18 months

Yesterday, Julia turned 18 months old! Here is a tribute to the last couple months of her life.

Julia has now been in Mother's Day Out for 3 months, and she really enjoys it. She still cries most days when I drop her off, but they say it doesn't even last 30 seconds. She may have turned a corner though because in the last couple of weeks there have been 2 incidents where I dropped her off without a single fuss or tear. Once she gets past the drop-off part, she has a great time. her report sheet says that she was happy and had a really good day! Here are a few photos of her at school back in late September.





At 16 months old (also September), we witnessed her remarkably steady hand when it comes to stacking blocks. We weren't sure if this was normal or not, but it amazed us:

She loves riding around the neighborhood in her wagon. Here, she's quite at peace during one of our wagon walks in October:


On a different day in October, we took a walk with Karla, Noah and Haley. It was not a "peaceful" walk, but it was one of the most entertaining walks I've ever been on:

For whatever bizarre reason, I'm fascinated with how kids can hold a low squat position while they play. This would be a torturous workout for me!



Julia continues to do her headstands on a near daily basis. So weird!


Our first food-dumped-all-over-the-floor incident. I'm sure there are many more to come:



At the park in mid-October:


A rare photo opp to get a picture of our sweetheart in peaceful sleep:


Julia loves to color, and it can actually keep her interest for a reasonable amount of time considering her age. I didn't think much about this until her Mother's Day Out teacher and a few others commented about how well she holds a crayon (she started around 15 months), which I guess is impressive since she figured this out on her own:



For the past few months, Julia has found markers but has never once tried to open them, because I was extremely purposeful to never show her that the caps can come off or what treasure was hiding underneath the caps. Jarret didn't realize this, so he decided to take off the cap and draw on her diaper. He then decided it would be fun for her to try drawing on her diaper. This was the result:



Julia's girly side is certainly coming out! She loves talking on the cell phone, is obsessed with shoes and trying on all her different pairs (including her new boots that she adores), and giggles at herself in the mirror while she admires how her accessories look on her (sunglasses, bows, necklaces, etc.) And her hair is slowly but surely growing out in ringlet curls!!







Back in October, a new Chickfila opened about a mile from our house. We were so excited in the anticipation of the big opening. Karla, Jill, and I took our kids and made a visit when it opened. As I watched Julia climb up in the playground for the first time, I was shocked at the realization that we now truly have a toddler on our hands, instead of a baby!






At Emler's indoor pool for a swim party in late October. I love the heated pools! This was her first time to ever go down a big slide. She did great the first time (video below), but was pretty upset after her second trip down. Since then though, I've continued to be more amazed at her toddler-ness since she's now conquered going down the big slides at the playground on her own (and I've conquered my fear of letting her do this by herself!):

About a month ago, Julia had her first experience of licking the batter of the mixer beaters. She thoroughly enjoyed herself:





Out at the lake in late October. The cold couldn't keep us away! (Though it probably should have):






Two posts ago, I blogged about Dylan's arrival. Somehow, I forgot to post the pictures of Jill and I hanging out with our kids + Noah and Haley, while Karla & Dustin were at the hospital during Dylan's delivery. We had just donated our couch, oversized chair and ottoman that were in the upstairs loft in order to convert that area into a playroom. This was our first time to host friends in the playroom, and the first time to use the table and chairs. So fun! Afterwards, we took a walk altogether.





Hanging out with her girl friend Haley, as they happily shared books with each other:




Julia's cousins came for a visit recently, and we all took a trip together to Chickfila. The only time Julia happily rides in a car seat is when she has a friend next to her. She adores Jacob, so she was quite content to sit beside him...and hold his hand!:



At the park over the Thanksgiving holidays:



She thinks bouncing on balls is one of the best things ever:

Jewels has over 100 words and started parroting us constantly about a month ago. Her only consistent phrase is "I love you" which sounds like "I luh luh." It warms our heart! Here is her saying her own name for the first time:

She imitates lots of animal sounds, which I always think is one of the cutest things kids do. Here are some she knows:

Some other fun tidbits about Julia:

- She asks multiple times a day to dance and of course I'm more than happy to put on music at her request, which comes in the form of the word "das" while grooving with her arms.

- She loves counting though her only number is "two", which she just says repeatedly while counting.

- She's pretty great at using both a fork and spoon. Thanks to Andrea and Chelsi for encouraging me to let her make messes early on while she practiced.

- She is very analytical and studies things quite carefully. To say that she's curious and an explorer seems synonymous with the word "toddler", but she is so curious and such an explorer.

- She now interacts with her videos/TV shows rather than just watching them. Her face lights up when the Little Einsteins pat to make the rocket ship go, and she pats along with them and raises her arms for blastoff. She is beaming with delight the whole time.

- She still barely weighs over 20 pounds, wears size 4 shoes (though they're slightly big on her), and still fits into several 9-12 month outfits.

- She can get really angry and yell at things that don't cooperate with her (trying to get a toy out that's stuck, for example). This is scary because one of my worst faults is getting angry with inanimate objects and I don't want her to have this trait. I've been careful to not show her this side of me, but she still has it within her personality apparently. Sorry Jewels.

- She laughs hysterically when you give her zerberts under her arm or on her side.

- She is terribly shy when someone approaches her, but is outrageously social if she's the one to approach them.

- She's going through some serious confinement issues, I suppose because she wants her freedom to do what she wants to do. She hates getting into her car seat, isn't crazy about high chairs at the moment, and often doesn't even want to get dressed/undressed. Other than those times, she's generally a very happy, energetic, silly kid who brings so much fun and laughter into our home.

- She refuses to eat many of the foods that I thought all kids loved: grilled cheese, pizza, spaghetti, hot dogs... even mac n cheese often. Her favorite meal is breakfast (likely because that consists of fruit and some sweet item like oatmeal, a breakfast bar, or muffins) and her favorite food is any sort of fruit.

- And our favorite: She loves to pray! Prayer time has progressed over the past three months. At first, she would hold our hands only for about 2 seconds. She'd look back and forth between Jarret and me, confused why our eyes were closed and why one person was seemingly talking to the air. Then, this progressed to her holding our hands for the duration of the prayer and saying "men" or "ameh" every once in a while after we said "amen" (or sometimes while we're still praying!). Now it's progressed to her holding out her hands multiple times during the meal wanting to pray again. It's so cute!