Charlotte is 18 months old!

my girl at the park this morning

My baby is 18 months old (yesterday)! How did my baby become a big girl? Big girl decided today was the day she would climb out of her crib for the first time- how did someone as unathletic as myself get 3 monkeys for children?

lemon cake with strawberry frosting

Here is Charlotte at 18 months:

She has 12 teeth: the 4 front teeth on top and bottom, and 4 molars.

She has several words, including: up, down, kitty, dog, woof, boot, done, more, dada, mama, no (sometimes), sometimes she says Elana, Papa (for Papa Nick), nana (from banana, and she uses it for all fruit), stuck, duck, and truck (all pronounced the same).  All animals other than dogs are kitties, all fruits are nanas, all birds are ducks, and most people are dada.  She can also say eye, and says "ah" for hi.  She has just started putting together 2-3 words.  She will say "no more done" or "no done, more!" when Eric stopped feeding her M&Ms.  She also says "kitty down" when she throws her stuffed kitty cat on the floor.  I love her voice, and I love walking in the door to hear her call, "Mama!"

feeding herself cake

Her favorite foods are fruits, graham crackers, cookies, eggs, pancakes, french toast, string cheese, yogurt, pasta, spinach, and who knows what else. She doesn't seem to like any meats anymore, and is definitely more picky than she was a few months ago.  I remember the boys going through this, too.  What happened to my adventurous eater?!?  She is still nursing 1 or 2 times a day, but barely.  She would rather play "name that body part" and poke me in the eye, pull my hair, and stick her fingers in my mouth.  If she is done nursing, that is ok. I didn't really think I'd nurse her at this age, but it is such a small part of our day now that I don't think much about it.

Charlotte is developing a strong personality.  She's confident, playful, silly, and fun; and she can be headstrong, difficult, and full of attitude.  She's very engaging and social.  She has a royal wave and will wave and blow kisses to anyone and everyone.  Older men in particular love this about her.  Almost everyone who meets her loves her.  Her attitude comes out when we don't do what she wants us to do RIGHT AWAY, or exactly the way she wants it.  For example: if she wants a banana, and I peel a banana and break it in half, she will throw the half I hand her on the floor.  If I peel the banana and let her break it, then she is happy.

She likes music, but seems to have inherited my sense of rhythm.  That's ok; we can still dance together!  She likes to chase her brothers, play peek-a-boo, and climb and play outside (she LOVES outside and cries anytime someone goes outside without her).  Unfortunately, Charlotte also likes TV.  Sometimes she will come in and ask for TV (she has a sound for it that doesn't so much resemble the word).  I have great feelings of guilt that I will let her watch TV more than I read to her.  Awful.  She likes to buckle buckles and is in a big phase of doing it herself.  She also discovered her screech and can drive us nuts with it!

Charlotte sleeps through the night (hurray!) and takes 1 nap a day.  Her nap is about 2-3 hours long most days.  She's like her brothers and will pretty much poke herself in the eye to stay awake if anything else is going on.  But she is generally in a good mood and well-rested.  She puts herself to sleep at night and at naps with her thumb and her kitty cats.

So, that's my girl at 18 months.  Now that she is a big girl, I definitely have a baby craving, but the rational side of me knows we are done.  We can't afford the 3 we have!  I do love babies, especially mine.