18 Months!

Our sweet girl is 18 months old now. Babbling, walking (and sometimes running), Audrey's an official toddler. I do miss my sweet baby, but she really is so much fun at this stage.

Everything she does is cute...even when she tells me no no no, or waves her finger at me I laugh. My favorite things about Audrey right now are her hugs and her waves. Her waves make everyone feel welcome. She loves waving wash cloths (I know, random, right?) and walking around with a pair of them. She spent an hour this morning playing with a flash light.

Audrey has the red and yellow little tikes car. She opens the door and gets in, opens the door and gets out, in, out, in out. So funny! Sometimes she goes Dukes of Hazard and gets out through the window. Whatever works!

Audrey loves to dance. She's got a few moves, but most of them involve shaking it. She's trying to snap and will throw her hands up in the air. She loves music and gets excited when you turn it on.

Audrey knows where her nose, eyes, belly button, toes (piggies), and [sometimes] her ears are. She's become a little shy when she's around other people, but warms up quickly once Graham or I leave.

She still really likes going to day care. Yesterday I said, "Let's go see Miss Jane." And she walked to the back door and tried to open it. She has never once cried when I've dropped her off. Knowing she's so comfortable there makes me feel good. Sometimes we figure out things she's learned there that we didn't teach her and it's really neat. She knows how to motion like she's pulling a whistle when she says choo choo.

We also learned that she has an intense love of raisins. I mean right up there with ice cream...throw-herself-around-tantrum if she even sees a box of raisins and isn't given them immediately. I guess this is a good problem to have seeing how that's what she'll get stuck with at Halloween!

Audrey was "promoted" to the next class in the church nursery. That has been so hard for me! She has new teachers and so far there have not been many kids in her class. We no longer have the pager which makes me a nervous wreck. When we go pick her up after worship service she's always sitting at the table eating goldfish. It's so cute to see her at the little table!

Walking has been a struggle for Audrey. She started taking unassisted steps in April, but never really took off. She started walking officially (or so we thought) on our trip to Cape San Blas in June. It was 5-10 steps at a time, but stopped after a week. We had her hips x-rayed, but there was not a physical problem. She just wasn't ready. She finally started walking again the last week of July. She gets better each day and now walks more than she crawls. The doctor has us working with an agency that refers us to physical therapy, and naturally now that we are about finished with the process she's walking. We are going to continue with the consultations in the short term as more of a training exercise for Graham and me.

We are still so proud of our little girl. We realize how precious Audrey's life is and are grateful for each little step, even if a little behind schedule.

18 month stats:

22.75 pounds (26th percentile)

32.25 inches tall (67th percentile)

19.25 inch head circumference (96th percentile!)

Audrey tries to repeat words, but refuses to say please, thank you, or more (the important ones). Some of her favorite words are mommy, daddy, dog, elmo (eh mo), banana (nana), no no no, baby, awww (as in awww, sweet baby), car, cookie monster (ccccuh cccccuh), eieio (sometimes it's ieieo), Pop, Dora (duh duh duh). She's working on niecie and grandma. She was saying Nana at the beach for Hannah, but I'm sure she's forgotten by now.

Animal Noises:

A cow says... mmmmmmmmmmmmm

A doggy says...woop woop woop or arf arf arf

A duck says...qak qak qak

A bee says...bbbbbbbb

A monkey says...ah ah ah (she does this one rarely)

A horse says...nee nee nee This one was new today!