Today is Alethea’s twenty-two month birthday.  Happy birthday, dear girl!

Unfortunately Alethea is spending her day trying to recover from a horrific diaper rash.  We’ve been treating it on our own with frequent diaper changes and loads of butt paste for several days, but this morning her bottom started bleeding, so I’m thinking it’s time to head to the doctor.

On a more positive note, this month Alethea had several fun milestones including counting from 1 to 10 without any prompts or assistance from me (and she even remembered the number seven).  She also started voluntarily naming colors of different objects and expanded her song repertoire to include a mostly-complete version of ‘Old Mac Donald’, ‘Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, and the first part of the ABC song.

Turns out headbands also make stylish glasses

Current dislikes include: getting dressed, having her diaper changed, green vegetables, having her picture taken, and water going anywhere near her head or face.  Current likes are: making Duplo towers, baths (just not the hair washing part), books, fruit (especially grapes), playing outside, and all of her comfort items – brown blankie, baby doll, nuks and assorted stuffed puppies (there is quite a crowd in her crib at night).

She also loves shoes… and boots… and anything she can put on her feet by herself, her favorites being a pair of bright pink mary janes.

They even go with pajamas!

She continues to be a loving big sister to Lydia, although she was overheard one night when both girls were supposed to be sleeping (and neither was) to say, “Lydia, be quiet!”  After all, it is hard to sleep with a baby crying in the next room.

Best picture of the girls to date

We are having a hard time believing that in just two short months we will be celebrating Alethea’s second birthday.  Time is positively flying, but we’re soaking up every minute of fun we can with our energetic and imaginative little girl.