Innocent Exuberance: My Daughter at (Almost) 22 months

Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese.  Her favorite beverage is apple juice.  She's only tasted cake a few times in her life, but asks for it periodically.  She also really likes pizza, which she's also only had a few times.  The first thing she did the other morning was to say: "Want pizza?"  (She speaks in the interrogative a lot.) 

Her favorite tv shows are Dragon Tales and Sesame Street.  Her favorite music is her Dragon Tales CD, although she'll dance to a variety of things.  She dances with innocent exuberance.  It's the sweetest thing to watch. 

She's really cuddly and I call her my "bundle" because she'll try to fit her 35+ inches into the same space on my torso she filled as an infant.  She still likes to hold onto my hair when she's sleepy. 

Her favorite made-up game is "Go!" which she and her Daddy invented.  Basically, she says, "Go!" and runs down the hall to her bedroom.  The adult playing with her also says, "Go!" and pretends to chase her.  In her room, she waits to be tickled.  Now the adult runs from the bedroom down the hall, through the kitchen into the living room while G. chases behind.  This segment can vary at the end.  The adult can either hide and say, "Boo" (which causes much giggling) or can tickle G. again.  We tend to get tired of this game well before she does. 

Her favorite book of the moment is called "Emma's Pet" wherein the little girl searches for a big, soft, cuddly pet.  At the end she finds the biggest, softest, cuddliest pet she's ever seen -- her father.  It's very sweet.  (She actually learned how to say something is hers from this book -- last weekend she referred to her cup as "my cup".  She'd never done that before.) 

She is afraid of loud noises: the vacuum cleaner (da cleaner), the blender, the shredder, the fire siren.  She loves to climb and run and stand on things to reach higher (much to the dismay of her parents who have been putting things higher and higher ever since she learned to crawl).  She likes to scribble with crayons (called "craynies) and chalk ("chalks").  She likes to play the piano, sometimes just mashing big blocks of keys at once, but can sometimes be coaxed to play just one note or two at a time.  She tries to sing by jabbering in a sing-song way with made-up words.  She'll sometimes sit and "read" her books to herself.  She likes doing wooden puzzles and playing with giant Legos. . . and unfortunately also likes making like a tornado with the same items. 

We can't believe how old she is, how big she is, how smart and beautiful she is.  Being her mother brings me joy every day.