “helping me” while dancing to the music.

She chose to wear this hat one day…..

Someone that has been really influential in her life is Helena, a sweet, caring, fun loving 18 year old babysitter. Helena has a 4 year old sister Pomai. It’s fun for Gavin, too!…… The way I describe Helena and Deia’s relationship is like this: When Deia comes home from time with Helena, she is a better person. She is more peaceful, grounded and silly. And I think she tries to talk more! We love Helena and are so grateful for her!

Going to the beach has become much more fun. Deia can actually play and walk around on the sand. She loves to dig and pour sand. She loves to play in the water.  She loves coconut water.

Deia is quite the diva when it comes to dressing herself. She knows where all my costume jewelry is and puts it on in such creative ways. This necklace she chose to wear as a head band.

I love the following picture and how Gavin is looking at Deia. When it comes to these two, there is not too much jealousy or envy. When Deia is being silly or doing interesting things, Gavin usually finds the humor and love in it. He genuinely finds her fun to be around and doesn’t mind that she gets attention for it.

Deia usually knows when she’s funny. And this day at the Salvation Army, she chose these airplane sunglasses and definitely wanted to wear them and show them off.

I’m so grateful for these two very different and healthy kiddos in my life. They teach me things DAILY. heck- HOURLY. In fact….. every moment I’m finding myself in a new lesson.