Our sweet Anna is 18 months old already! I still call her my baby girl and always will, but she’s certainly a full-fledged toddler now. She makes us laugh every day with her impish grin and cute mannerisms. She lets us know in no uncertain terms what she likes and doesn’t like. She loves her baby dolls but they must be naked at all times. If I re-dress them she will bring them to me and sign “off” until I remove the clothes again. She also loves shoes and boots and likes to put a chosen pair on to walk around the house. Every night she sleeps with her two stuffed bunnies, and sometimes one of her other stuffed animals or dolls as she deems necessary. She still sleeps well at night, usually 11-12 hours, and still doesn’t nap much during the day, 30-45 minutes on average. Some days she doesn’t sleep at all at nap time. She adores bath time and cries like she’s being tortured when we take her out. She keeps up with Max and likes to do whatever he’s doing, right down to sitting the way he does when they watch “Blue’s Clues.” She has recently started playing hide and seek. Her version involves sitting on the floor and covering her eyes with her hands, thus rendering herself invisible.   We then say, “Is Anna behind the couch? Is Anna in the kitchen?” etc. Each time she shakes her head “no” and stays right where she is. So darn cute!

Anna is lucky to have Maxwell for a big brother. He told me the other day that he doesn’t like it when Anna cries because when she is sad, he feels sad. When she cries he will bring her bunnies over for her to snuggle with, and I love hearing him talk to her. He likes to tickle her and play peek-a-boo. Some mornings they both sit in Anna’s crib and read books. We are very blessed to have two amazing children.

Anna at 18 months:

Weight: 25 pounds, 78th percentile
Height: 32.5 inches, 74th percentile
Head circumference: 19.5 inches, 49.5 cm, 100th+ percentile

Signs: All done, more, please, thank you, apple, Daddy (this one she invented, it looks like a tomahawk chop), milk, kitty, on, off, help, book, bird, sleep, swing, eat, water. Points to body parts when we name them. Understands everything we say and will follow directions like, “Go get your baby in the family room by the books.” She doesn’t have very many spoken words, just Mama, Max, Grandma, sometimes Dada. Just lately she has started saying “Bob” because we read/sing the Sandra Boynton book “Fifteen Animals.” For those who haven’t read it, 14 of the 15 are named Bob. She does noises for a cat, dog, lion, and bird. We will be doing a speech evaluation this week to see if she’ll be doing speech therapy to get her caught up on expressive speech.

We love her more than words can say! I took some 18 month pictures today. My talented friend Leanne made her hat and gave us the cute coat too. Happy year and a half, punkin, we adore you.