17 & 18 Months - Teeth!

18 month appointment.  One shot, 30.5 inches, 23 pounds 4.5 ounces and 18.25 head circumference.

Well, because I was swamped with moccs in December I totally slacked on my monthly posts.  So, I vowed to combine my 17 and 18 month posts, hopefully getting this out close to the day Lemon turned 18 months - January 2nd.  Well, that didn't happen so here we are, at almost 19 months.  Oh well.  These monthly posts are getting tiring (especially if you consider that I've been doing them since we found out we were pregnant)!  In a way, I love them and know that I will enjoy looking back and remembering all that Lemon did during her first two years, but she is growing SO fast and learning SO much all at once - it's hard to keep up, even with the notes I keep in my phone!  Trying to remember it all from day to day is crazy, they learn so fast!

Days of note:

11.7.13     You have a new leggy dance that you do when I try to wipe your nose.  You kind of march in place and do it to dance now too.

You say "no" when you're doing something you aren't supposed to do even when I don't see you.  I hear you say it and then turn the corner and you're doing something you know not to do.  You call yourself out!

You repeat words back to us when we say them.  You have learned no and use it if we ask you to give us a kiss.

You can put change in the change slot of your Hello Kitty bank and you tried to put my makeup in the water jug today.

You say "stars" at my tattoo on my arm and "owl" when pointing at daddy's.

11.12.13     You turned your iPod on all by yourself and picked an app!

11.18.13     You say so many words.  Elephant sounds like Nemo and ladybug.  You say "bye" to daddy every morning and you have stopped crying when I leave for work.  Everything is "dada," even I'm dada, you never say mama.

Your hair is bananas and it's so long it's in your eyes.  I never thought I'd have such a blonde, curly, cherub baby.

Books are still your fav.

You are so polite.  When someone picks you up and you don't feel comfortable, you sign "please" to get down, no fussing.

When you came to school a couple of weeks ago, for lunch, a Tangled song cane on Pandora and you looked around, so confused because you couldn't see the movie anywhere.

11.19.13    Scooted down and put your head on my shoulder to lay/relax.  You do a "show us your teeth" face and it is so cute - kind of like an old man, toothless grin.  You have 2 more teeth and 3 more coming - that's 7 (compared to 2) in only a couple of weeks!

11.20.13     You recognize what is on your clothes, our clothes and our tattoos.  Said "elephant" when you saw the super tiny elephants on your pjs tonight and "elephant" again when you saw an anteater on your fav show - Bubble Guppies.  You recognized a spider on your own and a ladybug too when they asked what it was on Bubble Guppies.  You say "car" with a little click in the back of your throat, it's so cute.

11.25.13     You said the sounds of 10 animals to us in the car.

You ate rice last night and after each, shoveled in, handful you said "mmmmmm."

You gave your grandpa, my dad, a hug when he left last night, melted my heart.  Such a brave, loving girl.

11.29.13     You say "thank you" after I give you my boob.  You said "pinecone" for the first time today.

12.1.13     You loved touching all of the veggies at the store today, hearing their names, repeating them and licking them.  You said "hi" to everyone you encountered and yelled "BYE!" when they walked away.  You are so sweet when you say "hi" to everyone in your cute, little voice.

We took you to the emergency room today for the first time.  I tried to bring you in your room to change you before nap time and you dropped down, not wanting to go, and your elbow popped out of socket - Nursemaid's elbow.  Fairly common I guess but ended up costing us around $1000 for the doctor to try 4 times to pop it back in.  You were such a good sport, even though it hurt and you were missing nap time.  You just walked around holding your arm and crying.  You hated when the doctor touched you but you sat and watched Nemo and cuddled/nursed with me and your daddy.

You really listen when I say words, you look at my lips, and then repeat them.  I love your listening face with your furled eyebrows.

Your hair is my fav.



You say animal sounds to a list of animals and I love it - cow, elephant, monkey, chicken, dog, cat, frog, duck, horse, goat, sheep, pig.  You loved the zoo yesterday and really saw the animals for the first time, I think.  Elephants are your fav.

You love looking in the video screen of my phone and seeing what is on your clothes, then you try to pull on them to look.  (Surprisingly you have a lot of clothes with elephants on them, which I know you love.)

Sometimes you stop and come sit next to me, or hug your daddy, or lean over to kiss me or grab my hand.  It's the best.

You say "down" to get out of things, even when you're already "down."  Like swimming, you really hate swimming lately and say "down" the whole time!

Eating is difficult but you always love spaghetti and mac and cheese.  You didn't eat a single thing at Thanksgiving besides  part of a roll.

12.8.13     You gave me three kisses unprompted.  I loved it.

12.9.13     You picked up my glasses today and put them on my face twice after you knew you weren't supposed to play with them.

Said "bow" today after I said it and you looked at the bows on your pajamas like you knew they were bows.

Last night we taught you how to say "one" and put up your index finger when people ask you how old you are.

We tried to get you to say or sign your name but you wouldn't.

12.10.13     You love your mama.  You love when I sing to you and sit with you.  You love when I sit on the floor and you can sit by me or on me (or nurse).

Your words are getting clearer and you say "bye bye" and "love you" and you practice your words and animal sounds while you "read" your books by yourself.  I hear you making all the noises.

Everything is "up, down" and today you took a bite of your cookie, in your hand, all by yourself.  It was the first time you broke apart a piece of food you were holding with your teeth, broke a chunk off.  I guess you just never really had teeth before!

12.14.13     You trying to touch the water coming out of the faucet (or hose) is the first thing I've seen you do that I remember doing as a kid.  It is a weird, deja vu feeling when your child does something you remember doing yourself.  Crazy.

You ask for water or milk now and you say "no" when we offer you something you don't want.  You aren't into eating anything new or different.

You throw a fit when your dad tries to change your diaper or get you dressed.  You love your mom.

You say mmmmmmm after you eat or drink something that you like, or make something pretend to give to us or eat in your pretend kitchen.  You also say it after you nurse.

You love feeding us stuff and LOVE feeding the dogs stuff.  You gave Linus a ball over and over, the other day, and cracked up the whole time.

12.16.13     You can go up and down the curb outside of our house all by yourself now.

You have tired, crying fits when your dad tries to change you or discipline you.  Toddler-ville has started and I've never heard you cry like this.

You won't eat unless the food is familiar, not even if we try to feed you.

12.20.13      You sat on your dinosaur and walked while sitting to make it roll and got on and off all by yourself today.  That was a first!

12.22.13      You tried to put my bra on today.  You said pinecone at the park after not seeing one for a month, you remembered what it was.

12.26.13     You called someone with a beard "Santa" at the mall today and said "Santa" while we were watching Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon when you saw him.

You get mad when your daddy tries to hug or cuddle me.  You snuggled me for 5 whole minutes today while I sang Mary Had a Little Lamb to you and patted your butt after you saw daddy try to cuddle me.

You said "choo, choo" when you picked up your train book and you say "bubbles" for all the bubble guppies (but you say it like a question, it's really funny).

You said "open" all day yesterday while opening presents.  You tried to do a somersault when you saw your cousin, Cyrus, do one.

12.30.13     A couple of days ago you were really cuddly.  You came up to me, on more than one occasion, just for a hug and a snuggle.

Today at yoga, while I was going into headstand, you came up and hugged me, while I was upside-down.  When I did it again you ran all the way over from across the room, squealing, so you could do it again!  You also nursed at yoga in shavasana and you loved it because I never really let you nurse in public anymore (just because you are SO squirrely, I end up flashing everyone!).  You did happy baby at yoga, after I showed you how, and you did it on your own for daddy while he was changing you when we got home.  You loved stacking the yoga blocks today, standing on them and climbing up the pillows.  You are so adventurous.

1.1.14     You went down a slide today on your own and played in the leaves for the first time.  As I was reading you a story tonight I thought that this is a little person, naming everything in this book, saying "night, night" to everyone in her room, and she isn't a baby anymore.  It was on New Years' Day, in 2014, that you grew up to me.  What a crazy realization.


So many teeth these two months (I even felt a molar on her bottom left with my finger!), a new nap routine (one nap!) and new sleeping routine (going to bed all on her own!).  SUCH a big couple of months for all of us!
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Tried to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 but had to leave early, she just wasn't into it.

We discovered that she loves running down hills.  This was the first time I had seen her run:

Thinks Ian is the funniest - putting on their "makeup" while I go to yoga:

Mall trips:

Nemo is her all time favorite, first meeting:

 

My bestie's son, Espen, and Lemon.  I cried seeing these two together, it was so fun!

Hates swimming lately.  I think she got too confident, too fast, and without as much practice (since it's winter) and we got to risky with her too.  She was doing so well on her own, scooting off the edge, monkey crawling by herself, swimming up to us if we let her go for just a second under the water.  Then, she let go one day, from the side, to play (and Ian let her stay under for just a second longer than normal) and she realized that when you're under, and no one is there, it's scary and ever since then she has cried all through swimming.  (We have, just last week, switched times, days and teachers so hopefully that will help.  We just have to make it until May without her starting to hate the water!)

Went to the Phoenix Local Festival (big waste of time and SO HOT) but got to see some cool owls and a hummingbird!

No more falling asleep on mama.  These were the last couple of times she fell asleep on me.  I do miss the snuggles but am happy that she gets some sleep now and so do we!  We figured out that we were keeping her up all those nights until WAY later than she needed to be, just by sitting with her.  Interested in trying something new?  Read this post.

Towards the end, when we all had had enough, Lemon ended up sleeping with me half of the night, in bed, with Ian on the couch.  I loved waking up with her but it was a rough sleep for both of us.

And a nursing video, because I haven't posted on in awhile:

 

The latest this girl stayed up and the end of us trying to put her to bed, right before we started sleep training (the night before Thanksgiving).  Out to dinner with friends on a cold, rainy night at 8pm!
 

Our new nighttime routine is bath, while I make dinner, then dinner, then pjs, bottle on the couch watching Bubble Guppies, stories and then bed.  We say "night, night" to everything in her room and then I kiss her and say "night, night I love you" and put her in her crib.  She goes to bed without a peep.  It's amazing.

Sometimes I even get some little rubs while we watch Bubble Guppies:

Out to dinner with my ladies, loved it!

Friday lunch visits at our school are a thing of the past with Lemon's new nap schedule (she naps at around 11:30 now), but I sure do miss seeing her!

Posing in our DJ's Handsies dress!

Morning snuggles on the weekends and before I leave for school.  My fav.

Never a dull moment trying to get ready with this girl all over me in the mornings. 

 

I love having a partner with the same schedule as me.  It makes taking care of this babe that much easier, we get to team up and watch her when the other one can't!  

 
Loving the mall . . .

And the trumpet . . .

Weekly daddy/daughter mall date while I'm at yoga.

Thanks to my mom I got to sneak away, with some friends, go to dinner and see Ian's band play!

Off to the Phoenix Flea!

Mina and Lemon

Met up with some lovely ladies who own some amazing local businesses/IG/online shops - Crew & Lu, IndieNook, Mina Loves Bows & The Triana Girls!

Just shopping!

Ian's parents wanted some family photos for Christmas so we headed to the park and captured some of our own!

Hello Apparel sweatshirts

We took Lemon to go see Frozen, she loved it, and there was snow outside!  (Real snow but not from the sky.)  Her first time playing in snow and she loved it!

Weekend hangs:

Funny sleeping positions (toddlers sleep so crazy!), I love that she rolls onto her back now!

Kids Christmas party at our friend's house:

Last days of school and so sleepy in the morning before her nap (I swear she'd go down at 9am still if we let her!).

How many pictures do I have of Lemon laying on a rock?  About a million.  I guess she's tired and thinks they are a nice place to rest!  I will have to do a post just of these, they are so funny!

Bike ride to take pictures of moccs:

Zoo trip:

Learned how to blow into the recorder and walks around playing it:

The only cold spell we had all winter:

Sitting on curb all by herself for the first time:

Home Alone and dinners outside (I can't wait for the nights to be just a bit warmer, is it Spring yet?):

Phew, that was a beast!  Sorry for all of the pics/videos but these are more for me than anyone else, I couldn't leave anything out!  I'm sure so much more happened, that I didn't write down, and I, of course, have a million more pictures and videos that I could have posted but that would have just been crazy!  These past couple of months have been a whirlwind and I can't believe I know have a year and a half old babe - where did the time go?  She is such a little person and I just can't handle it, it seems like it happened overnight!  Those teeth definitely did, and this toddler attitude of hers, but I am loving every minute.  Thanks for following along on this journey with us, it has been a blast.  Love to all of you, I'm finally done with this post!  :)