Eighteen Months

Dear Peeper:
You are eighteen months old today.

You had your (not totally - we're still getting over a cold) well-baby check-up this afternoon and it went great!

Weight: 20 lb 2 oz / 3rd-5th percentile
Height: 29 3/4" / 5th percentile
Head Circumference: 18" / 25th-50th percentile 

Once again, the doctor said that you're "small, but well-proportioned, and growing well." He also said your head is "the biggest part" of you, to hold all your brains.

Mommy says it's because we're always telling you how great you are, so we're giving you the big-head.

You've had a very big month, learning and doing all sorts of stuff.

For starters, you've finally learned how to stand up on your own, from sitting or lying down! You still often ask for help (Uppa! Uppa! Uppa!) but can get right on up by yourself when we give you a bit of encouragement - or if no one is around.

A couple of days ago, you were sitting in the kitchen floor and I came in the room. You said, "Uppa! Uppa! Uppa!" and I said, "Okay, I'll help you, as soon as I let the dogs out (or in or somesuch)."

As I reached the door to the dogs' room, I turned around, and you were right behind me. I guess you didn't need as much help as you thought!

But you still don't crawl. The closest you come is scooting around (and off) the bed, but that's mostly a backward belly crawl. With several rolls, especially as you approach the edge of the mattress, just to freak me out.

You've also picked up a few new signs this month - including "please" and possibly "thank you" - but (depending on which ones we "officially" count) you may have actually added more new words (and animal sounsd) to your vocabulary than signs.

This is the first month that's happened!

You can now tell us what the sheep says, and sometimes the bear. You've called each of your four grandparents by name at least a few times, and can talk all day long about (and to) the cats.

You've got a few words that you say spontaneously quite often (Mama/Mommy, up, hot, here, apple, kitty/cat, night-night), a few animal sounds that you've got down solidly (cat, dog, monkey, elephant, lion/tiger, sheep), a few words that you mimic pretty well on request (yuk, knock-knock, toes, panda) others that you've spontaneously mimicked at various times, but that haven't really "stuck" yet, plus a few that seem to have come and gone.

We went over all that with the doctor, and he showed us his little check list which looks for 4 - 10 words at 18 months, as well as understanding what you hear, identifying body parts, "jargoning" (putting non-word sounds together in phrases and such - sounding like what you're saying should make perfect sense in another language) and such as that. You are definitely doing all those things, so he's happy.

He said to "just keep reading to (you), and keep talking to (you), and keep signing with (you)" and that we can expect to see huge developments over the next six months.

Other than all that learning, our big adventure this month was a trip to Texas to visit Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of my side of the family. Once again, you were a real trooper with the travelling, and I was very proud of how much more sociable and comfortable you were with everyone this time - despite being sick for a couple of days while we were there.

Lately, you've started to make your opinion known more and more, and to be much less blase' about things like having really-not-a-toys taken away from you.

You've also started being much less cooperative about diaper changes, getting dressed, putting on shoes, having your hair done, and the like.

I was just reading a couple of days ago that that's to be expected at this age, so I suppose it's a good thing that you're doing what you're "supposed" to, but boy, it sure is annoying.

Especially when you want to practice your new-found standing up skills on the changing table!

You're also, again, getting quite vocal when you're frustrated with something. Around your birthday, you went through a phase of grunting angrily and clinching your little fists when you were frustrated, but it didn't last long. I didn't really realize that you'd stopped doing it until you started again, actually.

I wonder if learning to sign helped with the frustration back then, and that's why you stopped doing it so much?

Lately, it's not been communication that you're frustrated with, but either something physical that you're not quite able to do (like yesterday, when you were trying to screw the lid on an empty milk jug - you are obsessed with lids) or, well, us - because we won't let you do something you want to do - like eat a cookie (or dog food), or pull everything out of the refrigerator, or call someone who's in the middle of having a baby!

Speaking of cookies (which you are, alot), remember how I used to brag about how you'd eat anything we put in front of you?

Yeah, not so much any more.

You've become much more, um, selective than you used to be. You are still, by far, getting most of your nutrition from nursing, which is a good thing, because you're sure not getting it from that handful of goldfish you eat each day.

Mostly, you still prefer to eat "on the run" and can't be bothered with sitting around in your highchair too long, which doesn't really lend itself to a lot of fancy foods.

We discussed that with the doctor today, too, and he pretty much just commisserated, saying that yep, "that's the challenge of feeding a toddler - trying to get something in them as they run by," and agreed that since you still nurse so much, there's really not much worry about nutrition.

I worry more about what habits you might be forming, especially since you definitely have a sweet tooth, and would eat all the "cookies" (you use that sign for anything sweet) that we let you. I give you things like that in teeny pieces, so that even if you have several "bites" you're still not getting much.

The doctor asked if you're willing to eat some fruits and vegetables (which you are, on occassion), and if you're feeding yourself (which you always have) and using utensils (which you at least think you are) and he was happy with all that.

When I told him that I was a little worried about your iron level (it turned out to be just barely within the normal range) because you don't eat a lot of meat (nor do we, actually) he said, "Well, she's getting some from nursing," in very much a "Eh, don't worry about it," way.

(I like him much better than that stupid guy at the Children's Hospital!)

All in all, he said that you're doing great, and you don't have to go back until you're two years old!

Which I can't believe is only six months away!

It seems like we just finished celebrating your first birthday - but on the other hand, you are such a totally different person already than you were then.

I can't imagine who you'll be by the time you're two.

And I can't wait to find out!

I love you, my little one-and-a-half year old girlie!


love,
Mama