nineteen months

Renee spent approximately 15 of the 31 days that made up this torturous month sick with some sort of ailment. She had the flu for the first ten days, pooping like a trooper every 30 seconds and crying incessantly about her diaper rash. She threw up any food she tried to eat and refused to drink anything except milk. Go ahead, you try to convince an 18 month old that clear liquids are a better choice for her upset belly. She lost a bunch of weight and it hurt my heart to look at her. We had her 18 month well busy visit and she weighed in at 21 pounds 15 ounces...less than she weighed at 15 months. She adamantly refused to be measured for height so that will likely remain a mystery indefinitely. S-P-I-R-I-T-E-D.

Then, she got better and was healthy long enough to pop out six teeth, four of which were molars, open some kick ass Christmas presents at Nena and Grumpa's and then she caught a cold. The mother of all colds. She was up all night, coughing like she smokes a pack a day and the volumes of snot that were pouring out of her nose was astonishing. For all intensive purposes I sort of feel like I should get a do-over for this entire month. An entire month of my 12 weeks off to spend with the kids and she was sick all.fricking.month.

On a bright note, the Steelers are going to the Superbowl! She finds and spikes the football any time she sees football on TV. I can't give her credit for the idea, however, I'm fairly confident that it took a bit of coaching from her dad.
 
If I had a quarter for every minute I have spent trying to talk her into wearing pants or socks, I would be a rich, rich woman. She points at her pants the second we finally get them on her and demands 'OFF.' She is completely obsessed with turning things on and off and instantly looks for the on/off switch the minute she touches anything. Once she locates that, she starts looking for the batteries. I love how she says batteries. ba-DEES.

I love how she stands at my feet when she wants to be picked up, stomps her right foot and demands 'Mommy UP.' It's the way she says it and the look on her face that I love so much. She may as well put her little hands on her hips and stick her little lip out. I assume that is the next step. For now, we laugh at the stomp.

Her love affair with the kitties has been rekindled. She stalks them trying to play with them via their toys and not-so-gently petting them. She calls them both Yadi which we think stems from Sashi which is our nickname for our cat, Sasha. There is no distinction though, they are both Yadi. She says it so regularly that Ski and I have started calling them Yadi. I just love how she says 'Hi Yadi' or 'Bye Kitties' when she's coming or going.

She goes straight for Cam's bouncy seat when it's vacant which isn't often and she sits in and it and looks at me like 'What are you going to do about it, lady?' When I ask her who that seat belongs to she says 'Baby' and doesn't move an inch. I think she's daring me to kick her out. She finds her baby and bottle and feeds her baby while I feed Cam. She snatches his Soothies and bolts any time I happen to set one down. She's asserting her dominance left and right. For a while it made me mad but now it makes me laugh.

We are doing Aqua Tots at the Y with her friend Max and I love how she gets all pumped up getting her suit on and says 'Hi Max' over and over and over until we get there and then she clams up like she's too nervous to actually talk to him. I think she has her first crush.

She repeats EVERYTHING we say and is stringing words together in sentences. She can identify about half of the letters in the alphabet via her alphabet puzzle or her name on the wall of her bedroom. Last night when she was coming in to say goodnight to Cameron and I, she looked up at his name on the wall out of the blue, pointed at it and said 'e'. And then she pointed out the 'n'. Then she said 'Bye' all as a matter of factly and headed off with dad to bed. To think she used to cry when I left. Now I get a 'BYE' like it ain't no thing but a chicken wing. I guess this is a good development but there are days when it makes my heart hurt. My baby, my big girl, I can feel her growing up and moving away from me. I tell her every day on our way home from daycare that she has two choices of colleges; the two that are within 5 miles of our house. I just hope if I say it enough times she'll remember :)

Comments

[kim]

maybe on monday we'll actually get them to say hi to each other. :)

max knows half the letters too. i can barely read him books anymore because he's always pointing at some letter and saying it. it seems crazy to me. i thought he'd actually start talking before he started caring about letters. he knows like 10 words MAYBE, and then ABDEHIKLMOPQTUX. weird.

[The Mommy]

She's a cutie! And I'm glad to see she's learning to be a Steelers' fan!

We don't particularly like pants in our house, either. The minute Baby Girl wakes up she asks to be "naked butt"...which is how I get her to let me change her diaper without a fuss! However, it is January so it's a daily battle when we need to leave the house! I'm thinking of switching to all dresses and nightgowns...

You're doing a great job! Knowing her letters at this age is pretty advanced, I think! She's obviously brilliant. Keep up the good work!