At 22 months

• We went to Greece and left bambino at home with my parents for 9 days!  She was perfectly behaved (no surprise) but woke up around 4 or 5 every morning!  (Edit: turns out she refused to nap or sleep at night.  My mom didn't want to tell me this but I found out from my sister!  Every nap time and bedtime was a struggle.  She's been fighting with naps lately but surprisingly doesn't get too cranky when she doesn't nap.)  We missed her a lot and talked about her everyday. We would imitate words she says and laugh about how silly she sounds.  We meant to FaceTime everyday but the time difference made it difficult to arrange. When she saw us again, she stared at us for a good 5 sec before slowly smiling and came to give me a hug. Phew! I thought she didn't recognize us but now I think she was just shocked to see us.  After that she was attached to me and didn't want me to leave her side =\ poor baby, I think we traumatized her.  I'm not sure if I'll ever do that again--at least not at this age when they don't understand the concept of "I'll be back in a week".  Since we've been back, her tantrums have worsened and are a lot more defiant.  I feel like I have to walk on egg shells around her because I don't know if my next move or next response will cause madness.  I believe this is pay back for leaving her. 
• She stopped pooping (in her diaper) at school. She saves it all for home. Thanks Avi. Remember this when I'm old and incontinent. 
• She is imitating words really well and pronouncing words that she used to mispronounce a lot better. (She actually says "more" instead of "neh", "watuh" instead of "wa- wa", "milk" instead of "nelk")
• Every now and then she'll throw out a phrase like "green ball" or "right there"
• She only wants daddy in the morning (which would be great for me if only Daddy was still home when she wakes up). However in the evening she flips and only wants mommy. She screams and cries if daddy even looks like he might be taking her upstairs for a bath. 
• She feeds herself fairly well now and dinner time seems to go a lot more smoothly
• She plays well by herself. I was able to do dinner prepping for over an hour without her requiring much attention!  
• She plays with Violet, Panda, and Tigger all the time --puts them to sleep, puts them in her high  chair or sitting on the window sill, holds Violet pats her soothingly like she's a baby