Moments with the Matheses: 18 Months Old Report

Ellie Grace turned 18 months old on October 19, 2012. A lot of new stuff is going on with her and we had a well visit with the doc so I thought I would do an update.

~She weighs 24 lbs and is 31.5" tall. She wears mostly 12-18 months stuff. She can do 18-24 but it's pretty big.

~She is drinking whole milk from a cup 3 times a day! I never thought it would happen but sure enough it did thanks to the great cup recommendation from our friend Amanda.

~She eats okay. I would say within the last month she has gotten much more fickle in her eating and she likes to play with it more than eat it sometimes. We are working on fork usage and sometimes when she is able to actually stab something onto the fork she gets so excited and starts flinging the fork around that the food flies off to who knows where. Who can blame her? It is exciting to get food on your fork. When we are eating and she wants to use her fork, she says, "stab." This is because when I'm teaching her how to use it I say, "stab your food."

~She is a very steady walker, runner and climber. She tries to climb a lot. I am torn when she does it between stopping her and just letting her go so I can see what she can do. She is working on jumping and it's very funny to watch her try. She likes it when I jump.

~She still loves shoes. She wants them on all the time and if there are shoes lying around she will try them on no matter the size. She gets very frustrated if she can't figure out how to put them on or if she does get them on but can't walk in them she gets frustrated.

~She says lots of things, too many to name. She has a very cute voice.

~We have started coloring. It's not real fun yet. Her idea of coloring is seeing how many crayons she can old in one hand. The way she says color sounds like "caca."

~She is very attached to her lovie. She now has it all the time except when we go outside to play. She has about 6 very similar lovies that will comfort her but she has 2 that are her favorite. One is a bunny lovie and the other, a bear lovie.

~She likes to play, of course. She plays with her baby dolls and gives them hugs and kisses and burps them, complete with fake burp sounds. She has a toy kitchen that has a sink and faucet and out of the blue one day she started pretending to wash her hands in that sink and she continues to do that. She still loves to play with balls. She loves to swing and go for walks. She likes to ride the carousel at the mall. She likes baths. She likes to watch Barney and her baby video. She likes to play wrestle on our bed with her daddy. She likes to brush her own teeth. She likes to weigh herself on our scale. She likes to dance and it is very funny. She likes to play ring around the rosie, she doesn't always participate in the falling down part though, which is essential.

~She's much more into reading lately but she is very particular about which book she wants to read. But, if we manage to get the "right" book, she will sit and listen to it and participate in the reading.

~She is still doing independent playtime in a pack and play for 45 minutes in the morning and most days does pretty well with it. Soon she will transition to independent playtime in her room, which will be interesting.

~Something has happened in the last month that I have dreaded for a long time. She has switched from two naps a day to one a day. She now naps once after lunch and it's usually 2 - 2.5 hours. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. It is nice to be able to get out in the morning for a longer period of time.

~She is very much in love with her paci. I am starting to try and only give it to her at naps and bedtime. It is a sloooow process so far as I am quick to cave in when she wants it. :) I have noticed her sucking on her fingers a lot when she goes for long periods without her paci. She is very skilled at talking and smiling with her paci in. She will also take it out and smile if I ask her to.

~Just this past weekend, she spent her first night away. She did awesome and it was awesome for us. Distance really did make the heart grow fonder. She was so excited to see us when we picked her up from my parents that she kept trying to lick me. We'll need to work on that. :)

Ellie Grace, we love your sweet, funny little self and are so thankful God chose us to be your parents.