Lost in Place

I wasn’t actually planning on doing an eighteen-month post so forgive me if it’s a bit slapdash.

So she’s huge now. But still so very tiny. 21 pounds (I only know this because she’s been to the doctor a million times lately), no idea how tall, all too curious and mobile, very independent, crazy as can be, and oh so very animated. She has more personality than I will ever know what to do with.

I have spent 32 of the last 50 days with her. There was only one point where I was ready to stop spending so much time with her and ship her back to day care. I found that the more time I spent with her, the more time I want to spend with her. That’s good and also not good at all.

She has traveled a ton in the last few months. She’s a great traveler. Even when we think she’s being unbearable, she still gets comments from strangers about how great and well-behaved she is. No idea what those people were smoking.

She sleeps so well. Her bedtime is pretty flexible but it’s rarely a fight and once she’s down, she’s down. (Unless she’s fighting teeth. Then we all hate life.) She’s definitely our child in that she doesn’t wake up earlier than the freaking sun. We love that. We appreciate that. We also love that she does it in her very own bed in her very own room now. That’s been so very awesome. I think she loves that too. Napping is not so easy though. No, they’re a big fight. And on weekends or days she’s not at day care, she’s already down to just one nap a day. Which is great when she actually takes it. She’s still afraid she’ll miss something. Napping is just not in her ideal agenda.

She loves pasta and cheese and fruit and yogurt. Still not a big meat fan and, as every other kid in the world, refuses her vegetables. She’s just started using utensils and hanging out while she feeds herself. It’s made mealtimes so much more – I don’t know, survivable? She actually insists on utensils now and will not eat with her fingers. Sure, she’ll play in her food with her fingers, but if it goes in to her mouth, it must be on a fork or spoon. Which must be in HER hand. Not yours. Don’t even think of trying to feed her. And, much to my pleasure, she is her father’s daughter and isn’t a huge fan of sugar. I’m sure that will change, but right now I love that fact that she will say no to cookies and ice cream. But the kid will down a bowl of berries before you can even know what happened to them.

She knows Nemo and Elmo and Minnie Mouse and will very excitedly point them out to you wherever you are. She loves books and has started asking us to read them to her on her own. She also loves her cell phones and will wander the house endlessly, deep in important conversation. She will make a toy out of anything. I still have pumpkins in the house from Halloween because she plays with them so much. She loves to dance and has started enjoying music. And she loves to go for walks – loves to walk. Gone are the days of being held or wanting to be held. She has too much to do and see to have you hold her back.

She has more words than we can keep track of. She knows them well and knows how to use most of them correctly. It seems every few days there is a new one. And so, more for me than for you, I’ll leave you with her 18-month vocabulary list. (Cuz really, how the heck else am I going to remember any of it?)

No
Dog
Mommy
Dada
Walk
Milk
Juice
Bottle
Water
Snow
Cheese
Waffle
Elmo
Nemo
Mouse
Bear
Pooh (the bear!)
Shoes
Book
Cute
Pretty
Wow
Movie
Banana
Nana
Baby
Ball
Blue
A, B, C, D
What’s this?
What’s that?
Whee!!
Bath
Woof!
Choo-Choo
And, boy, can she ROAR!