A Very Steady Hand

I love to raid Mom and Dad's closet and create my own fashion ensembles. My favorite combination these days is the Baby Banz "crown" and Dad's belt "scarf." I've sported this look on several occasions.
As you already heard in my 18-month milestones blog post, I've got mad stacking skillz! Here I am in action stacking spices.

18-Month Milestones

Height: 32.5" (70% percentile)
Weight: 24.75 pounds (55% percentile)
Head: 49 cm (96% percentile)
Teeth: 2 bottom teeth, 4 top teeth (same as at 12 mo.)

What She Eats:

• Breakfast (7:30 am): Eats using a spoon. 1/2 cup yogurt, with 1/2 cup of O's cereal & baby oatmeal mixed in.


• Lunch (11:30 am): slice whole wheat toast, 1/2 cup fresh sliced fruit, 1/4 cup of cheese cubes, and whole milk.
  


• Afternoon Snack (3-4 pm): 1/4 cup fresh sliced fruit, or Goldfish crackers it we're out and about or Mom is lazy.
  


• Dinner (5 pm): Eats what parents are eating, but cut into smaller pieces. Mom and Dad now have to make an additional serving for dinner when cooking! One favorite dinner is sharing Dad's meatloaf sandwich from Bardenay restaurant.
  


• Very particular about her cheeses. Goes through phases. Recent favorites are Gruyère and Babybel cheeses.


• Started using a spoon for eating her morning yogurt around 16 months intermittently, and every morning by 17 months. Now uses a spoon for any food that is spoonable. Starting to work on using a fork to poke foods.


• Eats bananas by biting chunks off of a whole banana with her parents helping peel it back.
  

Sleep: 1 nap per day at 12:30pm. Normal nap is 1-1.5 hours, but can range anywhere from 3/4 hr to 2.5 hrs at most (and she will still sleep 7-to-7 with either nap range, go figure). Bath at 6:30 pm and bed at 6:45-7:00 pm. Wakes up at 7 am on the dot.

Walking & Climbing: Excellent walker. Runs, but we can still keep up with her. Still has great balance, and LOVES to climb on everything. Climbs onto chairs, couches, highchair, and anything else she finds. Think she'll be a rock climber. Lately, she tries to walk up stairs by standing and holding her hands on the railing (versus crawling up the stairs). She still crawls backwards down stairs unless we hold her hands, in which case she'll try to walk down the stairs on her feet.

Personality: Reese is still a sensitive girl and is cautious meeting new adults and puts on her "serious" face while warming up to them. She is fascinated with other kids and babies though. This sounds strange, but at home she is still fairly clingy (especially when not feeling well), but in public (the park, stores, restaurants) she is very eager to venture away while keeping a loose eye on us. She is very meticulous stacking and/or organizing things and her teachers have noted that she has an amazing attention span even compared to many of her 2.5-3 year-old children. She is very interested in anything to do with dogs or monkeys and loves reading books about animals. Her favorite book is "Go Dog Go!", which she calls, "Go-go". She has two versions of Go Dog Go (the cardboard shorter version and the original) and they go hand-in-hand. She starts looking for the other if she only has one of the books. OCD?

Vocabulary: Reese is getting very good at expressing herself using words that are understandable (at least to her parents and teachers), and she is consistent with using those words. She is a perfectionist and will repeat and practice words that you say to her. Her vocabulary is too large to write down, but below are a few examples:

• Ma-ma, Da-DAA!, Milk, Wah-wah (water), cracker, book.
  


• When it's time for bed or nap, we say, "Reese, it's time for a nap," and she says, "Guys, guys, guys." Then, she proceeds to look for her Cow Guy and Giraffe Guy that she brings to bed.


• Puhpiller (caterpillar), Perh-pull (her purple lion stuffed animal), Duck Juice (hand sanitizer in shape of duck).


• When she sees a picture of a monkey she goes, "Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo."
  

Miscellaneous things she does:

• Loves to take take things out of containers and place them back in. And repeat, repeat, repeat.
  


• Loves to help mom with baby diaper laundry (stacking diapers/wipes, carrying to her room).
  


• She can stack her 1" wooden blocks 11 blocks high.


• When she hears music at home, in stores, or restaurants, she starts to clap and dance around the floor.


• When she's done with her food, Reese pushes her plate to the center of the table and says, "all done." When she's finished with her sippy cup of milk or water, she'll reach up and place it on the edge of the kitchen counter or table.
  

The little things we hope we'll never forget:

• The way she slaps her legs and claps her hands when I play Get Rhythm by the faux Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) in the car on the way to and from school.
  


• The sweet hugs and cuddles that she gives to her Mom and Dad.
  


• Gentle back rubs that she gives us with her tiny little hands.
  

Misc 17-Month Videos

Here are some miscellaneous videos from early-to-mid April that my parents have been meaning to post.

I've been practicing my jumping skills, but still can't quite leave the ground yet.

My parents bought me some new sandals. They will be nice to wear outdoors when the weather warms up.

A Q-Tip box on your foot gives you funny feet and helps distract me from my annoying hiccups.

I now eat most of my meals with a spoon or a fork. The video makes my food look gross, but it's actually yummy yogurt that I eat for breakfast (yes, I'll eat that entire bowl full).

My parents like to sneak up on me and make me laugh.

My parents have come up with creative ways to get me to eat things, such as balsamic marinated asparagus.