Charlotte at 18 months

We take one look at Charlotte these days and think wow....when did you start looking less like a baby & so much like a little girl? She has changed so much since 15 months when I did her last "Growing Girl" post. One very big change has been going from 0 teeth to 9 teeth in about 2.5 months. OUCH! It was quite disruptive at times but we enjoy seeing her little chompers when she smiles at us & they work quite well in assisting her as she scarfs down her meals. She does like to click them together which drives me nuts : ) Along with the teeth has come lots of hair on her little head! As you remember, she was close to bald on her first birthday and we are close to pig tails now & able to clip bows directly into her hair instead of on a headband. It curls so sweetly at the base of her neck & provides for some ridiculously crazy bed head!

She has retired most all of her 12-18 month clothes to a bin to wait for baby sister to use. We go to her appointment with the pediatrician next week so I will post stats then. Many people have commented that she looks so much taller and we agree. You can tell in her little thighs which are losing the sweet rolls we have always enjoyed as she stretches out. She also has some monster feet that require wide width shoes. We are headed to find us a new pair this week after watching her wince when putting on her old ones.

Here she is posing for a picture the day she found out she was going to have a little sister

This girl is noisy and still does plenty of talking that we don't quite understand but here is the list of words that we do:

• dada
• mama
• dog
• cat - gat
• duck- duh
• cow- co
• ruff ruff- wuf wuf
• moo- oooo
• quack- cack cack
• lion sound- whoahhhh
• zebra sound- uh oh (nee haw in our book)
• hello- heooo
• God
• thank you- tha oo
• amen - amy
• more- mah
• cookie - cacacacacacaca
• cracker- cacker
• milk- mil
• Kyle- kywu
• Scott- cot
• Karis- kawu
• Matilda- tilah
• Charlotte- Chawu
• Bella- bell
• Bennett- ba nee
• banana- nanana
• bye bye- baba
• whoa- woawoawoawoa
• wow
• that- dat
• hush- husssss
• what's that?- wha da

One thing that is cracking me up is how she imitates me. I am realizing that I use a very sing songy voice with her because she frequently repeats some vowel sounds strung together with no consonants after I say hello or good morning. Also when I say goodbye, instead of saying bye bye, she sometimes says oooiiiiiiiii while waving like she is singing a song.

What she loves these days:

• running all over all the time
• reading books- anyone reading to her or sitting looking at them on her own. She will sit for at least 10 books in a row & then bangs on the outside of the cabinet for you to get more out
• playing with Scout, her puppy dog that sings & talks to her. She puts her boa around his neck & covers him up with a blankie for his nap
• wearing as many bracelets as possible at one time
• building with her blocks
• being pulled around the house in the laundry basket
• holding the remote up towards the TV and looks at you wondering why nothing happens
• opening the bedroom doors
• being funny...when you say "let's put your shoes on" she sits down even if she is 15 feet away from you & holds her feet up like "I'm ready"
• washing her feet when she is in the tub
• taking anything out of containers & putting them back in, over and over and over
• pushing her grocery cart around the kitchen and handing you food to eat
• running in the grass & toward the street no matter what I say
• helping me measure & dump into bowls when I am cooking
• pretending to count our fingers, she doesn't say anything but she moves from finger to finger in random order (at least to us)
• hiding in the closet or under a table while I search for her. She can stay completely quiet for a long time!
• feeding herself with a spoon, mostly with her left hand
• combing her hair & brushing her teeth
• swinging at the park
• sliding down slides on her belly but thankfully feet first
• winking, she looks like popeye. She had our OB, Dr. Peppy laughing so hard during our last appointment with her continuous winks
• holding baby dolls- she rocks back and forth with them in her arms- very sweet
• love is an understatement for her feelings towards cousin Karis. She loves to get right up in her face and sweet talk her or give her kisses. When Karis cries, Charlotte is very concerned, sometimes concerned enough to lay right on top of her : )
• trying to ride her tricycle, still waiting to grow a tiny bit but she loves to sit on it & be pushed around
• saying "wha dat?" as she points at everything imaginable & waits for you to answer before moving to the next thing to be identified
• talking to grandparents or uncles on Skype. She thinks every time the computer is on that someones face should be on there. She likes to play peek a boo with whoever she is talking to or share her toys through the screen
• chasing our poor dogs around the house
• making goofy faces when you hold a camera up
• showing people my belly or hers when you ask where the baby is
• nodding her head yes when you ask if she is going to be a big sister
• nodding her head yes when you ask if she will have a sister, brother or baby puppy : )
• throwing her cup on the ground when she is done, this is driving me crazy!
• climbing into the dog cages then shaking her head "no" when you tell her to get out
• making car sounds when she pushes her school bus around. She must have picked this up from the boys in the nursery!
• sucking her thumb at nite nite time
• she just loves to be with me no matter what I am doing....what a great shadow to have!
• #1 favorite thing is "cacacacaca" aka cookies aka graham crackers. She ate these for the first time in Colorado over the break & is now completely addicted. She learned how to open the pantry & pull the box off the shelf. Robby woke up one morning getting hit on the head by the box with Cookie Monster saying "cacacacaccooocacacoooca!" It's pretty hilarious & hard to say no to!

The only things that she really dislikes right now are:

• getting water poured on her head during her bath
• getting her diaper changed on occasion
• chicken

She has consolidated (with a little help from mommy) to one nap a day. She sleeps from about 6:30pm-7:30am & naps from about 12:45-3:30. She still loves her bed & is so happy when it is time to get in it. I think she inherited this from the Ellis side of the family....we have alot of good sleepers ; ) Rob has always said she would make a great college student with her sleep habits!

Overall, she is still a fairly good eater. She is picky about meat so we make sure she gets plenty of protein from other sources. This kid LOVES green beans...weird I know. The other night, she refused to eat anything but green beans so she had about 25 then said she was done. We got her down, I left & Rob was cleaning the kitchen while she played. I received a photo & text message from him about 30 minutes later. It was from above her head with her sitting on the kitchen floor with a bowl of green beans in her lap. It read "bowl number 5, seriously." hahahaha! So, she had her green veggie fill for the week that night...no complaints & no GI issues following the mass consumption. She basically eats what she wants at each meal. Some days she isn't too hungry, other days you might think we have never fed her!

She loves to pray. I mentioned last time that we prayed multiple times during our meal because she would put her hands together nod yes when asked if she wanted to pray....this is a pretty common occurrence now & is very sweet. The other night, she woke up screaming in the middle of the night & when Rob went in to get her she was putting her hands together & wanted him to pray with her. They prayed a few different times then she snuggled up & went back to sleep. She also puts her hands together when you say God or Jesus. When you ask her "can you say God?" she stretches her hands out because we also say "How big is God" with the answer, "So big!" We just continue thanking the Lord for entrusting her to us praying for her little heart to be captured by the God who is so big & so strong. We can't ever say, "nope, no praying now!" her hands going together as frequently as they do is a reminder to me to pray continually as the bible tells me to do.

The pretending is really taking off which is super fun! For along time she would eat pretend snacks from her hand or a cup or from under our pillows or from Robby's ear. She still does this on occasion. The best so far....the other night, we got Menchie's frozen yogurt (the new pregnancy craving). It was dark in the car & Robby handed Char an empty spoon to hold on the way home while he enjoyed his yogurt in the front seat. Charlotte proceeded to make the most hilarious noises....mmmmmm......mm-mm-mm-mm while she enjoyed her make believe yogurt in her car seat. Seriously, it sounded like she had a half gallon of Blue Bell back there!

Here are some pictures from the park. You can see her adorable top teeth in the one in the swing!

I say it every post but it never gets old to reflect on her being a delight to spend time with & care for. It is exciting to see her grow and change & we look forward to each months new desires & challenges. We love you Charlotte Grace!