18 Months

I can't believe our little honey is a year and a half already. (Do I say that every month?)  She continues to grow and explore the world and her own independence!  She's sweet, friendly, silly, full of energy, and starting to use her imagination.  Oh yes, and very talkative and expressive!

Talking on the phone with daddy.

Size:  27 pounds and growing out of 18 month clothes.  (Hard to believe a year ago she was still in 3-6 month clothes and was a little peanut!)  She's in the 85th %ile for height and weight, which makes her daddy proud!!!

Sleep:  Settled into the routine of only 1 nap and doing great!  Bedtime is a bit later these summer days, which also means she might sleep in on mornings she is home with mommy or on weekends.  She usually spends a good half hour talking to her teddies before she actually falls asleep at night.  Guess she's ready for a little "alone" time. 

Snuggling with daddy and lamby.

Foods:  She's loving summer fruit (grapes and cherries) and treats (ice cream bars, DQ blizzards, and freezie pops).  She's tried pasta a couple more times and it's a bit hit and miss.  But she has enjoyed a couple meals of spaghetti and mac and cheese.  This is very exciting to her pasta-loving parents! 

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!!!

Accomplishments:  We said good-bye to the "nukkie"!  As Pinky says:  "Bye-bye, nuk.  All done."  I think it was harder on her mommy than Pinky, but both survived and it's now a thing of the past.  She's constanly picking up speed on her little feet, which is both fun and scary!  And she's got a few more teeth, with a total of 6 (2 top/4 bottom) which makes taking bites so much easier to our little food-lover!  Her dance moves are really coming along as well.  Finally, after 2 days getting "warmed up", Pinky sat herself down in her baby pool, after 2 days of tentative wading. 

Just my size!

Discoveries:  Bella loves to play outside in the grass, dirt and water.  She loves to water flowers, pick flowers, smell flowers, and admire them wherever she goes.  She's also become a very big helper when it comes to picking weeds.  We just have to watch to make sure it's actually a weed. 

Outside helper

Got away with one of the neighbor's daisies!

Travels:  We made two trips to see Grandmas and Grandpas this month.  Father's Day and the 4th of July were celebrated with our families.  Pinky loved the fireworks!  She jumped a little with each boom, but she clapped and "yayed" for almost everyone.  

Learning new tricks from Grandma S.

Check out Grandpa's new toy!

New words:  We've officially quit tyring to keep track of Pinky's words . . . as there's well over 100.  She still says "no", "no, no", and "no, no, no" (all with different inflection).  Oh yeah, "oh no" too.  But she's added some others, such as "yes" which is like music to our ears!  She walks around with her phone and says "hello", "hi, daddy/mommy/grandma/grandpa/cousins".  She loves "flowers" and having "pretties" in her hair (clips).  If you listen to her play, you might hear her say "night-night puppy/baby" or "happy, happy, happy".  And if she has an easy target, she's not afraid to "tickle-tickle".  She's also starting to count . . . pretty sure she doesn't know what it means yet, but she has 3, 5, 9 and 10.

Snuggled in for some fireworks, July 4, 2011.