18 Months

I can't believe my baby is 18 months old!  2011 was an amazing year filled with many milestones.  It's hard to believe that just a year ago, Kaitlyn could barely sit on her own, couldn't say any words, took three to four naps a day, and was just starting her first tastes of solid foods. She's come a long way since then.

• She is 20 lbs, 5 oz. and 31 inches: I plotted her growth charts using this iPhone App Baby Connect that I recently discovered. She's in the 5th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height.

I probably say this every month, but I am absolutely loving this age right now. Kaitlyn had a developmental explosion this month and seems to do something cute everyday, whether it's saying something unexpected or doing something she learned from watching us. She is old enough to play independently, understands basic commands and questions, and can (somewhat) communicate what she wants. She is learning so quickly each day and absorbing things like a sponge!

• New words: más (more), "wassat" (what's that?), fish, uh oh, aiyah, "peez" (please), book, box, shoes, socks, Elmo, Abby, Dora, baby, share. I'm really going to miss it when she replaces her gibberish with actual words and sentences. I love hearing her babble in Kaitlynese.
• Communicating: Kaitlyn can tell us if she wants agua, fish (goldfish crackers), cheese,  más, or tay-tay (her pacifier). She understands a lot more words than she actually speaks and her best form of communication is answering simple yes/no questions. Usually I just have to show her or say the name of something and she will respond with a nod or shake of her head (or just run away, when I say "change diaper").
• New tricks: The list is getting longer and longer. Here are a few things that she does most frequently.

• Look for specific items and bring them back (ie. "where's doggy?"), give things to specific people, put things away when I say "clean up." She can also point to her nose, chin, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, and belly button.
• Make the sounds of a doggy, cat, sheep, cow, horse, elephant (while waving her arm like a trunk), shark (the two-note melody from Jaws), monkey, chicken, and duck. One time while we were eating I asked Kaitlyn if she wanted some chicken and she responded by flapping her elbows and clucking.   
• Identify and point out her favorite characters in pictures including Dora, Elmo, Abby, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Ernie. She can also flip through the pages of a photo album and point out specific family members. 
• Open her favorite books and recite lines from them. 
• She does all the hand movements that accompany The Itsy Bitsy Spider. 
• Imaginative Play: It's fun to watch Kaitlyn play on her own and see how she entertains herself. A lot of her play is based on what she sees us and the kids at daycare do, so it's interesting to see what she's picked up. She loves putting away pots and pans, washing her hands, and pretending to cook in her play kitchen. She also has a play tea set and likes to pour tea into the cups, hand the cups out, make us all toast, and then drink from them. She never cared much for stuffed animals before but now she involves them with her play. She'll wrap her favorite doggy up in a blanket, pretend to feed it, hold her pacifier to its mouth, and push it around in her toy stroller. One time she took two stuffed doggies and put their noses together with a "muah" to make them kiss.
• Dancing: She likes to stand in the kitchen and press the buttons on her fridge farm repeatedly and dance to the music. She also gets excited and dances to the "hot dog dance" at the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. A few weeks ago I gave her a toothbrush and not only did she know how to use it, but she also did a little toothbrush dance at the same time (I used to dance while getting ready in the mornings to entertain her. I didn't think she'd actually copy me).

• Furry Friends: Kaitlyn is still obsessed with dogs and points them out every time she sees one, whether it's on TV or while we're out. She gets super excited and repeatedly shouts "doggy!" while waving to them. She also loves cats and recently started getting excited over birds ("deeees!"). 

Kaitlyn loves it when the neighbor's cat comes to our backyard for a visit.

• Eating: Meals with Kaitlyn are so frustrating. She eats perfectly fine at daycare, most likely because she sees the other kids around her eating. However on weekends with us she is the pickiest eater. Unless it's fruit or cheese, we never know if she is going to eat a particular food, and it's always a guessing game. Even if she seemed to like something before, she could very well refuse it the next time. It's even harder now because she insists on feeding herself, so I never know if she is just going to take the food and drop it on the floor (which she takes great pleasure in doing). Because of this it is such a struggle to feed her every weekend and we usually resort to giving her a squeeze pouch and lots of snacks throughout the day to make sure she gets enough to eat. 
• Tantrums: We haven't seen a full-blown tantrum yet, but the mini tantrums are becoming a lot more frequent. They usually occur when: a) I don't let her do something she wants; b) I take something out of her hands; or c) she wants me to pick her up and I don't.  Her tantrums usually involve collapsing to the floor and lying flat on her back, eyes shut tight and bawling, but they end shortly after I pick her up and hug her. They could be a lot worse, and it makes me not look forward to the terrible twos.

Tantrums? Who, me?

What a month! Kaitlyn, please stop growing up so fast! Love, Mommy.