18 Months Old

Today Curran is 18 months old! How is that possible?!? She continues to grow and change so much, furthering the distance from babyhood. I am hesitant to call this my favorite stage, because I love and miss things about all of her different stages. But this is certainly such a fun age! And I might even say it's the easiest age so far. I hate to use the word easy because Curran has never been what I would consider an "easy" child. But we have settled into a very comfortable rhythm of daily life. Nap times and bedtimes are predictable and almost always without fuss. Meal times are usually without drama. Our communication continues to improve and develop, making figuring out what C wants much easier. {and now that I've said this, she'll probably turn into a holy hellion tomorrow :) }


This is a fascinating age to me, because although the physical developments aren't as vast as they were in her infancy, it is so neat so see her cognitive abilities sharpen as she more clearly grasps what we are saying and is quicker to figure things out.


And just because I say she is easy certainly doesn't mean she's perfect. Far from it. She still throws fits, tries to hit me, screams bloody murder when she doesn't get what she wants. But I consider those normal behaviors that come with toddlerhood.


She also has a very sweet side and loves to cuddle, especially when she first wakes up in the morning. That is probably my second most favorite time of the day, next to bed time. At night she loves to get the two blankets she sleeps with out of her bed and rock with me while I sing to her. Good thing she doesn't have a discerning ear when it comes to good voices quite yet. 


She still sleeps with her pacifier. I thought I would have gotten rid of it by this age, but she is pretty attached. She has only gotten it for naps and bedtime since long before she turned one, but I'm not ready for the screaming fits that are sure to ensue if I take it away. And it is a good bribe for bedtime. :) She calls the paci her "night night", so when I say it's time for night night she runs straight to her bed because she is so excited about that darn pacifier. :)


She is still taking two naps at home, although they have dropped the morning nap at school. They last anywhere from 1-3 hours, but are most often about 1.5-2 hours each. She goes to bed around 7:30, sometimes as late as 8, and wakes up anywhere from 6:15 to 7:30 {usually earlier}.


She has a handful of new words, but my favorites are "Mick-me" or "Mi-me" for Mickey Mouse, and she has started getting better at hot dog. She now says "dot dog", despite the fact that she can say hot perfectly when talking about temperature. She has also, unfortunately, really gotten hooked on the TV lately. She calls it "BB". She doesn't watch much but she does ask to watch it a lot.


She is now calling people by name without being prompted. So we hear a lot of "Sissy's" around our house. She is also calling "mama" when she needs something instead of just whining, and of course I still think it's cute whenever she says it regardless of whether or not she is screaming it. :)


People tell me she is a good eater, but I really have no frame of reference so I guess she is. Some of her favorite foods are pasta with tomato sauce, grilled cheese, oatmeal, any type of rice, broccoli, grape tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, oranges, and grapes. She tried shrimp this month and impressed me with how well she ate it! {and that is probably on the list of things she's not supposed to eat until she's two. oh well.}


She weighs 22 lbs 9 oz {25th percentile} and is 32.5" long {75th percentile}. She wears a size 3 diaper and can wear a wide variety of clothes. Her white cardigan is 6 month as well as two pairs of her pants. But she also has two 18 month cardigans that fit. Most of her dresses and two piece outfits are 12 month, and her rompers or one piece outfits are 18 months and are getting snug. It is hard to figure out what fits her best because some clothes are too small in the stride even though the legs are still too long. 


She got one vaccine at her well baby checkup on Friday {MMR}, and even though she was being shy and cried almost the whole visit, she did perform her tricks for the doctor when asked, in between tears. I was glad because she wouldn't do anything at her 15 month checkup. I didn't want the dr to think I was fibbing about her development. :) It's so weird to think we won't go back until she's two!


To celebrate her 18 month birthday, we took her to the circus this afternoon! And she LOVED it! Separate post coming soon.

Her new cheese face.

She likes getting into her drawer and playing with all her cups and bowls.

This particular day she carried them one by one to her chair in the living room and then sat with them. She's easily amused. :)

This was the day we had snow. She put on John's hat backwards and then put his huge gloves on all by herself.

You may have noticed that she is in her pajamas in all of these pictures {even the ones where she has on her pink coat}. On my days off we usually don't get dressed until after lunch. We like to lounge. :)