18 months!

Lila Jane, you are 18 months old! Of course we celebrated your big 1 1/2 birthday with a big cookout, but we'll show pictures of that later. Mommy is worn out from trying to get a blog post together, so I'm going to just give up on pictures and talk about YOU!! I never ever want to forget all of the wonderful things you're doing and the wonderful little lady you're becoming at this age.

You are 32 inches tall, and about 24 pounds. Your teachers still call you Twiggy because you are so skinny! When we put you in disposable diapers, you wear a size 4, but you could still easily fit in a 3. Your summer clothes are all 24 months and 2T. I have no idea how you are so thin, because you still eat like a horse! It's pretty typical for toddlers to go through phases when they eat very little, or become very picky. I'm still waiting for that to happen!! You do have preferences, and will typically eat your meat, then fruit, then veggies if given the choice. You like sweets, but if we only offer then after meals, you almost always refuse them. You only eat until you're full, then you are completely done. You call any food a "nack", and wake up begging for Dada and nack! Your favorite treats are probably crackers, raisins, tubes of yogurt, and blueberries.

You are overall very healthy, but you do still struggle with allergies. You are on daily doses of Zyrtec, Singulair, and Nasonex, and you also get a nebulizer breathing "treat" with Pulmicort and Albuterol as needed. I hate having to give you so much medicine, but at least it's finally working! You have been mostly free of the dreaded stuffy nose, coughing, watery eyes, and other symptoms that were so rough on you before.

We laugh all the time because we have a house FULL of toys for you. There are toys in the living room, your bedroom, the basement, even a bag of toys in Mom and Dad's bedroom. However, you almost never play with any of them! When we are at home, you'd much rather read books, sing songs, or play with things you shouldn't! Your favorite "toys" are Daddy's remotes, our cell phones, pieces of stolen mail, and anything you can drag out of the pantry. You also LOVE to wash your "nans", or hands. We pull a stool up to the bathroom sink, and you'll stand there for ages playing in the water, making (and eating!) bubbles, and sloshing water all over the floor. Your favorite song is "Row Row", which you ask for constantly. You like to sit in front of us and hold hands, and we rock back and forth singing, "Row, row, row your boat..." We rarely make it all the way through the song, though, because you let go and start clapping! Instead of saying "YAY!", you say, "BAY!!" It's so very cute! I love the way you pronounce some of your words. One of your favorite books is about a bird called Maisy. Daddy and I read the book over and over just to hear you say "Mahshee" at the end.

At around 15 months old, we had kept a list of about 100 words you were saying. Now, only a few months later, there's no way we'd be able to keep up with them all!! I'd say you've easily said 400-500 words by now. I typically hear at least 4-5 new words every day. You are starting to really put words together more now, too. Your favorite phrase is, "NO Mama NOOOO!" You are really good at using that one when you don't want me to bother you. You're starting to put three words together occasionally as well! I'm constantly astounded by your vocabulary!!

A funny game you've been playing lately is at the end of your bath. I let the water out of the tub, and you tell it "bye bye!" Then as the water is almost gone, you lay down and try to drink the last little bit off the bottom of the tub. Then you just flop down and say, "nigh nigh!" with your little bum in the air. I take your towel and cover you up, and tell you "Night night, Lila!" You think this is the funniest thing, and you'll just giggle and pretend you're asleep! I'll get up and leave the bathroom, clean up, come back, and you'll pop your head up and look at me, then giggle and go back to "sleep". It cracks both of us up every time! Twice now, you've actually laid there and gotten so relaxed you peed in the tub! Of course, you were laying with your head by the drain, so the pee ran all the way up your body and through your hair to the drain!!! We had to get you up, run more water, rebathe you, and wash your hair all over again! I'm trying to scoop you out of the tub before we play this game now!

You're starting to show some early signs of readiness for potty training. You always tell me when you've pooped, and you even told me right before you pooped a few days ago! You're willing to sit on your potty for a few minutes at a time now, but you've still never actually used it. I've tossed out a crazy idea that we might officially start potty training over Labor Day weekend, but time will tell if you're actually ready by then. I'm probably jinxing the whole thing by even mentioning it here!!

Lila, every day with you is like magic. Watching you learn and grow is the most fascinating thing I've ever witnessed. Sometimes I REALLY don't want to read another book or sing another song, but I have to stop and remember that the day will quickly come when you don't need Mommy to read and sing with you. At night, I rock you and sing to you for a few minutes before I put you in the bed. This is one of my favorite parts of the day! You snuggle in to my shoulder, and your hair smells so good. Sometimes I'll think you're almost asleep and you'll pop your little head up and give me kisses. I try to be firm and make you lay your head back down, but I never can. I just eat those kisses right up! Lila, Mommy and Daddy might not always read every book you want, and we might not always get you to bed right on time. We will never be perfect parents, but we will always love you, and always promise to do our very best for you!