{16 + 17 + 18 months}

Just for the record, I fully intended on keeping to doing these every month.  But somehow another 3 months have gotten away from me, and here I am playing catchup again.  At least I have managed to take her picture each month, but I can't seem to get much farther than that except on a quarterly basis. :)

These 3 months pretty much cover summer as a whole, which can I just say has been so. much. fun.  It went by in the blink of an eye, but I have just had a blast watching this girl experiencing all of the wonderful things that make up summer, and seeing how much she's loved it all.

I can't even begin to wrap my head around the fact that she is now 18 months old.  A YEAR AND A HALF.  Where has the time gone?  I will never again judge a parent for constantly saying how fast time goes with kids, and how quickly they grow up...it is so true.  And I know I am equally annoying by always bringing it up, but I just can't believe it!  Just yesterday she was my tiny, squishy newborn, and now look at her!  

She has really become a toddler over these past couple months.  She went from barely walking, to running, to now wanting to climb EVERYTHING.  We are planning some trips to Monkey Bizness soon, because this girl just wants to climb all the time.  She is also looking more like a toddler, with 8 more teeth coming in (yes you read that right, EIGHT. It started with her 4 molars, and then before those could even fully come in her canines started poking through.)  For a kid who was so late to the teething game, she sure is catching up quickly!  She is also talking up a storm.  I can't even believe how many words she has now...I started a list.  (does that make me a mom-nerd? probably)  It was over 30 the last time I counted, which is just crazy to me, when just a couple months ago it was maybe 5.  That mind of hers is constantly at work, and we continue to be amazed at how much she listens and understands. She's becoming an independent little person!  I don't know whether to jump for joy or curl up in the corner and cry.  I am so happy to see this little person we created growing up, and becoming such a smart little girl, but at the same time I am so sad to see my teeny tiny little baby disappearing right before my eyes.  Mom problems.

Anyway, on to the good stuff.

Stats ~ 24 lbs 9oz (50th percentile)

             32 3/4" tall (75th percentile)

{these are from her 18 month appointment, don't have anything official from 16 & 17 months}

Size ~ I feel like she has grown SO MUCH over this summer.  It doesn't seem to be that drastic when you look at the stats, but her clothes tell a different story.  At the beginning of the summer she was still fitting into 9-12 and 12 month clothes just fine, with a few 12-18 month things here and there, and shoes were a size 3 which was even a little big.  As of 18 months, that has all changed.  She can still wear 12 month shirts and onesies, but all of her 12 month (and even 12-18 month!) sized pants are too short.  I just put a pair of 18 month pants on her yesterday, and while they fit for now, I am a little nervous that come winter she will be out of them, so I think I'll stock up on some 24 month size pants too.  As for shoes, she now wears a size 5!  In just a couple short months she's gone up 2 sizes.  I guess that's pretty common, but it blows my mind.  She is definitely not the chunky baby she used to be, and is really becoming a tall and slim toddler.  Sigh.

Sleeping ~ she is still going to bed around 8 (although summertime inevitably means more late-nights, which she has handled SO much better than I anticipated.  as long as they are relatively few and far between, it doesn't even seem to phase her), and wakes up somewhere between 4-6 to nurse and then goes back to sleep in our bed until around 7.  She is down to 1 nap a day for the most part, and it's usually somewhere between 1-2 hours.  It all depends on where she's napping, and if she gets a snuggle buddy.  :)

Eating ~  she is officially off bottles, but still nurses when she's with me.  I can honestly say, never did I imagine I would be breastfeeding my baby for 18 months - but I am so so happy that we have been blessed with the opportunity!  I have no plans to wean her until she is ready, which as I keep saying does not appear to be any time soon.  She just nurses in the morning and before bed usually now, and I still treasure the snuggles I get out of it.  As for solid foods, she eats pretty much anything and everything.  Her current favorites are tomatoes (only homegrown though), cottage cheese (ok, any kind of cheese really) and corn on the cob.  (There is nothing cuter than watching a baby eat corn on the cob, by the way)

Likes ~ any outdoor activity, swimming at the pool or in the lake, 4 wheelers (oh man, she is addicted to going on rides on the 4 wheeler when we are at the lake!), throwing the ball &/or frisbee for Daisy, bubbles, books, dancing 

Dislikes ~ We still get those "mini-tantrums" every now and then, but she's still overall quite the happy kid.  There aren't many things that she straight up dislikes.  If she's teething, or sick, of course she dislikes just about anything - but who can blame her.

Current Nicknames ~ boog, boogie, Lills, baby Lills 

Words ~ if I were actually doing these every month like I planned, this category would have had a point.  You would have been able to see how many words she learned in the course of a month.  BUT, since it's been 3 months, her list of words went from 5-ish to over 30.  I can't even keep up with adding words to the list as she says them, at this point she's saying a new word almost every day.  It is so so cute to hear how she pronounces various things, and I'm enjoying learning to speak "Lilly".  She works very hard to communicate with us, and it really is amazing how much we can understand from her now!  After we went to the lake a few weekends ago, she was at Grandma's the following Monday and was telling her a "story".  I got a call describing a few words/actions, and actually I was able to tell her exactly what Lilly was trying to explain from our weekend at the lake, and it all made sense!  Just a month ago there is no way that "conversation" would have happened.  Of course she now also repeats EVERYTHING she hears, and we are quickly becoming very cautious of how we speak around her.  It's harder than you think!  I never realized how much of a potty mouth I had...

Well, another 3 months are in the books.  I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I have an EIGHTEEN MONTH OLD.  I'll try to post another update before she's 21 months but I can't make any promises... :)