eighteen months

I am having a hard time writing this because it is almost like admitting to myself that you are no longer my baby baby. You are turning into a little girl. Your face has lost the baby look. Your actions are that of a very self confident strong willed little girl. You know what you want and when you want it and how to express yourself. You are not walked on by anyone especially your brother.

You are my little shadow. Helping me clean, helping me cook, attempting to correct your brother. You have become very good at counting down to your brother. When he does something you are not happy with, "GEE!! TWO!! UN!!" and if he does not obey you, you promptly start yelling at him in words that I cannot understand but I suspect are not ladylike. Even after I assure you that I as the mommy can handle the situation, you still like to boss him around. I will ask you to go tell your brother it is time for dinner. You will run right up to his face, and yell, "GO!" and point to the kitchen. You love to yell at "Tea" too. In fact you are a very loud little girl.

Your words are coming along. More so in the last month though. Just in the last week you added noodle (noonel) and apple (abble) to your vocabulary. You still call your brother by the last three letters in his name, and refer to your self as Doe Doe. You like to sit and sound out letters with your brother and me and always have a look of sheer pride after we clap for you.

I am not sure if I would call it potty training yet, but your awareness of body functions is certainly there. You like to sit on the big potty and grunt. Nothing has come out yet, but it is fun to watch you grunt. :) You bring me diapers after you "boop." But I know we have a ways and I am not even going to push it.

You could give a rats patooty about the TV. On the rare occasion I let your brother watch tv, you don't give it a second glance. However last Friday night, we watched Charlie and the chocolate factory and you were glued to the tv. You especially liked the chocolate room. That is my favorite part too.

You are still and probably always will be a slight but tall thing. You were a wopping 22 lbs today and 33 1/4 inches long. Which is the 25% and 90%. The Dr. said you could go ahead and drink whole milk as long as you want too. I am not going to have to worry about you being over weight. I think you have gained 1 lb in the last three months.

You are my neat and tidy little girl. Forever straightening up after your brother. And me. We have had an ongoing battle with the nativity scene since I put it out two weeks ago. It is a fisher price one and I bought it so you two could play with it. You do not like it out though. I get it set up with everyone in their proper places and five minutes later you have got them cleaned up and put away in a box or bucket. How do I explain to you that it is okay to have those toys laying out.

I might need to start worrying about vanity and you. You love it when your brother tells you you are pretty. You put your hands up by your face and get a cheesy grin and tilt your head.

You love to try and dress yourself. Your shoes usually end up on the wrong feet and your shirt wrapped around your head, but you are so proud of yourself. You still love to clop around in my shoes.

You are a wonderful sleeper. You go down promptly at eight and sleep until seven thirty. It is glorious. And you still enjoy your morning nursing. Sometimes I fear you are going to be in kindergarten and still breastfeeding...

You love to read. You love books and looking through them on your own. But you love even more cuddling down on your chair and reading before bed.

You love to cuddle. All day long I can always rely on you to crawl up in my arms and cuddle for a good 30 minutes at a time. And you are still a hip rider. Being so small, I have no problem with it either. I get many of my chores done through out the day with you right there on my left hip.

You have just blossomed into a little girl that is stubborn and hard headed but still the sweetest little girl I know.