18 Months

Little Mia, you are 18 months old today!

Here's what's been going on:

• You weigh 22 lbs. and are almost 31 inches long.


• Which means you are still in size 3 diapers. Since they go up to 28lbs, I'm pretty sure that we'll never get past this size.



• You wear size 4 or 5 shoes, depending on the brand. We recently bought you your first pair of lace-up sneakers. You gave them a good breaking-in at the pumpkin patch last weekend.



• You can still fit into a couple of larger sized 12 month clothing, but for the most part we've packed it away and moved on to 18-month. They fit pretty well in the leg, but are often big around your waist. I have a feeling this will be a continuous challenge.



• After several weeks of drool and finger chomping, your bottom two canine teeth are finally poking through. As usual, both are coming in at the same time.



• Some days, I think if I let you skip your nap entirely, you would. We still have naptime from 1-3, but typically it's more like 1.5 hours of sleeping, and half an hour of quiet play in your crib.



• There are no more bottles in this house! Woohoo! You love to drink out of your "big girl" sippy cups with the straw. In fact, you love to drink out of anything with a straw.



• You have developed a typical toddler appetite. Some days you will eat anything and everything we put in front of you, and somedays it's a battle to get you to eat just a few bites. One of your favorite foods is still sausage. I never have a problem getting you to eat that. That must come from your Daddy, because it's not from me!



• Speaking of mealtimes, about two months ago you flat-out refused to sit in your high chair anymore. We switched to a booster seat, and now you've become quite proficient and climbing in and out of your chair by yourself. When you're hungry, and you see me prepping your meal, you'll run over to your chair, get yourself settled, and then announce, "Eat, eat!"



• You're learning more words all the time. You now say Daddy, Mam (Mom), Mahmeee (Mommy), Ma (Oma), Abby (from Sesame Street), kitty, eyes, mouth (mouf), nose, steps, bath, door, book, hat, keys, shoes, ball, bowl, trash, ew, go, up, down, off, on, whoa, peeze (please) hi, bye, do, uh oh, no, and uh huh . Some other words are clear to us, but maybe not to others: Lo (Elmo), abu (hippo), geeup (thank you) and wa (water/drink). You can identify your eyes, ears, mouth, nose, head/hair, arm, leg, toes, hands, and belly. You LOVE learning new animal sounds, and while you don't call animals by name (other than kitties), you do identify animals by the sounds that they make.
(Whoa. We didn't realize how many words you actually use until we sat down to type them all out...)


• We listen to lots of music, both in the house and in the car. You will both sing and dance when prompted.



• In the last couple weeks, the tantrums have (knock on wood!) subsided greatly, which makes you much more enjoyable to be around!



• Recently, Daddy and I left you with a new babysitter while we had a night out and you did great! We were so proud of the way you played with Ms. Chelsea.

It seems as if you're showing us a new skill every day. It's a little crazy trying to keep up with all that you're learning. You're such a busy, busy girl! Most nights after you go to bed, we exhale and flop on the bed ourselves, but then we talk about all the silly things you did that day.

We love you!