18 months

Harps had her eighteen month check up last week and there are so many things to remember right now.  The girl is a year and a half old and the personality is definitely coming through.  The Squirrel is becoming more strong willed and definitely developing favorites and routines. Here's just a few of the things for us to remember right now:

February 4 - Happy Half Birthday!

Stats
Weight - 21 lbs 6 oz;  below the 25 percentile (only gained 2 oz since her November check up so we're going to start her on Pediasure for weight gain and extra vitamins)
Length - 33"; above the 75 percentile

1. Bracelets - The girl has gotten into the habit of getting into my bathroom drawer to pull out her "bracelets".  She stacks as many hair bands around her wrist as possible and loves to show them off.  We've started finding scatterings of her "bracelets" around the house and alot of times, will leave the house only to realize she has a stack of 9 "bracelets" on her arms.

2.  No, no, no - Please note this is said while waving her hands frantically in front of her face.  I've tried to be careful about how much I use the N-O word to avoid this stage but now that it's here I realize that (a) I say it more than I thought I did and (b) it's unavoidable.  There can be a little drama when "no, no, no" comes out and we repeat with "yes, yes, yes" but the mini-tantrum doesn't last too long and she quickly forgets how much she didn't want to brush her teeth/wash her hands/pick up toys/change clothes/etc.

3.  Hi - The girl has started saying hi to everyone and everything.  If we're walking through a store, she'll raise her hand above her head, wave and say hi to everyone she's passing, including people in cars.  When we point something out (a bird, a tree, a piece of food), it usually gets a hi and a wave too.  The Squirrel is really into body parts right now.  I was getting dressed the other day and she looked up, pointed at my chest and said "booby" and then waved and said "hi".  I know they're a little unavoidable right now but, come on, I'm 9 months pregnant!  No need to make me feel self-conscious about those things, Squirrel!

4.  Ha-pa - The girl is getting verbal and now knows her own name.  I love the little Ha-pa that she gives when you ask who she is.  Our growing list includes:  Mama, Dada, NeNe (Honey), Geeg (Grandy), RooRoo (Rooney), Cat, baby, pees (please), gay (game), doo doo (yes, we get told when that's happening), shoes, uzza (puzzle), airplane (a current obsession), truck, ello (phone), bu-by, agua, mik (milk) and various body parts.

5.  Hording - I'm getting a little nervous that the girl might end up on a future episode of Hoarders.  She loves carrying things around with her but it's not just one or two at a time.  She stacks up piles of things (magnets, playdough, puzzle pieces, coins) and carries them with her from place to place.  When one drops from her hands, she tries to balance all of the items to pick up the single dropped item, usually resulting in more items dropping and you can see the cycle from here.  Hey, at least it keeps her busy!

6.  Books, books and more books - Still very into books.  She likes to have them read to her and likes to flip through them herself but she's now started babbling if she's flipping through on her own, like she's  reading herself.  Love this!

We are very ahead of our reading level

Harper hugging her current favorite book

7.  Douglass the Monkey - Douglass is definitely her favorite bedfellow but she loves her Bee, her babies, Bill the Camel and her Jamaican doll.

8.  Shakers - So I know they aren't the safest item for a toddler to be walking around with but the Squirrel has a slight obsession with her Mexican shakers that we brought back from Cabo.  And she can't carry just one at a time - the monkey, elephant and leopard must all be carried together.  Rooney isn't the biggest fan of being chased down with the shakers either.

9.  Boys - Harps has definitely caught the attention of her classmate, Hatcher.  They are each other's favorite playmates but Hatcher loves to give Harper hugs and runs to greet her at the door on school days.  Hatcher's mom told me that when asked who his girlfriend is, the answer is always Harper and he likes to sing songs about her.  Ahh, young love.  Jared isn't too thrilled about this one.

10.  Memory game - Harps has these magnet books that were passed on to her by her uncles, Parke and Nathan.  The magnets don't really stay in the books so we started keeping them in a shoe box.  Harps loves the game of dumping the shoe box out and then identifying all of the magnets by name.  She's up to about 40 now.  After playing the game one day, I looked at Jared and said - "You know, I think she's really smart" - to which Harper looked at me, smiled, dumped out the box of magnets and stuck the box on her head.  About five minutes later, she threw a dish towel over her head and walked straight into a wall.  Harps, please don't do this at your Harvard interview in 17 years.

11.  Pictures - She loves looking at pictures of people and saying names.

12.  Veggies - Out of the blue, she now despises vegetables.  Won't touch one, won't look at one and certainly won't eat one.  Any suggestions???

Feet crossed like a little lady during meals

13.  Timeout - We're venturing into the land of timeout.  We've started using timeout when Harps is doing something that could be harmful or hurtful to her, someone else or one of the animals.  Also, if we've redirected and told her no about something and she continues to do it, we use timeout.  It's pretty effective and it seems to be a good distraction for her but she now really likes her timeout chair.  I'm sure that won't last.

14.  The Bellybutton Song - The Squirrel is very fond of The Bellybutton Song and requests it often.  The problem is that she likes to look at the singer's bellybutton while the song is being sung.  This is fine until you're in a group and out in public.  Something tells me that not everyone is interested in seeing my preggo, stretched out bellybutton right now.  And if she requests to see your's, don't worry - I don't want to see your's either.

I could probably go on and on but these are just a few snapshots of the girl at this stage.