18 Months

On Friday she'll be 18 months old.

Here she is on a rock outside our new home. It must have been carved just for her.


1. She's totally fascinated by babies...

2. When our neighbors -- friends of ours who have a two year old and a newborn -- come home, she says, "Baby baby baby baby..." pointing towards their house until we take her over to say hello.

3. She carries around a baby doll given to her by U.'s aunt and uncle. When she's in a bad mood she yells if she can't get it just right into its little stroller, into the cradle by her bed, into her arms in just the right way etc., but if I take it away she wants it back again.

4. Often her first word in the morning is "b" or rather, "bird" as she hears them chirping outside our house.

5. She has not yet learned to say rabbit or bunny although there's a baby one of those too living outside (or under) our house.

6. She now can wear her hair in a partial ponytail. It works best if I put just the bangs and front hair up in a ponytail on top of her head. I can't get all of the hair in there at once. Sometimes she wears her hair down, or in two pigtails, or even with a headband. It's cutest down but then it's hard for her to see.

7. She falls asleep best in the stroller during an evening walk. Lately, though, if you recline the seat, she pulls herself up, even nodding forward onto the tray, rather than be forced to lie down. Better to let her sit up until she's TOTALLY down for the count.

8. She loves to play outdoors.

9. She loves balls.

10. But her word for ball sounds a lot like the one for bottle which also includes cup.

11. In fact, many of her words sound like other words. You have to be her mom or teacher to automatically know the difference between dad and diaper, for example. But if it's diaper, there's a good reason to help her right away.

12. U. was hanging out with her outside recently while I was finishing something up inside. He called me up for translation help. "What's gogog?" "She heard a dog barking," I explained. She loves to hear and watch them. Doesn't like touching or being touched by them. The first part she gets from me... not that I like dogs so much necessarily, just animals in general. The part about NOT liking them she gets from U. I'm fine with it. Healthy respect for dogs sounds good to me.

13. "Flowers" include general plants, trees or just colorful things. Apple includes most fruits, but especially apples.

14. She can walk a long way, but not without taking in the scenery.

15. She LOVES shoes. ("Shoes," by the way, sounds almost identical to "cereal" which usually refers to soup nuts.)

16. Except when totally exhausted or fussy, she is like an alarm clock, awaking right around 7 AM almost every day, give or take 10 minutes.

17. We are still proudly and joyfully nursing. She also likes many kinds of soup although not consistently.

18. She already can flirt. On Memorial Day we went to a BBQ where there were two other boys close to her age. I gave them spoons and cups to keep them busy. She licked her spoon, then let the younger boy lick it. Afterwards she shrugged her little shoulders shyly and made me want to rush over and... I don't know... and DO something.

Instead I just watched from a distance.