18 Months Old

Before church on her 18 month birthday. I had to post this pic, it just shows her goofy personality :)

So my baby is 18 months old and seeming less and less like a baby everyday. She is growing up so much and I just have so much fun with her. Everyday is something new. She'll make a new silly face, or say a new word that I didn't know she knew. This age is a lot of fun, and a lot of work. She seems to have gotten a big burst of energy over the last month or so. The kid can't sit still. She likes to name every thing she sees and wants Nick and I to participate in everything she does. If she wants you to take her somewhere, she'll say "Mommy up" so I pick her up and then she'll say "walking!" and point to where she wants me to take her. We've had lots of conversations lately about how Leah is a big girl and mommy doesn't need to do everything with her. Some of her favorite things to do are play "get you" with daddy (being chased and tickled) and hide and seek (she'll hide in one of her usual spots and say "where is she?" while we look for her. When she doesn't want to do something anymore she'll say "all done".

Some new "big girl" things we are working on...Giving up her "baby" bottle. I know, it took me long enough to take the bottle away, but she just didn't seem ready to do it until now. I talked to her doctor at her appointment and she said that she should drink milk from a sippy cup now. So that night I took the bottle away cold turkey and we haven't had a single problem with it. She doesn't drink quite as much milk, but I figure that's only a matter of time. We also went out and bought her her own potty. She's shown a few signs of being ready to potty train. She's still not completely ready, but I think that having it around and letting her get used to it on her own will make it easier when we decide to really start potty training.

She is also showing signs of a strong independence lately. If she want's to do something herself and you try to help her she gets REALLY mad. Fortunately for my sake, she is really good at communicating and we've been able to avoid many melt downs/tantrums by having little talks. She's surprisingly easy to reason with and I'm hoping that this will continue to be helpful as we enter the "terrible two's".

Here are her 18 month stats for my own records and those of you who are interested:

Height - 31 3/4 inches - 55%
Weight - 20lbs 12oz - 7%
Head Circ. - 19 inches - 90%
My little bobble head :) we'll be working on getting her plumped up by her 2nd birthday :)