18 months

Lila turned 18 months old this month! Here are some things about her:

people called her a giant at church after being gone all summer. mastered the word "no." loves chocolate. tries to say chocolate, but it comes out as a jumble of different ways to splice "shhh" and "ch" together. very girlie. likes putting on clothes. her favorite shoes are her church shoes with rhinestones. likes dolls. gives lots of kisses. uses sign language to ask for "help" and "more" all the time. knows two comes after one. starting to recognize pictures of Jesus. usually wants to feed herself unless she's too tired or can't feed herself fast enough. Verbal vocabulary includes (but is not limited to): no, mom, dad, ball, Jesus, cheese, temple, chocolate, more, two, pizza, night-night, poo poo, pee pee, pasta, banana. Sign language vocabulary includes (but is not limited to): more, help, please, eat, milk, outside, upstairs, apple, play, grandma, home, bath, swimming, fish, ocean, shoes, socks, banana. Knows her hair, nose, eyes, and toes. Recognized that woof, quack and roar are animal sounds, but doesn't really associate them with the right animals. Likes most kid foods including mac and cheese (we call it "cheesey pasta"), PB&J, chicken nuggets, pizza and pasta with red sauce. Has also been known to love eating eggrolls, pot stickers, non-spicy indian curry, blueberries, and other weird food I can't think of right now. Still loves being outside, and especially loves swinging at the park. Tends to like women more than men. Cries when mommy takes her away from either of her grandma's. Cries when mommy goes to work at night. Has a pretty good schedule of going to bed at 9 and taking a nap at noon. Loves blankets but isn't particular (soft, knitted, towel, dad's old shirt, her pajamas). Says "poo poo!" when we smell her bum. Loves to wipe things down with baby wipes or towels. Loves to sing. Usually so quiet in the car we think she is sleeping, but rarely is. Responds well to time-outs. Tests her boundaries- that's how she gets time-outs. Grabs from other kids. Doesn't like to share. Still loves her giant moose. Walks into nursery and doesn't look back- even the first day. Hair is long enough for pigtails. Starting to pay a little attention when I read to her. Likes playing with other kids and sometimes gets lonely when she's home with only us adults. Good at coloring and so far has always found a piece of paper to color on, although she does still end up with pen/marker on herself. Loves to have mommy carry her around the house and tell her who the people are in all the pictures. Of all her cousins, she can repeat the name of Reese back very clearly while the rest are more jibberish. Says cheese when we take out the camera. Uses our cell phones, calculators, and the (small, flat) video camera to carry on conversations with herself. Isn't entertained by TV. Starting to prefer regular cups over sippy cups, but always makes a mess. Loves pushing her stroller around. Met uncle Kyle for the first time. Gets jealous of the computer if mommy or daddy is working on it while she is with them. Likes to help mommy. Loves taking baths except for the cleaning off part, and especially the shampoo and rinse part. Her favorite toy is chapstick and first puts it on her lips a few times, then sticks her finger in and tries to eat it. Has taken 4 airplane rides and driven across the country. Is mostly a smiley, happy, cooperative, helpful, wonderful little girl, and grows every day.

On her actual 18 month day:

Some other recent pictures: