Rebekah Joy - 21 Months

Rebekah is on her way to be a real toddler!  She is such a cutie and we just love her!  "No, no" is her favorite answer, even to a non-yes or no question. She does answer "no, ma'am" which I only had to tell her once and she picked up on it.  Here she is carrying her "bear bear" around like a baby in her sister's baby carrier!  She loves her baby dolls but I think if given the choice she will pick a stuffed animal every time :)

Sleeping:
Rebekah continues to sleep incredibly well.  She does better going down for her nap about 1:15 and then is up by 4.  Bedtime is consistent at 8 and she usually sleeps until 7 or 7:30.  Soon she and her sister will be sharing a room so I am sure there will be some adjustments there but they love each other and ultimately they will work it out!
Eating:
I always hoped that the dislike of meat would be something she would grow out of but it has yet to happen.  She always eats her required bite and will stuff her mouth full of meat if there is the bribe of bread or mac and cheese when it is all gone but for the most part meat is the last thing on her plate.  If the meat is part of a casserole or has some kind of sauce it is more likely to be eaten but just pieces of chicken or meat or fish are just going to sit there until the bitter end when everything else on her plate has been cleaned up.  She is enjoying kefir a little more and it helps a great deal when I dilute it with a tiny bit of water.
Play:
We had VBS at church during this month and she was in the 18 month old room because I was working and they had a rocking horse which she apparently loved and was rather possessive of, luckily we got there earlier than most people!  She also greatly loved the wagon rides.  We were so blessed to receive a red radio flyer wagon from our friend Jenna whose children are growing too old for it and both the girls have loved taking rides in that wagon.  It is way more work for me but they really do love it.  We took 2 trips to the fireworks stand this month to procure some 4th of July entertainment and the wagon ride was certainly the best part for Rebekah!  She has taken a real love towards pull toys as well.  She enjoys the push toys also but I am excited to get her a little pull toy for her birthday. 
Skills:
Recognizing her numbers and for a while declared them all to be either 6 or 8 but she correctly identifies 5 and 1 as well.  There were multiple Motel 8s on our drive to and from St Louis this month and she proudly called out "eight" at every opportunity!  Rebekah displays a real desire to do it herself.  She wants to use the big girl spoon herself, buckle herself in, etc., basically if she can knows she can do it she doesn't want any help with it!  She is working on putting her own shoes on and can take them off herself.  She is so good at always putting them into the shoe bin at the house!  She continues to enjoy puzzles and they have helped a good deal in her learning her shapes.  Oval is the shape she knows the best and will also identify circle, star, and heart.  Her colors have taken a back seat to numbers and shapes.  Right now she gets pink correct every time and we are still working on the others; however, she always knows something is a color when she calls it out - she doesn't look at a red shirt and say "eight!"
Our Schedule:
0800 - Wake, dress, breakfast
0900 - Outside (front or back yard, walk, park, etc.)
1015 - Snack
1030 - Preschool
1130 - Sister Playtime
1200 - Lunch, chore
1315 - Nap
1600 - Snack, training time
1630 - Rebekah and Mommy time for 15 minutes, then solo play
1730 - Freeplay
1800 - Dinner, family time, bath, reading and Bible story, bedtime o/a 2001