18 months

Maddie girl:

                                                

                                     

My little firecracker. She is a sweet and cuddly little lady one minute, and a feisty girl who knows exactly what she wants that very minute. She loves the outside. Any time anyone goes outside or opens the door without her, she starts shrieking and shouting "WEEEEE" (for swing) or "AYYYYY" (for outside). Her favorite things to do outside are swing, ride in the cozy coupe, get pushed on the tricycle, walk around with a bucket or shovel, play in the water, blow bubbles, look for birds, put rocks in and out of the mailbox, and climb into the stroller. Her favorite place is the beach. She loves to look for trains, splash in the water, and dig in the sand. She also loves parks, especially slides and swings. She's pretty fearless!

                                        

She is really starting to love books. She has a super short attention span, and will often try to swat a book away in the middle of the story. She loves to pull books off her shelf and bring them over to the glider to read. She always stretches towards her books once we sit down in the glider before nap and bedtime. Her favorite books right now are a sign language baby book (she loves to mimic the hand motions), nursery rhymes, where's spot, Mr. Brown can moo can you?, and any sort of lift the flap books.

                                             

I'm not sure if she's been teething for a while trying to pop out the back molars, or if it's just the lovely age of separation anxiety, stronger will, and getting older, but this lady is a firecracker! She can definitely let you know if she doesn't like something with a defiant "NO!" She can also put on a pretty good show with her fits.. sometimes complete with a dramatic fall down to the ground. There are really challenging days with the combination of a 3 year old and this little lady. She is in full on separation anxiety mode and does not like it when I hand her to anyone. She has only lasted in the church nursery a few times. You are mama's girl to the max.

                                              

                                                   

It's amazing how many things she's learned to do without even realizing that she is watching everything. She loves to play pretend with her baby. She feeds her with a bottle, walks her around in the stroller, and puts in her binkie. She picks up a phone and says hello. She can throw a ball really well, pretends to jump by bending down all the way to the ground, and then quickly lifting her body, and can swing the bat at the tball. She loves to stack blocks, play trains & cars, and is starting to spend more time with play dough and coloring (she prefers to color EVERYTHING-floors, walls, etc). She LOVES babies. She gets so mad if the twins have their car seat cover on trying to sleep. She loves to point to all their different body parts, especially her BEE-BO (belly button). She's midly obsessed with the potty and anytime I go to the bathroom she comes in and yells "PEE!!" She takes toilet paper off the roll and pretends to wipe herself. She hates to have her diaper changed, but loves to be nude. She will tug at her clothes and yell NUUUUUUUUDEY. Once she is nude she will run around like crazy. She always wants to be by her big brother, doing what he does. If he laughs, she laughs. If he stands against a wall, she does too. Not surprising that her fits are starting to look like his as well!

                                     

She loves to climb things and be adventurous. One day she randomly climbed up a storage cube and Jessie's and stood straight up. She also started running as fast as she could on our couch and then crashed.  Every day when I get her from her crib, she tries to be silly. She'll stand up and then crash back down to her crib.

                                                 
She understands pretty much everything we say to her, and can easily follow commands. She doesn't talk a ton, but is really good at repeating words we say. She especially love animals and their noises. She can do a dog, bird, cow, and monkey noise. She loves going to the zoo and starts shrieking and getting so excited after seeing an animal.

She has almost all of her teeth thank goodness! All 4 molars have come through and we are down to the last k9 teeth. Teething makes her a bear, so i'm glad it's almost over with! She is overall a great sleeper. She goes to sleep between 6:30-7 and wakes up around 6:15 in the morning. She takes a pretty long nap in the afternoon- usually around 2-3 hours. She's a pretty decent eater. She always wants to have her own "poon" (spoon) or fork to eat with. She doesn't like to get her hands messy. After breakfast she always wants to put her binky back in her mouth right away, even if her face is covered in yogurt. She gets so mad when I try to wipe her face off first.

I honestly can't imagine life without this little lady. She is a silly, free spirited, gem of a little daughter.