Abbie at 18 Months

It's hard to believe my baby girl is 18 months old now. She's such a delight to our family with her silly faces, big smiles, and developing personality. I'm often amazed at how different she is from Toby; her feminity is coming out in so many ways.

Abbie at 18 months

 Abbie is wearing 12 month shorts (she's a skinny little thing!), 18 or 24 month dresses and shirts, and size L diapers. Her size 4 shoes are really too small for her, but she loves them so much, I haven't had the heart to put them away yet. Her hair is dark blonde with a reddish tint in some lights. It's very fine and curls up at the ends. It's long enough now that I can put it in a ponytail, although it doesn't take long for her to pull it out. :)

Cute little ponytail

She loves pink, her blanket and pacifier, books, her "Favorite Children's Songs" DVD, animals, papaya, cookies, muffins (breads of any kind, actually), rice, my camera, my cell phone, her flower sandals, playing outside, helping Mama bake, looking at pictures on the computer, imitating Toby, and drinking out of a "big girl cup".

3 of Abbie's favorite things: her pacifier, her blanket, and books

Abbie is all girl! She loves shoes, hats, necklaces, and sunglasses. She has a definite favorite dress and nightgown (both pink). She started out this morning wearing a red shirt and jean shorts, but I wanted to change her into a dress because 1) she's so skinny that her shorts fall down unless she's wearing a cloth diaper, and 2) we were going up to the school, so I wanted her to wear a pamper while we were out. I took her to her closet, and she searched through her dresses at least 5 times, looking for her favorite dress (which happened to be in the laundry). Seriously! Since she couldn't find it, she was heartbroken at the idea of having to change out of the outfit she was wearing. I ended up pinning her shorts so they wouldn't fall down. I did NOT expect clothes to be an issue this early! To her credit, she (almost always) happily wears whatever clothes I pick out for her; it's just on the rare occasions when I let her pick out her clothes that she gets so particular. I can't really blame her for that....

Her favorite dress

On the not-so-pleasant side of this age, we often find ourselves in a battle of wills with our sweet little girl. She knows what she wants and has a hard time giving up. She can also throw a masterful fit when the occasion arises. We have finally gotten to the point where the threatening sight of the "spanking tool" often convinces her to obey. I have to be really consistent with expecting obedience from her because she pushes the line as far as she can.

She's slowly adding words to her vocabulary. She communicates a LOT through signing, grunting, and pointing, so I'm often surprised at how few words she really says. Her signs: milk, eat, more, help, no, drink, all done, hat. She also does lots of sound effects: dog, cat, horse, cow, car, turkey, duck, lion/tiger. Words (in rough chronological order): papa, bah (referring to our house helper), enak (yummy in the local language), mama, yah (yes), wa-wa (water), please, cheese, ball, and most recently, kakak (meaning older brother; Toby referred to himself in this way for a long time).

Signing "All done!"

Other fun things about Abbie:

• When Abbie gets really excited about something, like when Papa made a swinging boat for them out of blankets, she yells eeYEAH! eeYEAAAHH! eeYEAAAHH!
• She laughs and laughs when Mama jumps out from behind the wall and startles her.
• She loves it when we chase after her and say, "I'm gonna get ya'!" Even funnier, she runs away for a while, but then--as if she can't stand the suspense--she turns and runs straight at whoever is chasing her.
• She loves to ride on the back of Toby's bike and is learning to "hold on tight". :)
• She has this funny trick of rolling her eyes up as far as she can when she's holding out on obeying. She knows I can't help but laugh when she does it, even though it doesn't get her out of whatever she's supposed to do. 
• She has just learned that she can stick her leg up all the way to the top of her pack and play, hook her foot over the top, and climb out. Scary! Guess it's about time to move her to a toddler bed....
• She loves her bedtime stories with Papa and cuddle time with Mama.
• Favorite songs/nursery rhymes: Pop Goes the Weasel, The Wheels on the Bus, Jesus Made the Rainbow, Pat-a-Cake, Yankee Doodle
  

  

  Riding the bike around the yard

My happy girl, never staying in one place for long, especially if the camera comes out :)