I’m a couple days late in posting about this little love, but we’re in full move-management mode right now, which has kind of taken over a lot of my brain. 

Saying: Lark seems to be picking up new words on a daily basis right now. I am constantly surprised by the words coming out of her mouth (I recently tried counting the number of words she has but stopped when I got to 30). The way Lark talks is also so hilarious, because everything is sort of yelled like it’s an emergency. One of her favorite words is “bike” (of course, little Dutch child) and it seems like she’s constantly upset that she can’t ride the loopfiets yet because she’s always pointing at it and yelling “BIIIIKE!!”

Eating: Lark is still obsessed with Thai curry (girl ate two GIANT bowls of it last night), but her newest love is cereal. I introduced a fork and spoon at mealtime when she turned one, and she’s become very competent with both over the last three months. Since she wants to have everything Prim has, and Prim sometimes has cereal as part of her (very large) breakfast, Lark has gotten to try out her skills on Rice Krispies and Special K (the only non or low-sugar cereals they have here). She’s now regularly pointing at the boxes on the shelf and shouting “Eeeereal!” at me.

Sleeping: I recently weaned Lark, which ended up being a very easy transition. KC took over nap and bedtime duties while he was home over a long weekend and she slipped into the new routine without issue. This is the first time in 3 years and 8 months that I haven’t been pregnant and/or breastfeeding, so it’s been kind of strange and amazing to not be attached (literally or figuratively) to a baby for the first time in such a long time.

Doing: Lark is becoming more and more of a toddler each day. With all of her new words and skills, I find myself wondering where my baby went. She is very clearly the second child, as she wants EVERYTHING Prim has right now — toys, food, all of it. She also recently added “me too” to her vocabulary, which might just be the most second-child phrase of all time.

Latest milestone: Lark is walking assisted these days and can stand unassisted quite well. I have no doubt that should could walk if she wanted to, but just like Prim, she is clearly going to walk when she decides to — with no help or coaxing from us. Whenever you’re ready, girl!

Favorite toys: Lark has recently become OBSESSED with babies. Prim has two dolls — “big baby” and “little baby” — that she sleeps with and carries around often. Lark somehow wised up to these toys and would spend much of her day screaming “BABY!” and pointing to the dolls. After I heard her wake up from her nap screaming “BABY!” everyday for a week, I finally decided it was time to get her a doll of her own. She snuggles and kisses her baby, and I am honestly kind of dumbfounded at how baby-obsessed these two girls are. I haven’t tried to push dolls on them at all, but they are still just the sweetest little mamas to these babies of theirs.

Sweetest things: Lark has started giving “real” kisses recently, as opposed to the sweet, open-mouthed baby kisses. She will often climb into my lap, give me a big hug and then grab my face with both hands and kiss me. I’m sure she will be mortified someday to find out that she once liked kissing her mama on the mouth, but man do I love those sweet, drooly kisses.

Favorite thing about this age: Hearing Lark communicate what she wants has been so amazing (and helpful!) She seems to have finally transitioned out of the extremely clingy stage and is now exploring and playing more on her own. Seeing her crawl into the kitchen, point to the fridge and yell “CHEEEEESE!” or watching her crawl to the back door and scream out “POOL!” is so much nicer than the insistent but indecipherable shrieking she was doing just a couple of months ago. She seems to understand me more as well when I tell her that she needs to wait her turn or not do something (I mean, she’s not always happy about it, but she at least seems to understand it.)