Erin Loves Brad: 18 Month Update (a month late)

As Claire just turned 19 months this past week, I thought it was an appropriate time for an 18 month update.

Hanging with Daddy on Daddy's birthday!

After her first birthday, I stopped taking the weekly matroshka pictures. This is due, in part, to the fact that she would no longer sit remotely still enough for such photos. I will say, though, that her relationship with matroshka has greatly improved. After the competition for the photos was put to bed, they were able to strike up a cordial and even friendly relationship.

Rocking the accessories.

Every time we go to the pediatrician's office, I'm always asked to fill out questions about her development and my concerns about her status. I am continually having to answer several of the questions with something equivalent to "she is perfectly capable, but she will do things only at her own pace." This has proven to be the case with a lot of physical development markers, like crawling (which she has never done), pulling up, and walking.

Being a little bear can be so tough.

She has never crawled, despite our constant and varied attempts to encourage crawling. BUT, she is a WORLD CLASS scooter. People literally comment on it everywhere we go. Church. House hunting back in May (the realtor asked to video). The beach. The library. She is ridiculously fast and finds it to be more efficient for her transportation purposes. For this reason, she didn't begin walking consistently until THIS MONTH. September. At 18 months. Now, she had proven to us that she most definitely could walk, but she refused to do it on anyone else's timetable. How terrifying is this...imagine when she is a teenager! She still only walks part-time, but at least she won't get that "a little abnormal" label at the doctor next time. No mom wants to hear that.

Red Sox fan even if they're having a lousy season...

Something else she did on her own timetable? Acquired teeth. Girlfriend did not cut one. single. tooth. until she was fully 13 months old. This, despite having shown signs of teething since 5 months. At 18 (19) months, she has quite the mouthful, and no, I don't know the actual number because I stopped sticking my finger in her mouth a long time ago. Has sharp teeth, will use on anyone. Bless us all.

September 30...last day of the paci. We are now paci-free.

She is talking quite a lot these days. Quite a lot of recognizable words, even more words that I know the meaning of but others probably wouldn't, and millions of gibberish words that only she knows the meaning of. We are working on polite words (please, thank you, etc), animals and their sounds (we are working on quite the menagerie), body parts (she particularly likes "toe!", "elbow" and "beh-ee"...which means belly button), people in our family, various questions (her favorites are "where did he go?", "who is it?", and "are you ok?"), and a few key words, like "Hundley" (Curious George's dachshund friend...it's her favorite tv show) and "more" (mo-mo). Oh, and "I love you" (I wuv woo). We have been working on our letters, although she is wanting to do that entirely on her own timetable, too.

So many hair accessories...so little time. Must make the most of the time.

We are VERY into songs around here. She sings along with her favorites: "You are my Sunshine," "Let it Go" (from Frozen), and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." We sing these allllll the time. Usually one right after the other.

Acquiring skills like stacking.

She is currently into very physical activities, like body slamming into things (like Brad when he's laying on the floor) and climbing on anything that doesn't move (wait...just kidding...she'll climb on you if you move). It's really exhausting for me and dangerous for everyone. She tends to have bruises and small scrapes at any given time. (And so do we) Oi.

We are also in a separation anxiety phase that is quite tough. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with her age, and I think that some of it also has to do with the upheaval of the move compounded with her age. Whatever it is, it is creating some difficult situations for us as we try to adjust and get into a rhythm around here. Our biggest source of contention, unfortunately, is church nurseries. We are in the throes of church hunting, and Claire absolutely refuses to have anything to do with nursery. And by that, I mean that she screams continually to the point that she is shuddering, shaking, verging on vomiting, upsetting the other children, and the nursery workers are forced to get me. It makes life difficult for everyone. Sigh.

Who, me?

Despite the difficulty with separation anxiety, we are finding a new groove for life in Durham. We have been learning to color and build with blocks and feed ourselves (oi! So messy). We have discovered that Bearsy is most likely a lefty, just like Auntie Ray Ray, Aunt Jenny, cousin Nikki, and Auntie-Friends Kat and Karen. Lefty girl power! Life is exhausting but oh so full around here.