18th and 19th months

What can I say?  I guess I'm a bad mom to have completely missed her 18 month update and to be a couple weeks late on the 19 month update.  Either a bad mom or a ridiculously busy and pregnant mom.  I'm going to go with the latter.  I hardly got any pictures of the 18th month and only a few of 19.  I felt like a zombie for the first 16 weeks of the pregnancy and have only emerged back to the land of the living the past month or so.  Fortunately I wasn't sick, just very VERY exhausted.  These days, I'm just tired.  So, here we go on an attempt to chronicle the past couple of months.

Basically, Emily is no longer a baby.  At 18 months, she could say quite a few words and make lots of animal noises.  At 19 months, I feel like she's basically a talker.  About every third word is clear and understandable and she communicates really well.  She loves animals and making their noises and talks to us constantly.  Every day she learns more words.  I can't even begin to write down all the words she knows.  I know every parent thinks their child is smart, and we are no different.  She's basically a genius.  Emily finally enjoys going to school and also loves Kindermusik.  Her favorite foods are pizza, pasta, yogurt, carrots, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, fruit snacks, and anything not good for her.  She doesn't like meat and has gone back and forth between loving and hating green beans.  She knows most of her body parts and can say the names and point to them both on herself and on others.  She loves to watch Backyardigans, Bubble Guppies, and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  Emily still has a bit of separation anxiety when I leave her at church and sometimes at Jazzercise childcare, but it's pretty random.  She loves her great-grandparents and has shortened the names "Grandma" and "Grandpa" to "Ma" and "Pa."  Pretty cute.  She loves to color and has so many toys that she just kind of runs back and forth between them.  She doesn't seem to have a clear favorite, although she loves her baby dolls.  Emily is OBSESSED with beds.  She is constantly wanting to get on any bed she sees.  I think it makes her feel like a big girl.  We are slowly weaning her off the pacifier and now she only uses it to sleep- we no longer take it with us when we go places where we have to leave her, with the exception of school (for naptime.)  Ever since she learned to run, she rarely walks, and her main goal in life is to get to and up the stairs without us seeing her.  Her fits are less frequent now that she can communicate better, but she still has her moments.  Recently, if she isn't getting her way (mostly when we are trying to steer her in the opposite direction she wants to go,) she just throws herself on the floor...especially in public.  She likes to read, but still doesn't LOVE it.  She has particular books she really likes and wants those same ones read over and over again.  She is sleeping great (as usual) and hasn't really woken up at night for the past couple months.  Blowing bubbles and playing outside is her own personal Heaven.  She loves to drink milk and water, but isn't interested in juice.  She loves to look at picture albums and point out who the people are that she sees.  She can't say "love" so instead of saying "I love mommy," she just says "I...mommy!"  "I...daddy!"  Puppies and kitties (meows) are her favorite animals and she has recently begun to really love our dogs.  We think she's about to cut her two year molars, but they haven't broken through yet.  She is off the charts big.  At 18 months, she was 35 inches (way off the percentile charts) and 27 pounds, around 80th percentile.  Her head was around 90th percentile, which basically makes her very proportionate, but TALL. 

Emily is the love of our lives and we can't imagine life without this amazing little girl.

 Why store books in the basket when you can store a baby?

 Lunchtime with mommy.

 Ready for school!

 Baby planking

 A little light reading

 Tummy bug baby

 First time to eat Rice Krispies

 Using mommy's bra as a fashion accessory

 Fascinated by Daddy

 Favorite way to sit

 At BFF David's ("Day") birthday party

 Look at that tongue!

 Blowing bubbles in the house.  Coolest parents EVER.

 Valentine's treats for school friends

 Happy Valentine's Day!

 Time for a haircut!

Lemon eating baby...or baby eating lemon

 So healthy!

 Little mama

 Bringing mommy some treasures found in the yard

 Playing with Grandpa (Pa)

 Planting herbs with Grandma (Ma)

 Popping bubbles with Maggie

 Beautiful angel

 Look at her on her tiptoes!  Precious!

My two loves