She's how old?! [18 Months]

Waking up on her 18 Month Birthday

A year and a half? 18 months? You mean I've had my little fire-cracker, full of life, loves to laugh, smiles to steal your heart, whines to [attempt] getting her way, sweet Zoë for a whole freakin' year and a half? As in, I'm only 6 months shy of being the mom of a full blown toddler? (Let's face it, as much toddler as she appears to be and acts sometimes, there is still plenty of baby left to go around.)

Cheering on our LSU Tigers :)

18 Month Stats

• You're up a whole pound from your 15 month check, weighing in at 22 pounds 5.5 ounces. This puts you in the 47th percentile. Funny enough, that's up almost 17%, where as I would have thought it meant you were down. Still plenty of baby chub left to love, though I can't look at the above picture long or I'll start crying because you're looking so grown up. Height is also up, now measuring 32 1/4" tall, which is 64th percentile (up from 50%).
• You still can wear your 18 month size bottoms and we had to purchase size 18-24 month pants for your "Fall" clothing. Unless you shoot up quite a bit, they should hopefully last until Summer returns. (We really only have a HOOOT season and a "eh, it's kind of cool" season. Thankfully, it's windy here and that helps in the cooler "Fall" and "Winter" to make it seem a bit more of the season.) As far as tops, you barely fit into your 18-24 month size tops. They're almost too short. And to be honest, I'm not quite sure how long your 2T tops will fit you. However, 2T dresses are really long on you, so we're in 18-24 month or 24 month for those, for the most part :) Oh, and your pajamas are 24 month size.
• You now wear a shoe size 5. The shoes in the pic above are your absolute FAVORITE! Poppa bought them for you on your first birthday and they happen to be perfect for this fall! They light up so we'll find you standing in one place stomping away to make the lights go off.
• You listen when we ask you to hold our hand when walking outside. That's been successful for almost a month now, which is great because up until then, you refused to let anyone, including mommy and daddy, touch your hands for any reason.
• You love your stuffed animals. Frequently you will stop what you're doing, go to your stuffed animal basket, pick one, make it's sound, and then proceed to hug and kiss on the animal.
• You've started patting my belly on your own and waving hi to the baby. However, you don't quite remember that it's on my front and will sometimes pat my bottom and say hi. All I can do is laugh at how cute and innocent you are when you do this. You will bring me your baby dolls at times and ask me to love on them. Then you will take them from me and give them a hug and kiss. You're going to be such a great big sister!
• You still love to read and have favorite books that you go to. Your newest favorite is actually a book that I'm reviewing. I'm not sure if it's because it's new or it's about church or what, but you frequently bring that book or the book about being a big sister to me.
• There are several words daddy and I have to spell so as not to upset you if it doesn't happen or isn't quite time yet: bubbles, outside, eat, food. You're not quite to a point where you understand that just because we say it doesn't mean that we were saying that is what we were going to do.
• You're vocabulary is taking off, so much so that I can't even begin to list all the words you know now. You clearly say "baby", "apple", "outside", "bye bye"...I may be missing some but those are words you use daily and annunciate very well.
• You love to "watch" mommy or daddy from the step stool in the kitchen when we are doing anything in there. Making breakfast? "Watch?!" Cleaning dishes? "Watch?!" Cooking dinner? "Watch?!" I'm convinced if we were having to clean up the nastiest mess you wouldn't care, you want to be with us and you want to learn from what we're doing. You also love to help in whatever way you can. This frequently means you're wiping a cloth on the counter when we're cleaning or you're banging a spoon trying to "stir" whatever we're getting ready to heat for you. I know most toddlers want to watch everything their parents are doing, but I'm convinced part of it is you enjoy helping as well as you just wanting to be with us. Sure, you're curious and want to learn, but I don't think that is the only driving force in you wanting to "WATCH?!" everything we do. And yes, "watch" is in quotations with the question mark and exclamation point because you excitedly ask/say "watch" whenever we ask if you want to do it with us or you've noticed/think we're preparing to do something in the kitchen that you can "Watch?!" :) So sweet!

Clapping your hands because you successfully climbed into the box and sat down.

• You enjoy playing with boxes, empty containers (especially ones with lids that screw off/on), old magazines, etc. Pretty much anything that wasn't ever designed to be a toy :) I have to say that boxes are probably some of your faves. 

Stinkin' Cutie Patootie

• You've recently gained a love for looking out the windows. Sometimes I can't find you because you're so quiet and then I find you with your lovie behind the couch just staring out the window. So cute!
• You can throw a ball like a champ! And you're not too shabby at kicking one either, for that matter. I'm a little surprised by the athleticism you're already showing and I wonder if you'll be more into dance and gynastics or volleyball, softball, soccer, etc. Only time will tell, but I'm not going to force either on you. We'll let you decide what you'd prefer to try. Oh and in the past couple of days, you've even caught the ball without help. It's not consistent but the fact you've even caught it is pretty amazing.

• When you put your mind to something you get it done. You may have a slight melt down if it doesn't go as planned the first time, but with a little encouragement, you will usually keep trying until you get it.
• You're highly resourceful (see above picture). You scooted the box up to the couch and used it as a step stool to help you get up there. You're still not climbing onto the couch on your own, but I think part of that has to do with you wanting to boost yourself up with your leg and they're not quite long enough yet.

Zoë,

I am so glad you made me a mommy first. You bring such light and life to our home. Oh and the laughter! So much laughter. I forgot to mention it in the actual stats, but you have quite the sense of humor and are generally attempting to get everyone around you to join in laughing. I hope that never gets snuffed out. As you grow and become more and more a toddler and lose what's left of the baby in you, I can be nothing but proud. You have such a sweet spirit and seem to genuinely care about others. You have quite the strong will, but I know it will come in handy as long as daddy and I parent you with the wisdom given us by God. (It honestly just makes it harder for me to parent you and teaches me about my short comings :) I am so blessed to have been given the gift of raising you!

I love you, sweet pea!!

Mommy