Paige at 18 months

This is 18 months! 

Silly and on her terms.

(And she was 18 months December 3rd...so I'm almost a month behind! BUT, most of this was written earlier in the month.)

Size: 32.7" (73%) and 24.25 pounds (69%). Wearing size 6 diaper, in 24-month clothes mainly (some 2T) size 5 shoe. She looks so big when I'm holding her and is hard to carry on my hip - I have to use both my arms most of the time!

Eating: I don't know if I'd call her a picky eater, but she isn't always up to trying new foods. Her favs are fruit, chicken sausage, chicken nuggets, pancakes, Mexican and fries. 

Sleep: We are happy to say she is still an amazing sleeper! Her only nap is on average at 12:20pm and lasts until about 3pm on average. We put her down for bed around 7:30pm and usually doesn't take her long to fall asleep - sometimes she rolls around and makes some noise for a little before succumbing to sleep. But once she's asleep, she's down till 7:45am on average!

Milestones/Accomplishments:

- Talking more and more. Repeating more words and saying more on her own. Paige has been more on the quiet side for a while and her speech progression has been really slow. Her pediatrician said a lot of kids have an 18-month word explosion and Paige is proving that to be true. We have seen a difference for sure this month and it brings us such joy to hear her little voice more often. And it has been fun to see the excitement from Ellie when Paige says the proper word for something. 

Some words she has said consistently (but she has, of course, repeated a ton more):

hi

no (one of her favorites) 

uh oh

Dada

Mama

owie

dog 

spots

jacket

cracker

cookie (she likes the 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie..' book)

brush

please (sounds like peas)

more

milk

book

Josh (one of our good friends)

Phrases:

don't drop

don't touch

dada's jacket

more please

- Running

- Sleeping with a blanket, starting at 17 months

- 12 teeth (with 2 canine teeth right under the surface)

- Can identify where her head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, ears, chin, fingers, belly, belly button, bottom, and toes are. And can identify most of those on someone else as well.

- Climbing onto the dining chairs by herself

- Feeds herself with spoon and fork (by 16 months)

- Shares toys with other kids/adults

Likes:

- Babies

- Her big sister Ellie...usually...you know sibling love ; )

- Her daddy! When she sees him after it's been a little while (he has a few long work shifts) she gets so excited! 

- Other kids. She really likes going up to them, but if a strange kid tries to hug her, she'll literally push them away. 

- Books. She's constantly pulling them off the shelf and flipping through them. 

- "Color" with crayons, etc. 

Dislikes:

- Diaper changes. She just wants to sit up and do something else more fun.

- Sharing for the most part. You have to have a really good item to trade with. 

- Listening when it comes to things/places she shouldn't get in to or things she shouldn't do. (This girl has tested our patience SO much in this department). 

- As mentioned above - her personal space being invaded by someone (adult or kid).

- Wearing a bib. She usually takes it off halfway through her meal. 

Additional things I want to remember:

When Ellie sings, Paige will start swaying and "sing" with her. Wants a hug from Ellie when they are saying goodnight to each other. At bedtime, after story time, how she'll turn around in our arms, hug our neck and lay her head down; those moments are so precious. Can still be cautious around people she doesn't know well. Don't know if I have ever written this on the blog, but a friend said once, "Paige has judgemental eyes" (funny, but kind of true). Shushes babies/toys and rocks them up and down in her arms. Wants to be on the bathroom stool with Ellie when Ellie is getting her teeth brushed AND tries to spit into the sink like Ellie. Walks around on her tippy toes sometimes. Pulls up shirts to tickle and makes a funny "tickle" sound as she does it. 

There are always things that come to mind after I posted, but these are the main things that have stood out from this sugar and spice girl. She keeps us on our toes for sure and has taught us more about parenting than we ever had to think about with Ellie. We're always praying for wisdom and guidance on how to raise our girls; it's such a hard and wonderful thing to navigate. We are all learning, all the time. It's taught us and shown us more about God's amazing love for us and how He guides us in our mess ups and during times that aren't always easy.