Avery is 18 Months Old Today!!

Wow, how did that happen? 1 1/2 years old! It just doesn't seem possible.

Size:

You are tall and skinny. You have pretty much lost your baby fat and have slimmed down quite a bit. You are tall enough though, to reach things that are on the edge of the counter, which is somewhat frustrating! Ha. You weigh 24 pounds!

Clothing: 

You are still wearing mostly 18 month clothes, but I've bought mostly 24 month clothes for you for Fall and Winter so that you can wear them for the whole season.

Shoe Size: 

Size 5

Diapers:

Still a Size 4

Teeth:

You have all 4 top front teeth and all 4 front bottom teeth. You also have all 4 of your 1 year molars and your 4 incisors have just recently poked through. So at 18 months you have 16 teeth!!

Hair/Eyes:

Light Brown hair and Brown eyes

Sleep:

You sleep pretty good for the most part. You usually go to sleep between 8 and 9 and then sleep til anywhere from 6-9 depending on the day. You sometimes wake up once in the middle of the night and are hard to get back to sleep but thankfully this doesn't happen often. You usually take a morning nap for around 1-2 hours and then an afternoon nap for around 1-2 hours.

Eat:

You're not really eating much these days. You do love chips and french fries though and I never have to twist your arm to eat those. Ugh. You also love fruit snacks too which you can't seem to get enough of. You will try new foods which I love about you and there really isn't much you won't eat. You still love macaroni and you really like pizza too but you'll eat corn, peas, carrots, green beans... there really isn't much I've found that you won't eat. The problem is you just don't eat very much of anything.Which probably explains why you've slimmed down.

Favorite Toys:

You love anything Mickey Mouse Clubhouse related. You carry around our stuffed Minnie Mouse and Daisy and even sleep with them some nights! It's really cute! You also like to play with whatever Jackson is playing with at the moment, which he is not a fan of. You are a collector, which you come by honestly from me. When you're in the bath, I will give you a few toys to play with and rather than playing with them, you gather them up and just sit there and hold them and then if one of them gets away from you, you cry because your hands are too full to try and get it back. Ha!

Milestones:

Other than the new tooth, there really haven't been too many big milestones lately. You have attempted to say a few more words I guess but that's about it. You are a climber and can climb all the way onto the kitchen table! Little stinker! That's one milestone we could have lived without! You also know where many of your body parts are like: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, hair, fingers, toes, butt and belly button! We've been saying bed-time prayers recently and you are so cute! I've taught you to put your hands together in the prayer position and I will tell you to close your eyes and you do, which is so stinkin cute! We say the "now I lay me down to sleep" prayer and before we're even done you start clapping at the end. We're working on getting you to say Amen. You try, but you don't quite have it down yet. ;-)

Vocalizing:

There are a few words that you say often like Momma, Dada, Papa, Ball, Hot, Hi, Hello, Eye and you try to say Brother. You also try to say my sister's name, Ashlee. Lately we've been working on animal sounds which you've got dog, cat, duck and bear down pretty well. You also try to do the cow and chicken most times. We're wondering if your speech may be somewhat delayed because of thick fluid in your ears. You had an ear infection in early August that ended up taking 3 antibiotics to clear up. Though the infection went away, the fluid in your ears never did. So the pediatrician referred us to a child ENT. We saw him in late September and he suggested we wait 6 weeks and re-check your ears to see if the fluid would go away on its own.
**Update**
We had your follow-up at the ENT yesterday and the thick/chronic fluid was still in both ears. So the doctor said he wouldn't pressure us, but thought Ear Tubs would be a good idea. He was concerned about speech delays and thought with the fluid that you may not be hearing as well as you should. So we are looking into scheduling tube surgery soon.

Personality:

You are feisty and relentless and you will do whatever it takes to get what you want. This will help you in the career world, but it's not very fun for your momma right now!! Ha. You throw fits and have a little temper. We're working on this but it's hard. You are sweet though and give kisses and squeezes when you're in the mood. You're a girly girl and love to wear jewelry, play with baby dolls and you love shoes! You are ornery, but yet can be so sweet and cuddly. You love your brother and when he wakes up or you are reunited after him being gone somewhere, you almost always run up and give him a hug. You have the cutest walk. It's like you have a little bounce in your step. It's almost like your walk even has a personality. Ha. It's too cute!

I think that pretty much covers you at 18 months pretty girl! 

We love you to the moon and back Avery and are so thankful for our sweet girl!

Love, 

Mommy! xoxo

And a little side by side comparison of Avery over the last 18 months.