18 Month Check-Up

Anna had her 18 month check up this morning and she passed with flying colors!  Dr. Rabon said "She's perfect."  Well, yeah, I could have told you that!   For the first time in what seems like an eternity - we actually had a well visit that wasn't also a sick visit.  Can you believe it?  Yeah, me neither.

She met all her developmental milestones - vocabulary of 7-20 words, follow simple spoken tasks, ability to stack 4 blocks, walk up stairs, put 2 words together (so what if the only two words she says together is "hey baby"), kick a ball, turn a page without tearing it, identify an animal in a book

Anna has developed a very strong willed personality.  She gets very determined to do exactly what she wants to do.  And the temper...oh, the temper.  What am I going to do with that.  This is new to me because Caroline never had an angry side to her.  Whiney, yes.  But, angry?  Far from it.  And much like her sister, she retains everything that is going...she can easily do what you ask her to do, like put something in the trash or put something back to where she found it.  And she is very observant.

Stats:
Weight: 24 lbs., 4 oz. (50%)
Height: 31 in. (25-50%)
Head: 18.25 in (50%)

Milestones:

• Size 3 or 4 diapers, 12 or 18 month shorts, 18 month tops (to cover her big belly), size 4 or 5 shoes
• 12 teeth and one canine tooth coming in right now
• Learing Zoophonics at school - knows sounds and gestures for A-Z
• Can sign: more, milk, eat, all done, night-night, please, raisin, cereal, thank you
• Runs everywhere!
• In the Toddler 1 room at school

Words She Can Say (still not much of a talker)

mommy, daddy, Caroline, bath, bye, baby, banana, milk, please, night-night, hey baby, shoes, sock, yes, lamby, mine, dog, bird, pretty, hot, eat, Lindsay, nose

Things Anna Likes:

• MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC - this girl LOVES music
• Dancing
• Her lovey, Lamby (or "mi-mi" as she calls it)
• Doc McStuffins
• The Bitty Baby high chair - she pushes it from one end of the kitchen to the next over and over and over again
• FOOD!  Specifically: bananas, spaghetti, mac & cheese, Nutrigrain bars, milk, cheetos, squeezable fruit packs, cantaloupe, watermelon, Townhouse crackers, raisins
• Did I say music?
• Phones and pretending to talk on one
• Books
• Bathtime
• Making sure all the cabinet doors and drawers are shut

Things Anna Dislikes:

• Wearing a hairbow (TORTURE, for me!!!
• Getting her fingernails clipped
• Naps, apparently
• Being told "no" - she has sensitive feelings

Sweet, Sweet Summertime

A couple of weeks ago, we had the Martins over for a cookout...and what summertime cookout wouldn't be complete without some delicious watermelon for dessert!  Ok, so the kids had watermelon, the adults had apple pie & ice cream.  YUM!  

The kids, as usual, had so much fun playing together that evening while the adults enjoyed some fruity drinks, mini-beers (did you know you can buy 8 oz. cans of beer?  Yeah, me neither until I did on accident) and each others company.  

This was also the week that Lindsay & Oliver came to stay with us.  Caroline & Lindsay are BFFs for sure and I'm so happy for that.  

This little girl right here could put back some watermelon now.  The bottom right picture cracks me up - it looks like she's holding a chicken leg.  

A Day At the Beach

Yes, you're at the right place.  And you did read that correctly!  I went to the beach!  It's not some big state secret that I hate the beach.  The sand.  The dirty water.  The sand that sticks to you because you've been in the dirty water.  But, yesterday I felt the need to have some one-on-one time with Caroline and I knew she'd enjoy the beach.  So, off we went!

And you know what - I didn't hate it.  We had a BLAST.  Caroline is always so sweet when it's just me & her.  Not that she's not sweet otherwise.  But, I'm sure you moms out there can agree that spending some alone time with each of your children does wonders for their temperament.  Things probably would have been different if Anna as there, too.  She's just too wide open - I think I would have stressed myself out if she was there.

We had a great time.  We built heart-shaped sand castles.  We jumped in the waves. We drew our names in the sand.  We took a walk.  We ate chips.  And we swam at the indoor pool at Carolina Winds.  We really couldn't have had a better time.

I probably was the absolute palest person out there.  I know I was out of all the people around us.  I'm sure my snow white legs burnt their retinas.  But, hey, my skin will be as smooth as a baby's bottom when I'm 60, right?

She said "Here, take a picture of me doing like this with the bag of chips."  HA!

There was a little hill of sand behind us and Caroline scooted all the way down it like a slide to the water.  I had to laugh at the hiney-path.  It's a tiny hiney!

Yes, we did leave Daddy at home on Father's Day - but he got some one-on-one time with Anna and I think that's a fair trade off.  But, we sent him messages written in sand along the way, though!

I hope to do this many more times this summer.  Caroline and I both benefited greatly with our alone time.  Not to mention, if I keep this up, I may not be the brightest, whitest person on the beach in a few months!