23 months!

We are one month away from 2 years old and I've been so distracted that I barely noticed it until I happened to look at my watch just now. Here are highlights:

--Rachel speaks in little sentences now. A sampling:
"Mommy sit down!"
"Daddy sit down!"
"Mama eat!"
"Mommy yogurt."
"Hi Daddy car!"
"Bye-bye truck!"

--She also, as my friend David Jones likes to say, speaks on command. If I put the phone up to her ear and say, "Say hello to xx": "Say 'I love you'" she'll obey instantly. It's pretty cool and enchants everyone who hears her.

--She has definite preferences when it comes to clothes. She likes wearing her pink shoes (gorgeous hand-me-downs from our friends Chuck and Catherine), and green coat (another hand-me-down from our friends Anna and Judy; it's a "Dora the Explorer" windbreaker) and whatever tickles her fancy every morning.

--Loves eating Cheerios and "flakes" -- Raisin Bran flakes without the raisins -- for breakfast along with yogurt, milk and water.

--Her nickname definitely is "Rachey," so I guess we're stuck with it for a while. It's actually kinda growing on me.

--As Drew says, she's about 75 percent delightful and 25 percent a pain in the a--. But that's 2. Remember, folks, she got the manual a little early.

--She's mastered the art of what we call "Rachel fake-outs." For instance, she'll make like she's going to feed me granola and then snatch it away and gobble it herself, laughing as she does so.

--Which means that she is fast developing a little-girl sense of humor. She really enjoys playing tricks and jokes on us. So far it's benign. We hope it won't translate to short-sheeing the bed when she gets older and wants to see a boy we don't approve of.

--She loves playing on "rocks" near her daycare -- really, two slabs of concrete across the street from St. James's. She likes walking up and down one of them, which is slightly slanted, and rolling around on the flat one, which usually is covered with chalk drawings and letters.

--At night she'll take a large picture book, wiggle herself into her little red plastic chair, and "read" to herself while insisting that I read a book aloud.

--She's started giving kisses spontaneously! Last night as Drew was about to read her books and give her a bath, she came up to me, unbidden, and planted a wet one on my lips. "THANK YOU, RACHEL!" I said, very touched.

--She's become my magic 8-ball. "Is it going to get better or worse?" I ask. "Better," she'll say, immediately followed by, "woose." "Do you want to live in Portland, Seattle or New York?" I ask. "York," she answers. It's silly to rely on a 2-year-old to predict the future -- just as silly as presuming I'd work for the Oregonian until I died.

--She loves what she calls "beads," a pile of costume jewelry we inherited from Drew's grandma Dana. Rachel usually drapes me in green and purple beads and then piles a couple on herself. I always exclaim how beautiful she looks.

--Her hands seem really big to me, with really long fingers. I hope we can afford piano lessons someday!

--She has a strong sense of possession. "MY mommy!" she said a couple of days ago. "RACHEY diaper," she says at night. "RACHEY medseen (medicine)" she says, pointing to the infant Tylenol, and so on.

--She runs a little wobbly, almost as if she's still trying to get the hang of it. Amazingly enough, both of us can still keep up with her!

--She doesn't sob much if she falls down or hits her head, but she definitely wants her "owie" kissed. And always by me, Drew says.

--She has started whining for "Daddy" even when Drew's not around. When he's here, she constantly wants him to do everything -- feed her, cuddle her, read to her, give her a bath, etc.

--She is almost off the binkies, except at night. So when she cries because something doesn't go her way, she tends to stick her fingers in her mouth. We have made a concerted effort to wean her from her pacifier but don't want to do that at night because of her propensity to wake up sobbing, probably because of nightmares.

--She likes wrapping up dolls at daycare and playing with pretend food, which tells me we really should try to get her a play kitchen. Wonder if I can find one on Craigslist or at a consignment store?

--Speaking of consignment stores, it seems as though she is rapidly outgrowing the selection at Babies R Us. We have a beautiful set of hand-me-downs for sizes 3T, 4T and beyond. We're a little skimpy on 2T options but I think we'll be able to make it through the summer. As Drew says, I somehow timed her birth perfectly -- she lives in hand-me-downs!

--She doesn't much like the teeter-totter or the swings anymore, but still loves slides. And trying to balance herself on skinny ledges. And trying to use the monkey bars (with Daddy's help, of course).

--So far she is quite compliant when it's time to go "nie-nie." She can show you where Rachel goes nie-nie, Mommy goes ni-nie and Daddy goes nie-nie.