18-Month Update

It seems like just yesterday I was holding my fresh, new, squirmy little newborn for the first time...then I blinked and she grew out of her newborn/0-3 month clothes--I remember the packing away of those little outfits to be a bit of an emotional task for me and I wondered how on earth did she possibly grow so fast? Then I blinked again and the next thing I know is she's already 18 months old. 18 months seemed so old a year ago, it used to seem so far away...yet here we are. My baby is not a baby, she's a toddler and I'm still wondering where the time went.

18 months seems like a pretty monumental mark, just like 6 months was when she started sitting up...and when she turned 12 months-old old and got her first taste of birthday cake. So I wanted to jot down all her current stats, likes and personality traits now that she is one-and-a-half. Geeze--saying it that way makes her seem so much older...I think I'll stick with "18 months."

V's 18 months stats:

-Teeth: she has a whopping total of 15...currently working on #16, her last "eye" tooth.

-Vocabulary: I lost count of how many words she knows--she's really starting to randomly repeat words that we say. Her most common words that she uses daily (besides "Mommy" & "Daddy"): "Pa" (potty), "Ball," "'ick" (quick), "tickle," "E" (eat), "Si" (outside), "No," and "thank you." She also tries to count to 3, but it sounds more like "two...two...tee..."

-Signs: I didn't/haven't taught her as many signs as I would've liked...but the ones we've taught her she uses as much (if not more) than her words. My favorite sign that she does is "help." She also uses "please," "potty," "eat," "more," and "all done."

-Percentile stats: I don't know yet...I haven't gotten her in for her check-up yet...

At 18 months Vienna is running, not walking, around everywhere. Climbing everything. Sleeping in toddler bed. Using the potty 95% of the time. Napping for usually 2 hrs in the afternoon. Goes to bed at seven...wakes up between six-seven. Really likes food (eats most of her vegetables). Loves music...and loves to dance. Is still attached to her blankie and is starting to really like a certain little stuffed bunny. She could play on the beach for hours but hates deep water. She particularly likes dirt, pine cones and flowers. She loves running to the window to watch daddy leave for work. She loves trying on shoes...regardless of whose they are. She loves helping with laundry and gets upset if I don't let her throw the clothes in the dryer and press the buttons. She runs to the bathroom if she knows mommy is putting on make-up because she likes to pretend she's putting some on too (oh boy). When she does walk she does so on her tiptoes. She loves to help mama vacuum and unload the dishwasher. She loves animals and likes to copy dogs barking and kitties meowing. She likes to give kisses and lots of hugs. And she loves to snuggle and watch Tangled.

Over the past 18months I have loved getting to know Vienna and the little person that she is, it has been amazing to see her personality blossom. If I've discovered one thing about her, it is that she is very independent. She likes things her way, in her time, and she likes to do things herself. (I wonder where she gets that from?) ;) I'm not quite sure if I would classify it as strong-willed (yet) but definitely independent. She is very transparent (she gets that from daddy) :) and absolutely loves people. She loves to laugh and make people laugh. She is smart and learns fast. She is cautious when it comes to "dangerous" things, but when she figures out how to do something herself then there's no stopping how adventurous she's going to be with it. I can already tell that she doesn't like when someone is upset with her (she gets that from mommy too) if I scold her or give her a time out, you can tell how much it hurts her feelings and it breaks my heart. Good side to that though is that she usually learns her lesson the first time. She's definitely girlie and feminine...right down to the way she walks and her little run. She loves dresses, dolls and dancing and one her favorite things to do is carry around a bag/purse in the crook of her arm and put things in it.

She is such a delightful 18-month-old :)