Libbi, you are 18 months old today!! You are growing and changing right before our eyes, and you better believe we don't take them off of you because you are into EVERYTHING!
Here are a few of your current favorite things:
climbing, climbing, climbing!!! We have to constantly watch you, because you will climb up on anything and everything. You just recently pushed your baby stroller over in front of the babygate and were using it as a step to climb over the gate! You went through a phase of climbing over the arms of the sofa, but after a few good "time-out's" you seemed to have abandoned that. Your current guilty pleasure is climbing up on the coffee table. We're still trying to figure out a way to deter this....we've tried popping your hand, but it doesn't really bother you. You'll just climb up on the table and then pop your own hand while telling yourself "no-no." We've tried time-out, but you go immediately back to the table as soon as you've served your time. We've even tried just ignoring you in hopes that you'll get tired of your new "trick", but so far.......no luck.
You are so social and you talk to everyone when we go out. You love to wave and say "bye-bye." You still love to say, "da-da, bye-bye" whenever Daddy goes to work (or even leaves the room for that matter). It is exciting to hear your start answering yes and no appropriately to some questions. You try to say, "Libbi" but it sounds like "MiMi"...it's really cute :) Your vocabulary consists of mostly single words, but you are starting to combine them into phrases. We just love your sweet little voice! If we ask you, "Is Libbi bye-bye?" You love to say, "NOOOOOOO!" and then we go through the list of everyone we know (including Elmo and Santa) who may or may not be "bye-bye." This is one of your favorite games to play.
You definitely have a strong will. You are an independent woman. You do not want help with anything and you make sure everyone knows it. You have started pitching fits and throwing yourself on the floor. I am hoping that once you start talking more, maybe the fits will be less frequent??? You are very aware of your likes and dislikes and make sure that I am, too. :)
You are still an excellent sleeper (*knock on wood*). You go to bed around 7:45, but you lie in your crib and kick (yes, kick) the bed and talk for about 30-45 minutes. It sounds like someone is upstairs knocking down walls, but it's just you kicking away. :) You are as happy as can be and after you have kicked, and made every animal sound, and practiced every word that you know....it's finally quiet and we know you're asleep. You usually wake up around 8:00 (on a good day!) and around 7:15 other times. You take one nap a day and stick to the same kicking/talking/animal sound routine that you have at night. Sometimes you will literally talk for almost an hour before you fall asleep. Once you finally give it up, you nap anywhere from 2 - 3.5 hours. There are still those days every couple of weeks that you decide you do not need a nap, and we all suffer for it. :)
Probably one of the biggest changes in your 18th month is that we have limited your paci to bedtime only. You actually did really well with this transition. You never ask for it during the day and it hasn't really been an issue. Every morning when I get you out of bed, you say, "bye-bye paci", give it a kiss, then drop it back in your bed. When it is time for a nap or for bed, you get SO excited to go get your paci. You practically jump into your bed. :) You still carry your lovey around and it goes pretty much everywhere with us.
Libbi, there are SO many things that I love about you. I try to ask myself what I would want to remember most about this time in your life. What are the things that I will look back on and smile every time I think of them? Things like the way you give us hugs. You put your head on our shoulders and pat our backs. I never want to forget how you hang onto the babygate at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me to come back down. I always want to remember your sweet little voice and your precious personality - how you love to make us laugh. I never want to forget your laugh and how you are SO extremely ticklish. Mostly, I will look back on this time in our lives and know that my heart is full of love for you. No matter how tired I am, how much you have tested my patience or how many fits you've thrown, my heart is always full. We love you more with each day and we are so thankful that the Lord has blessed us with you!
Happy 18 months!!
