18 Months Old

Annie turned 18 months old today. Last night I tried to rock her a little bit before she went to bed because I’m a little sad my baby isn’t a baby anymore. She sat still for one round of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star before she tried to get up to get in her crib.

Annie has been so independent I haven’t rocked her to sleep since around 10 months old – her choice, not mine. I think a big part of her independent personality is her lack of fear and anxiety. I should add that I am comparing her to Jackson. She’s my baby that goes down giant slides by herself and sits in big kid swings. She’s my baby that has no stranger fear and holds her hands up for pretty much anyone to pick her up, including people standing behind me in line at the post office. She’s my baby that has never taken a pacifier and needs very little soothing. She’s my baby that isn’t afraid of dogs barking or vacuums running. She’s my baby that cries in the middle of the night only when she isn’t feeling well. She usually goes to bed babbling and wakes up babbling—sometimes I have to check and see if she’s awake yet because she doesn’t always cry to get out of her crib.

I believe Annie is going to be a loving mommy someday. Her favorite toys are baby dolls. She makes a point to go to car seats because she knows there are usually real babies in them. She likes to get close and look at them—she’s good about not touching them. She loves to push her babies around in her stroller. She’s very loving to us and gives the best hugs ever. She recently started giving kisses. Sometimes the kiss noise is a little early or late.

I think Annie is going to be an artist. She’s shown much more interest in coloring than Jackson did and has expanded beyond just the paper medium to furniture. Annie is very girly and already recognizes things that are aesthetically pleasing or pretty. She loves shoes. She likes trinkets and jewelry.

Annie’s already been put in time-out. She’s not old enough to really understand what time-out is, but that girl can be so naughty sometimes. And the attitude already! Her tantrums have gotten a little better for the time being. Time-out means she has to go sit on the stairs away from the kitchen/living room. Yesterday, I threatened that she’d have to go to time-out if she continued to do whatever it was she was doing and to my surprise she got up and went to time-out. See, not old enough to understand.

Annie is very verbal and is at the age where if you say “Annie, say _________” she will repeat the word. I am weary of making a list of all her words because I know I’m going to leave out some, but I want a record of it somewhere. These are words she uses on her own on a regular basis.

Mama, Dadda, Jackson, Jesus, Cheese, Cracka (cracker), Drink, Owie (out), No, No-No, Shoe, Pretty, Tree, Doggie, Kitty, Num-Num (any food), Car, Book, Baby, Wee! (for slides and when she see’s giant wind turbines), Where’s Annie?, There she is, There it is, What is it?, Mine, Ball, Uh-oh, Bear, Albo (Elmo), Boo, Choo-Choo, Moo, Amen, Thank you, Bubble, Fishy

Annie’s growth:

Height: 2’9.5” 

        Grew 1/2 inch in 3 months, dropped to 93 percentile for height, Jackson was exactly the same height at 18 months old

Weight: 24.6 lbs

         Gained 2.4 lbs in 3 months, went up to 56 percentile for weight, Jackson weighed 26 lbs at 18 months