18 Months!

Kylie at 18 months old!

Our sweet Kylie Bean is 18 months old! It's hard to believe she has been in our lives for a year and a half already...It's been the best!

Kylie has continued to grow and change quickly. She surprises us every day with the things that she knows and understands. I love that she is developing her own personality...She is a sweet, funny, flirty, smiley, sassy little thing! I swear she already knows how to push my buttons, and I envision some "fun" tween years in our future!

Posing with her Glo-Weem

Her favorite toys right now include baby dolls, her walking stroller, empty sippy cups and anything she is not supposed to have. As always, she also loves her "na-nee" (bunny), as you can see from the first two pictures above. I had to give her the bunny to get her to smile for the camera! She is starting to like being read to, although her attention span is all of 30 seconds...She will pick a book (usually one about animals) out of her pile, crawl over to me, sit in my lap, and listen to me read to her. It's pretty sweet. She likes being outside, going for walks in the BOB, dancing, giving kisses to EVERYONE and hanging out with other people. Her favorite foods are cheese, sweet potatoes, mandarin oranges, peaches, fruit snacks, and any other sweet treat. She loves standing on the couch to look out the window, and climbing on anything and everything. She often catches me by surprise when I turn my back for a second only to find her on top of a chair or table....I have no idea how a child can climb like a monkey, and yet refuse to walk...But that's my child! :)

Kylie is still a very happy and content little girl. She really goes with the flow and doesn't seem too particular about anything. I still have my fingers crossed that she gets her daddy's type B personality, although struggling to get two people up and out of bed every morning is going to drive me crazy! :) There are very few things that make Kylie mad, but there are some...She still struggles with bath time every now and then. She does pretty well until she has to get out, and then she usually cries a bit. She HATES the way the grass feels, and since she won't walk, she has to feel it all over her body. I was hoping that might encourage her to stand up and get moving, but so far she just sits there and wails until someone picks her up. She also doesn't like being told she can't get into the drawers or the lazy susan in the kitchen. I do my best to block her from going into those places, and she inevitably throws a fit each time.

Hamming it up for the camera!

Kylie is meeting many milestones, and has pretty much caught up to her actual age peers in every category except gross motor skills. She is talking up a storm, and learning new words everyday. I would say she probably has 30-40 words right now. Some of my favorites are, "rah rah" (water), "wee wee" (Huey), "ba-pa" (grandpa), "bow," and of course, "mama." My least favorite is definitely, "no no." She knows several body parts including her belly button, nose, eyes, mouth, ears, shoulders and tongue. She also knows a few animal sounds. She says, "woof woof" for dog (and many other animals), "moo" for cow, "oh oh" for monkey, and "neigh" for horse. She pointed at a mounted elk head the other day at Newt's and said, "woof woof.":) We're working on that one! She knows when she has gone #2...She points to her booty and says, "poo poo." I've actually appreciated that skill! :) Kylie is currently growing her molars. Two of the tops ones are in, and the two on the bottom are just starting to poke through. So she is up to 10, almost 12, teeth. Kylie is still an excellent sleeper. We are continuing to work on dropping the morning nap, which has been difficult at times, and she still gets it 3-4 days/week. Her afternoon nap is usually between 2-3 hours long, which is a great break for both of us! And she sleeps 11-12 hours at night. We just had to put up black-out shades in her room because she was starting to want to get up with the sun. Since we did that, she is back on her regular sleeping schedule! Kylie still loves to eat, but has become a little pickier in her old age. Thankfully, she likes a few different kinds of fruits and vegetables, so she is able to get some of those in each day. She eats breakfast at 8:00am, lunch at 11:15am, and supper at 5:30pm. She usually gets a snack in the afternoon as well to hold her over until supper. She is growing like a weed...Although, I don't know her exact height and weight, she seems to be pretty tall for her age. She is wearing 18-24 month clothes, size 4 or 5 shoes, and size 4 or 5 diapers. Kylie can climb on anything, including up and down the stairs. She is actually fairly safe when she climbs...She always gets down by going backwards, so I pretty much let her go as long as I can see her. She has also starting "jumping." She usually does this on the couch when she is standing to look out the window. She holds onto the back and just jumps. Kylie might be the fastest crawler I have ever met (probably because she has had several months to perfect the skill). When she gets going, I literally have to run to catch her. :) This, along with a "content with the status quo" personality, are the reasons I believe she doesn't want to walk. Clearly, it's a little frustrating to me, but I'm trying to let my worries go. With the said, she has started to take a few steps unassisted. A few times each day, she will prop herself up and just start walking. She can take about 3-8 steps before she falls down. I guess it's just going to be a looong learning process for her...Hopefully she will figure out that walking is more efficient and just get up and go one of these days!

We are loving our Kylie Bean more and more each day. She is such a sweetheart, and I can't wait to continue to see her personality develop more and more over the next days, months and years!