Abbie is 18 months!

This blog is getting caught up slowly but surely! Whew, it's been a busy 6 months! I just looked back and I was totally caught up with normal blogging when Abbie turned 1 in April. That really seems like a lifetime ago but at the same time I can't believe my baby is an 18-month old, full-fledged nursery-attending toddler now. Since her birthday we had our hospital scare with Kawasaki Disease, moved across the country, visited Boston 3 times, NYC twice, upstate New York, California, Utah, Washington DC, Phillie, Vermont, Cape Cod, with a few day trips thrown in there. Wow, no wonder I'm behind!

But now it's time to write about Abbie at 18 months, and the best part is ... as I'm writing this - she still is 18 months old so it will be easy to do :)

*The girl who started out as such a chunk is still just a little peanut. She weighs 22 pounds 1 ounce (40%) and 31 1/2 inches long (38%) It's just funny to me that she's only gained 2.5 pounds in 9 months!

*While most people don't hear her say much, she actually does say quite a few words. She has a cute soft, little voice and her recent most favorite words are yes and no. Yes sounds like "syes" and No is nooo. It's hard to get mad at that cute little voice. She loves waving hi and blowing kisses bye to everyone and everything including each room as she leaves and anyone who walks by our house. She says Stop, Jackson, mama, dada, kiss, cheese, and can name most animals and their sounds and point and name to all body parts. I really shouldn't try to name all the words she says because she surprises me each day with new ones.


*But more than talking, this girl is observing and learning from her big brother and everything she sees. She will help him with puzzles, color with him, play with play dough and duck duck goose. She really does understand everything we say and has the routines of the day down. She will bring me a tissue, her clothes, shoes, and even a diaper and wipes when she needs a change. I'm optimistic that she will potty train when she's 2! She loves singing and knows quite a few songs already. She might not know all the words but she knows the tune, actions and some of the words to the Alphabet Song, Three little monkeys, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old McDonald, I am a Child of God, to name a few.

When the weather warms up and she grows an inch this girl will be owning this trike!

*She still is not interested in the tv for more than 5 minutes. She'll sit on the couch with Jackson for a little while but normally just plays around in the family room while Jackson watches a show. She perks up when she sees Daniel Tiger, Elmo or Princess Sophia. We have been watching a lot less tv in our family since moving here actually and I like it a lot :)

Always busts out a big cheesy grin for the camera.

 *Her favorite toys are books, puzzles, animals and dolls. She has gotten a recent interest in her baby dolls and she will rock them, feed them, give them kisses, and pretend to change their diapers. Because of this we've got to watch out for clean diapers in the garbage since Abbie always throws away the diapers after she "changes" them. :) She'll still have an interest in what Jackson plays with too but is starting to have her own unique interests. They still play really well together 90% of the time. They've got such a special bond and she is so excited to see him when she wakes up and when we pick him up from school.

*I'm happy to report she's still an excellent sleeper! She goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up around 8 am and sometimes I have to wake her up to get Jackson to preschool by 9! She takes an afternoon nap normally around 2 hours or more. She loves the bedtime routine of books (she would have 30 books if I'd let her) and a song and prayer and hardly ever makes a fuss about going to bed. She folds her arms and says some of the words of the prayer and amen. She'll then start "singing" her lullaby song as soon as we say amen, such a cutie. If we need her to, she falls asleep in the car at naptime and bedtime very well and (knock on wood) always goes back to sleep when we transfer her to her crib. If she wakes up a little early from sleep or nap she'll want me to cuddle her for a while and then point to her crib when she is ready to go back to sleep. Seriously she's great and is making up for her never sleeping through the night as a baby!

She loves doing "races" with Jackson in the driveway.

So happy I gave her that juice box, or anything sweet for that matter...

*She was such a good eater as a baby and still is pretty good but will go through phases of pickiness. Her favorite foods are dairy items - cheese, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, milk shakes. She eats most fruits but does not love them with the intensity that Jackson does haha. It's gotten harder to feed her veggies, she'll spit them out most of the time. But she will eat most raw ones dipped in ranch (or guacamole or hummus or spinach dip) and loves green smoothies. She does have a sweet / junk food tooth though and loves mac & cheese, cheeseburgers, french fries, donuts, candy and cookies.  Girl after my own heart, what can I say.

*But oh the girl can be drama. My Papa told me a few months ago that pretty soon, Abbie will be running the show - he could just tell from the look in her eye. He was right we're realizing already! Wow. She likes things done her way that's for sure. She also is still very clingy to me and I hold her A LOT. If we go to a friends house or anywhere with a group of people (other than a park or library) she wants me to hold her the whole time. She will rarely venture away further than my lap! A few months ago I'd say it was worse though and she is slowly growing out of it. But I think most people would assume she's younger than she is since she's small, got no hair, and I'm always holding her. Then they might hear her say something and get surprised. 

She loves her big brother and he adores her as well.

Peephole spotting, Abbie & Jackson in nursery!

*So the big thing with 18 months for members of our church is that they can go to nursery on Sunday! We had brought Abbie in with us the weeks leading up to it to make the transition easier. Also one of the leaders is our friend, Jeanette, mom of Alice who she has playdates with every week so she is familiar with her. The first day Jackson took her by the hand and they walked together to the room, it was so cute! Tyler stayed in for the first 5 minutes or so and then when he left she definitely cried, but after 2 minutes she was fine for the rest of the time. She hasn't cried in the weeks since but always wants one of us to stay with her for a bit. The other leader mentioned to me how great Jackson is with Abbie in there. I have told him to watch out for her in there and I was hoping he would. Sounds like he is, and they say he has such pride in helping her with snacks and coloring.

I love this little girl so much and it's so fun to see her personality develop!