18 month snapshot

Happy belated half birthday to our girl! Juliet turned 18 months on January 21. Our baby is a fully fledged toddler in both motor and language skills. She's a running, climbing, jumping bean with a vocab of over 100 words! She still has the attention span of a fruit fly with approximately 0% interest in conventional toys, but we now that we area bit more settled we are figuring out some things that keep her entertained and happy. Let's dive in!

Stats: Funny story. At her well check I was expecting Juliet to fall somewhere around 34.5 inches tall which would keep her on the 97% trajectory. When they laid her down and measured her she clocked in at 36 inches. Which is like 2 standard deviations off the chart. 

The doctor didn't believe it and quickly remeasured her standing up using a tape measure. It still came out around 36 inches but she said the bow was probably throwing off the measurement so she 'shrunk' her 1.5 inches and put her at 34.5. Very scientific. I'm gonna call it 35 inches which is 99%. Her weight was 27.8ish pounds which is 95% and her head circumference was 75%. She's a VERY big girl and I've got the backache to prove it! 

For comparison, at this age Forest was 34.5 inches and 26.5 lbs, so pretty close in size except his head was only 37%.  

She's wearing 2T clothes and could probably move into 3T in certain brands (why is Cat&Jack so small???). She's wearing size 7 shoes but I think could switch to size 8s soon. 

Teeth: Still holding strong at 16 teeth but she's showing signs that the 2 year molars are on the way. I remember having some false starts with these when Forest was the same age so I don't expect her to cut them for another few weeks or so. 

Schedule: Sleep issues have been like a game of whack a mole recently. A few weeks ago we were having obnoxiously early wakes where she'd get up at 4:30 and just cry off and on until her stubborn parents would finally get her up at 6 am, at which point she would promptly fall asleep in our arms for an hour. Now we've gotten that sorted out and she's sleeping better than ever at night (don't get too excited- 'better than ever' means sleeping 7:30-6:30 vs 7:30-5:30 but I will take it!) but her marathon naps are now only averaging 2 hours with many 1-1.5 hour days sprinkled in. She used to be a 2.5-3 hour nap kind of girl. 

Forest NEVER regularly napped more than 1 hour and 10 minutes so it still feels like a good nap to me! It's just when other people smugly brag about their babies that sleep 13 hours at night and take a 3 hour nap that I'm like 'really?!?!'. 

It's just like she's suddenly become a very light sleeper or something. Something wakes her up nearly every day- whether that's Forest not obeying my commands to slink around the house like a ninja during naptime or the neighbor using their leaf blower. I'm hoping it's a phase because the girl slept fairly well through mooooonths of construction in Bangkok. 

Forest is the lightest sleeper ever and it made things really tough as a baby/toddler, esp since naptime is the time I need to get things done like cleaning/calls/exercise. We had planned to get a peloton to put in my office but my office is directly above her room and has very creaky floors so we know that's not gonna work since I'd exclusively be using it in the early mornings or naptime. Anyhoo- average schedule is as follows:

6:30- wake

7- breakfast

8-8:30- school drop off, followed by errands, chores, trips to the park

11- lunch

12-2 nap

3-3:30 school pick up followed by snack and outside time

5:30- dinner

7- bath, bedtime snack and books

7:30- bedtime

Feedings: Juliet's appetite fluctuates so much but we are in the pickiest phase we've faced so far. She's suddenly turning up her nose at foods that used to be her favorites and the veggies she will eat are down to sweet potatoes, carrots and cucumbers. She will not be convinced to try a bite if she doesn't want it. I think it must be teething related bc she's gravitating towards purees as well. 

Her favorites are chicken, clementines, watermelon, tortellini, string cheese, hot dogs, scrambled eggs, sweet potato/black bean. That's about it! 

We do a lot of chicken dishes bc she will eat anything chicken! She's still top of the charts as far as size and weight go so I just try to trust her appetite and keep offering a healthy variety of choices. Her doctor said not to worry about her being too heavy because 'once they become more active they tend to slim down.' Um, have you met Juliet? Home girl literally hasn't stopped moving in 9 months and her cheeks are as chubby as ever. 

Favorite Book: This changes frequently, but when she has a favorite, she usually only wants to read that book over and over again. Right now it's Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton and We're Going on a Bear Hunt. She also LOVES her Hello magazine subscription (thanks Aunt Beth!). She's getting better at sitting through 2-3 board books in a row which is a big breakthrough. 

Favorite toy:   Juliet is still not very interested in toys. We've tried various types of toys and she might play with something for a minute or two but nothing holds her attention for very long. I'd say her favorite things are accessories and clothes, and she'll spend a good bit of time putting on and taking off clothes (she can put on shirts and shoes by herself), and putting on jewelry/hats/purses. 

This pack of ponytail holder/bracelets was the biggest hit on the plane. Thank you Aunt Alexis for the genius gift! 

She's very much a gross motor girl and is a very skilled playground goer. She loves to go for walks and be outside. Her favorite toys are her push lawn mower, balance bike and Cozy Coupe- so yea-gross motor/outside toys. 

She does love her ring stacker toy and she has this piggy bank toy where you put the coins in and she'll play with that a few times before losing interest. 

Words: I keep a running list of new words Juliet says and right now we are just over 120 and she's adding more all the time.  She isn't great with enunciation and she has a handful that are made-up approximations that she consistently uses  (she exclusively calls her Paci her 'bop' and Forest 'brubba' to the point where that's what we call them as well.) She is starting to put 2 words together more but I'm surprised with her big vocabulary that this hasn't take off more. Language-wise, she reminds me a lot of Forest at this age, though she has a lot more words comparatively. Some days I'll add as many as 10 words to her list! 

New skills: She's mastered hopping and can jump from a step down. She's galloping a lot and runs with her knees up now. She's super strong and a whiz with gross motor stuff. She loves to move her body and does it constantly! 

I had expectations that girls were less energetic than boys but that hasn't been the case in our house. She is busy! She's mastered her pop up surprise toy and loves anything with a buckle so that she can buckle and unbuckle it several times. She knows how to take all her clothes off and can put on her shirt and shoes. She still puts pants on her head like a hat though! 

Other favorites: Moana. Girl loves Moana and asks for it every morning. 

Morning Moana with brubba. 

She had no interest in TV before about 17 months so this is a big development! She also likes this show called Toddler Talk on youtube that's a speech therapy type of show. She's learned so much and has gained a lot of confidence by watching it and it has allowed me enough time to cook dinner or unload the dishwasher without her attached to my hip which is amazing! 

General observations: She continues to be quite fussy. We joke that she has reverse colic. Forest was such a hard baby but such a happy toddler. Juliet was an angel baby but a tough toddler. She just whines A LOT. She hates the car, stroller, shopping cart, high chair, etc. Anytime she has to be confined she is just fussing the whole time which has made running errands really stressful. 

She definitely doesn't like the fact that she can't immediately eat all the snacks she sees at Target. 

She's high energy but also quite extroverted so I think she probably doesn't have that internal thought life that F had from an early age that made him content to ride in a car or shopping cart just observing his surroundings. We'll see! As her vocabulary grows the fussing and the tantrums decrease so I just keep chatting her up all day in hopes that it helps get her there sooner! I definitely feel like we are entering an easier phase (knock on wood!). But she is still the boss baby and way more strong willed that her big brother ever was! 

Happy half birthday baby girl. I so enjoy watching you find your voice and I even enjoy watching you use it so fiercely. I try to reframe all the traits that are hard to parent as 'these attributes will serve you well in life.' You certainly have strong opinions and will not be easily swayed or distracted. You are hilarious and smart and your love for your brother brightens my world. You have the most kissable cheeks and the brightest blue eyes. Your resting grump face is a bit much but your radiant smile lights up a room. 

The face she makes when I ask her to smile...