Girlie at 18 months

I've been seriously remiss in cataloging her milestones/cuteness since she turned one, so here's me making up for the past 6 months. And I realized I didn't break out the nice camera ONCE since she turned one so...I got the pictures from everyone's phone and they'll have to do. Sorry baby girl, its the best I could do.

Amelia is my little buddy all day long. She follows me all over the place, and has to do everything I do. She also loves to copy her Daddy when he comes home from work. It's hilarious, and adorable, and she is just so cute.

At her last check up (15 months) she weighed about 25 pounds (70%) and was 33 inches tall (99%). She did not appreciate the doctor or nurses looking at or touching her. She was also recovering from an assortmant of ailments (Poison Ivy Rash, teething with 4 molars, a stomach virus, and a cold) so we skipped the booster shots. We'll have to catch up on them at her 18 month appointment, and I am so not looking forward to that.

When meeting new people, she still holds fast to the "Stranger Danger" model of behavior. As long as you don't look or speak directly to her, she's fine. And after a while she'll warm up, and then you can speak to her. Softly. And not like you're super into the conversation. Just be mildly interested, as if you could take it or leave it. Play it cool, and you're golden. Or feed her fruit snacks.

Speaking of fruit snacks, she is one picky eater these days. She'll usually eat spaghetti, rice & beans, various soups, frozen blueberries, and sometimes bananas. But not super ripe bananas. She likes 'em green. We bought a kids size strawberry lemonade smoothie the other day, and that stinker refused to share with me! I was really just glad I knew she had at least eaten something that day, but next time I'm getting my own. She can also go to town on some ice cream, but we're not trying to encourage that sweet tooth too much.

She is learning so many words and it's blowing my mind. She can point to pretty much any part of her body if you ask her to, and knows what a lot of animals say (monkey, bear, puppy, cat, and pigs). She can say Mama and Dada and Pa (grandpa) and recently added "Ma" (grandma).  "Uh oh" is her favorite catch phrase, and she'll say it more and more frantically until the situation is resolved. "Please" is my personal favorite part of her vocabulary, that never gets old. She says "bye" appropriately, and does it with such a southern belle accent (Baaaaaaiiiiii) that I want to give her some pearls to clutch. I always follow it up with "Ya'll come back now, you hear" in my mind.

The other day she said Elizabeth clear as a bell (referencing Elizabeth Bennet, from her Baby Lit Pride and Prejudice book). A literary genius in the making right here, people. Usually, if you ask her to say something, she'll give it the ol' college try, but so far all her new words mostly sound the same. She'll get there.

Her hair kills me. It's the brightest yellow blonde, and it flips out in back so perfectly. Every morning we put it up in a little ponytail and she has to have a bow in it. Which I love so much. Good girlie. If her bow comes out during the day, she brings it to me and says "Bow! Bow!" until we clip it back in.

We're attempting to instill a love of chores now. She pulls her little stool over to the kitchen sink and will "do the dishes" for at least 30 minutes. It makes a huge mess, but who cares, really? And all the water on the floor forces me to mop the floor at least once a week so....wins all around.

Sometimes she'll take things she knows she's not supposed to have (Cory's toothbrush, the phone while I'm talking on it, etc) and she runs away with them so fast. But its a very distinct, mischievous run. She lifts her knees as high as she can, and laughs manically while you try to catch her. Super naughty, but very cute.

She is obsessed with babies and dolls, and has to bring one with her whenever we leave the house.

When I say "Look at mama!" she turns to me with the most ridiculous smile and squinty eyes. The cheese is strong with this one.

She loves to make videos of herself, and then watch them a million times.

She has a toy that plays music when you push a button, and she'll sing with it. It's one long monotonuous note that she holds for a while, but I think it's beautiful. And adorable.

She really gets Peek a Boo now, and will go hide and wait for you to say "Where's Amelia??" so she can pop out.

She figured out how to jump up and down and then land on her bum, and it looks painful but she just laughs about it so it can't be too bad.

She copies everything she thinks is cool, sounds, facial expressions, hand placement, etc.

She loves to climb up onto the kitchen table and thats not my favorite.

When I shout "serpentine!" she'll run in circles, and I know I'm setting her up to be one weird kid, but I can't help it.

If she likes a song or a book or anything you do, she'll say "Mmm, mmm, mmm?" and do the sign for "more" with her fingers.

I'm sure there are a million more things she does that are just the absolute cutest, but this will have to do for now. I love watching her grow and learn and problem solve every day, and she is my favorite girl in the world, but...where did my baby go?? Sometimes she falls asleep when we're singing songs at bedtime, and I can't help but just hold her and rock her for a long time. Her lips get squishy and I can see that tiny little baby in her again for just a second. Oh girlie, we love you so.