Lena: 18 Months

Oh my Lena. I've been putting off writing this post, because I just don't feel like I can do her justice. She has so much personality and so many funny quirks. I never want to forget them, so I shall immortalize them on the trusty internet. I think I'm just going to do bullet points instead of trying to make it all flow seamlessly in one long entry.

A few boring stats to begin with:

• She has 6 teeth: 4 on top, 2 on bottom. 
• She's transitioning from 2 naps to 1. Generally she wakes up between 6 and 7. Naps at noon for 2-3 hours. To bed for the night at 8. 
• She pretty much only eats cheese, fruit, and sweets. 
• She has a bottle of lukewarm milk every morning, but refuses to drink milk any other time of the day.
• She's still a tiny midget. I don't know her official stats (doctor appointment at the end of August), but she barely fits in 12 month clothes. One day this week, I put a 12 month skirt on her and it fell right off. I went back upstairs and got her a 6 month skirt. It fit perfectly.

And now the fun stuff:

1. She peeks under the bathroom door whenever someone is inside. And she usually says, "Potty? Potty?" the whole time. Haha.

2. She absolutely loves animals. She calls most animals "puppy!" Although anything small and white is Lola to her. We saw a tiny white chihuahua at the park once and she shouted "Lola!" over and over. Haha. When she's being really grumpy, I youtube videos of kittens and puppies to calm her down. Works every time.

3. She has a love/hate relationship with Lola. She's constantly yelling at her. Haha. Lola has a bad habit of scratching the carpet and Lena has heard us all yell at her enough times that whenever Lola starts doing it, Lena yells "Lola!" The other day Lena was bothering Lola and Lola swiped at her, scratching her ankle. I bopped Lola on the head and said sternly, "Be nice!" For the next half hour Lena yelled at Lola, "Be nice, Lola!" 

4. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I love to see the differences between Lucy and Lena. Lena is so independent, and such a daredevil. We are so going to be in the ER with this kid. She loves to climb and jump and explore. Lucy always found one thing that worked for her and stuck to it. The stairs for instance. Lucy would sit down on her buns and slide down each stair. That's what I originally taught Lena, but she wants to go bigger and better. She insists on standing up, holding the railing, and walking down the steps like a big girl. She's so much more fearless than Lucy ever was. I always have to keep my eye on her. Haha. 

5. Another difference between her and Lucy is her vocabulary. I wrote a list of all the words she knows here, but keep discovering more. She's such a chatterbox, always talking, always mimicking. She repeats the last word of every sentence I say to her. It's adorable. She doesn't label things on command, though. If I point to a dog in a book and say "what's this?" she won't answer me. Even with words I know she knows. If she ever sees a dog on TV or anywhere else she shouts out, "puppy!" but she doesn't do it on command.  

6. I realized I didn't include the words that she sings in the list of words. She sings let it go (just that phrase), lullaby, okayyy bye (from Frozen), twinkle and Jesus.  

7. She's starting to grasp the idea of counting. If I ever say "one," she says "two." Haha. And she babble/counts in that sing-song voice. Usually "two, fi, ix."

8. She adores being outside. She's always asking to go out, and Justin and I have to speak in code whenever we talk about it so she doesn't hear the word "outside." Haha. She's totally obsessed with her swing and would sit in that thing for hours on end if I didn't get so sick of pushing her. She also loves the slide. Yesterday for the first time, she realized she can go down on her belly head first. That's how my nephew broke his collar bone, so it makes me a little nervous! Haha.

9. She doesn't watch TV, much to my chagrin. Lucy was obsessed with Elmo by this age, and would sit captivated by him for a good half hour. Lena will watch maybe ten minutes before she gets bored. I know it's so bad for her to watch TV at this age, but sometimes I'd really like an extra 30 minutes of sleep at 6:00 in the morning. Haha.

10. She continues to be an early bird, which I will never understand. Although as I get more diligent about cutting out her morning nap, she's started to sleep in a little bit more - 7 instead of 6. Blech. But she is a great sleeper, so I really shouldn't complain. She lays right down in her bed without a peep and goes to sleep no problem most of the time.

11. She is still a major mama's girl. She prefers me over anyone else, and cries "mommy" 95% of the day. Haha. Or so it seems. I do love it most of the time. Sometimes it gets a little exhausting. She's such a sweet cuddler, though. She loves to lay her head on my shoulder when I pick her up, and she snuggles right up to me when we rock at night. I cherish those moments.

12. She is not a fan of other people. Even people she knows well. Whenever someone says hi to her, her immediate response is "no!" She doesn't willingly let anyone else hold her most of the time - even Justin. My sister is coming over every day next week to watch her while I work at VBS and I predict there will be a whooooole lot of crying. Haha.

13. She's recently started to be a little more interested in reading. She has a select few books that she likes and will sit with me for a very short time to flip through them.

This is the part of the book where the baby is sleeping, so she's saying "shhh."

14. She is such a cheeseball and cracks us up every day.

We love our Leany-bean so much and are so grateful for the joy and laughter she brings us!