18 Months Old

I knew our child made a lot of faces (and let's face it... we all know where she gets this from), but I didn't think an entire photo shoot could be plagued by so many different scrunchy expressions.

 18 months old, she knows it all, and has no trouble saying so. Or screaming about it if she can't.

Her leg seems to be recovered from last week's strange 17 hours period of not putting weight on it. Her xrays came back clean as can be... and the doctors could not classify what was bothering her. She seems to be back to her normal self! Although, eating a lot more. Check this out.

Is that a belly or what? And sometimes, it gets bigger. Friday night, she ate at least a cup of macaroni and cheese, half a banana, 30 mins later, she ate the better 90% of the dried yogurt drops, and then 20 mins after that, ate 2 slices of cheese pizza. Regular slices, not the crusts. BUT STILL! That's more than I put away. She definitely doesn't have my twiggy leg problems...

Here's what she does if I tell her to SMILE or SAY CHEESE!

 

Here's what happens when she spots a bug:

And here's what happens what I'm not looking:

SEE YA!

One more cute video

June Videos

Here's a video of me trying to get Mara to talk for you - she can probably say about 20 words, but you can see she was a little distracted. She learned the word "Mike" because her gym teacher's name is Mike and Daddy showed her the microphone, which they shortened to mike. I'll try to get her to talk on camera some more this weekend so you can hear some of her vocabulary.

This next one is her having some giggly fun in the tub!

Goodness gracious, great balls of... poop.

Seriously, Mom?

The title of this post scares me.

For anyone who was "offended" by the naked baby booty picture I texted this weekend, (which was completely innocent, btw...), you may want to close this window now.

I (Chrissy) got to exercise my super-Mom skillz today! After Mara got drenched from some outdoor water play (pictures further down), she received a bath out of schedule. I, being in tune to her "regularity," knew that a poop might be on the way... and we know my luck with poop in the bathtub recently. After bathing her, I allowed her to play in the water for a bit... when I noticed a certain look on her face and she said "poo poo" to which I asked "You need to go poo poo?"

She nodded.

"Can you go poo poo in the big girl potty?" She nodded.

Fast as lightening, I yanked that naked baby from the tub and zoomed her over to the toilet, and mid-hover, there was a PLOP!

I think I screamed "YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! POOPY IN THE BIG GIRL POTTY!!!!"

She looked like she still might be straining, so I tried to keep her there... but she signed "all done" which I tripled checked "Are you SURE you're all done?" since I peered into the tank and saw a single small floater. I knew the amount wasn't quite right. Well, she said she was definitely done, so I did my best at wiping a completely wet baby booty while holding her on the toilet seat... and set her down to say bye bye to the poopy (this process took a bit)... and that's when I noticed it. The great ball of poop, staring up at me from the bathroom floor.

Yep. My super-Mom skillz got half the load in the toilet. The other half was perched on the clean, dry, white towel I had laid out for her to dry. Lovely.

Well, we got to say bye bye to the poo poo in the big girl potty again. Score one for Mara, score, uh, half, for Mom.

ANYWAY.

Just for clarity, the following pictures are NOT a wet t-shirt contest. Sheesh. These are the reason we had to take said bath.

Wah-wah.

Yes, that's Mara's word for Water.

That is her sucking on her hands.

 Getting completely drenched with cold hose water, and enjoying it.

 

 And this is Mara... loving her Daddy.

And I think this face is, Mom, get MORE water NOW.

Check out her cute water shoes (well, sandals) that I ordered from Zappos. Took her a bit to get used to them, since they're so heavy and wide! I also had to take her shoe shopping for some regular shoes. Girl is a 4-4.5 now, and every glance at her I take, she looks SO MUCH BIGGER! It's like her growing is speeding up. Quickly!

And here she is, trying to whistle:

Hehe.

I took her to the Farmer's Market today while Zack was riding his dirtbike, and she looooved eating fresh strawberries, and raspberries, and then devoured some plums!

Friday, we stopped off at the library, and I have a video I intend to post but it doesn't do justice to how ecstatic she was to find so many books existed. We barely made it to the children's section before she was screaming "BOOK!!!!" then turning around... "BOOK!!!!!" and taking one off the shelves and screaming "BOOK!!!" all giddily. Wow.

I followed her up and down the aisles, just grinning at how happy it made her. We selected a few appropriate novels for her, a few of which she carried around herself (so proudly!). If she put them down for a minute, she would carefully restack them and pick the pile back up. She waved at people, and grinned and giggled and ducked into the next row. She wanted to sit in a library seat and read - which we did some of. I look forward to many more trips to the library with her.

Her talking is coming along faster than I ever thought it would. She went from just a handful of words/sounds, to almost being able to replicate any word we try.

Her longest "sentence" has been "Bye bye Blake" to her good friend at school.

But she frequently talks, jabbers on about nothing, or tries to sing. If she's too quiet in the car, I take a peek back there and she's reading a book, very seriously. I ask "Are you enjoying that book?" and I get a nod, and she's back to reading, turning the pages carefully.

 That's about all the updates I can think of for now.

I think I stare at her DAILY and my heart stops for a second because of how much she is changing. Her face looks longer, she is taller, her legs are stronger, she is... growing up. And TOO QUICKLY!

Halfway through the year already

It's JUNE! Where is the time going?

Mara's practically driving!

She loves this little car - it's tough to find it a parking spot in the garage, though, that is out of her sight. It felt like I spent a lot of the weekend helping her drive up and down the road outside our house, both of us barefoot. Wonderful, balmy, summer days.

We had a great three day weekend - we got to see Claire, Travis, and Cherry - who brought us all some treats (I think Mara's car won the most-loved prize). Mara even gave everyone hugs and kisses (probably to thank them for the pizza dinner).

I broke down on Monday and shelled out some $$ to The Children's Place. But I mean, how could you not? Look at the adorableness of this outfit!!!

She got compliments all around daycare, and I guess someone must have checked the tag b/c she remarked that they hoped The Children's Place sold this dress in a 9 month size for her daughter.

We had one of Mara's daycare friends, Blake, over for dinner on Monday. And WOW. The dynamic of two active toddlers in our house was quite entertaining! Mara mostly watched while Blake tornadoed through the house, testing all of her toys. They traded off toys like dogs do with bones, but overall had a great time. Blake was definitely much rougher with the toys, and also didn't cry when his fingers got pinched in the swinging door. The moment that melted our hearts was the sweet toddler hug that they gave each other before Blake and his parents left. Seeing those two tiny people embrace in a hug, the AWW factor is still going.

Also, we wised up and bought a bubble gun. No more hyperventilating for me! Wah ha ha! She spotted this thing in the plastic wrapping sitting on Zack's desk this morning. It must have looked out of place, but she was very excited to draw my attention to it!

This week seems to be the week Mara has decided to talk. It's just incredible! You say a word, and she'll try to repeat it. If it's a tough word, like "Oscar," she gets pretty dang close and we recognize the sound and from then on out, we know what she's saying. Aside from the words I've listed before (Melmo still a favorite), she's now added: Banana (Nah-nah), poo poo, pee pee, Oscar (oka?), milk, book (very clear!), and she can repeat a lot of the words/pictures we point out in books. Speaking of bananas, all of the sudden, she loves them. Not sure if it's because she can specifically ask for them or not... but we went through 3 in one sitting. Granted, Zack and I helped bite through two of them, but she at least ate 1.5-2 bananas).

I bought a little Elmo book in B&N on Monday that she adores. It's like Simon says (only Elmo says) and involves touching nose and toes, which she does, it says to act like a sheep (she Bahhhhs), pretend to sleep (she covers her eyes), do a shimmy shake (she'll wiggle a little), eat pretend cake (she pretends to stuff something in her mouth and makes a chomping sound - thanks, Daddy, for this one), rub the belly, and a few more things. She'll request to read books in the car to/from daycare and flip her way through them.

Oscar's book may still have the edge, though, since she'll growl at him (we growl "I'm so grumpy!!!" at the start of this book) and she touched her face to the pages yesterday when Oscar (in Mommy's gruff voice) complained that she was too close. She laughs through this book.

Well, that's about it for now. Here's Mara helping Daddy with weeding! They're so alike!

Getting older by the minute

Our sweet little moberry is getting older by the minute. She changes daily and is so far from that little larva-like stage. Don't get me wrong, she was an incredibly adorable little uhh larva... but she couldn't give me running, clinging hugs, or kisses with premature smooch sounds... This stage is wonderful!!!

But with it, comes its challenges. She is testing her limits (and the limits on our patience) by doing everything we say not to do. (Does this ever change?). No climbing the stairs without Mom/Dad... boom, 5th stair before Mom has a chance to blink. No throwing food. Hurricane took out her food tray. Pet the dog gently. Arson's eyes water from being poked and he's collapsed on the floor while she uses him as a step stool. 

We're trying to be diligent about explaining alternative behaviors or redirecting her attention... but she's no fool! There is a rememberance-test-mommy-zone-bubble that I have to extend further and further each time. (Meaning, I can no longer just remove her a foot from the stairs... I have to walk her two rooms away and distract her before she gallops back to her climbing apparatus.)

 I had to hide the Easter Egg crate (see above) because every time we'd walk past the dining room, she'd insist on squeezing the eggs out of the crate from the back. I guess Easter is long over, anyway, but the eggs gave her something to open and shut and open and shut.

I stayed home with Mara yesterday because she has pink eye (again). Hence the watery goopy eyes in the main picture. That doesn't slow her down at all, though. And girly dress? She takes no notice.

 Oh NO! I got dirty! Guess this means another bath!

Na-na-na-nah-nahhhhh-na.

What? You can't be mad at meeeee!

And her height poses little problem for all the items she is determined to reach. Thank goodness we have yet to find her on the kitchen chair, to the counter, to who knows what.... Yet.

We took her to the Butler's neighborhood pool this past Sunday, and she was not as excited about the water as I thought she'd be. You practically had to peel her off her Daddy. She was stuck to him like a suntan.

She was extremely interested in the huge loopy water slide, and kept pointing to go on it. We tried explaining that she'd have to go under water, but that didn't seem to put a damper on her goal. Soooo, Mommy took her down the loopy water slide and we ended up plunged under the water, much to her surprise! She cried, yes, and was rescued by Daddy... but I think she enjoyed it but wouldn't admit it. She'd point at the slide and nod that she wanted to go again, but she chickened out when we got to the bottom of the staircase. Oh well. She chilled outside the pool afterwards, in her sweet 2 piece and Mommy's sunglasses. I put her in dry clothes once she'd been out of the water for awhile, and she was standing there and a puddle formed under her... Guess those water diapers don't hold everything! HA! At least we didn't repeat my bathtub experiences.

 Here she is being a defiant little one while Mommy was working.

Other updates: She weighed 21 pounds 13.5 ounces at the doctor yesterday. Not sure how tall she is - her 18 mo. appointment is in June. The cutest thing she's done recently is learn the word "Elmo," which she pronounces "Mel-mo" when she wants to read his book or watch his DVD or sees his picture. However, she is way more delighted when Oscar the Grouch makes an appearance. (He is her favorite character) She specifically likes to sign that Oscar has a piece of pizza in her picture book (which he does). Other words she will say are Mama, Dada, Mama (for Mara, and it sounds a little different than my name), Dog, Elmo, Bubbles (that one is crystal clear), Bye, Hi or sometimes Heeyyyy, Endo and Arson each have sounds but don't sound like how we say them, she has a word for giraffe (GAF I think), book (without the k), Binky (I can't describe what that one sounds like but it's distinct), cookie (Kuh Kuh), she'll say "Mauw" (sounds like cow) when I ask what a cat says, she still knows all the other animal sounds... hmmm. I am sure I'm forgetting something.

She loves helping scoop the dog food in the measuring cup, put the food in the bowls, and slide them on the floor to the dogs. If Endo isn't there (she frequently isn't), Mara will point at the bowl and talk to me about it, wide eyed, until I call Endo and she comes downstairs. Mara will gesture and point at the food until Endo starts eating. She keeps an eye out for Endo, for some reason, and often goes into our bedroom to point at Endo's booty sticking out from under the bed. Then she'll giggle, run over, and pet her.

She helped me sweep the floor with a little dustpan broom. I can get her to wipe up a small spill with a paper towel, or wipe her mouth or hands with a napkin. She will tickle Daddy's toes or poke his belly if I drop a hint.

She still pulls out trusty Retro Rocket and goes shooting across the floor, a binky stored safely in the seat compartment. She likes to sit on her mini-mower and ride around, too. I let her have a sip of grape G2 gatorade on Sunday and she made a sour face, giggled, and came back for more.

She's being such a sweetheart and I am enjoying hugging and kissing her to bits and pieces. Thanks for reading!