18 months!

My pretty little lady turned 18 mos recently and since she is changing and growing at a CRAZY pace, I just have to post another update.

Weight - 29.5 lbs (with shoes)
Height - 32.5 inches (with shoes)

Loves: giving hugs and kisses (even to strangers and especially to dogs/cats/other kids! this does not always go over well, since I guess most kids don't like hugs from other kids?!), minnie mouse and all her clubhouse friends!, prayer before meals (she even reminds us sometimes to bow our heads and hold hands, then say 'm-amen'!), playing dress up, playing pretend with her cookware, ice,  spinning around and around quickly until she gets dizzy and stumbles around (very strange), dancing, singing (makes up her own songs all the time- just like Aunt Katie!), loves singing 'row, row, row your boat' with the hand motions and after each verse she says 'faster' to sing it again faster!, clapping, laughing!, going on walks (NOT in the stroller - disaster!), collects things on our walks like sticks and 'reaves' (=leaves), loves climbing chairs, tables, couches, stairs, play equipment - anything!, is very independent - will only hold my hand if she needs it to go up and down stairs or to cross the street, looooves other children and ALL animals, says 'cheese' for pictures -- it works to get a great smile!!!, STILL loves to eat sand, dirt, crayons, play doh- you name it!  grrr, likes to say 'no', which is sometimes ok and sometimes not and I am helping her to figure that out...., loves bath time and brushing her teeth (probably b/c she likes the taste of her Tom's strawberry flavored toothpaste!), loves to talk all the time.nonstop, she is go go go and full of energy!  I can hardly keep up!

She also loooooves to sit under blankets on the couch together - just the two of us in the dark.  It's like our own little tent.  Sometimes, she even whispers - it's so cute!  She will curl up in my lap (which doesn't happen often) and ask me to sing "up above" = 'twinkle twinkle' or we'll sing edelweiss (a personal fav I used to sing her in the womb) and just be together-- very special time for us!

When Georgia turned 15 months and we had a check up, I talked to the pediatrician about Georgia's language skills, because I was slightly concerned.  She was saying the same few words she had been saying since she turned a year.  She was able to mimic many sounds, but refused to try to repeat words I was saying with her.  The doctor said she was right in the normal range and that once her vocab started going, it would explode--- Boy, was she right!!!

Since then, Georgia has learned a new word nearly every day and LOVES to repeat it back to me and point the new objects out as she calls them by name-- she is VERY proud of herself and it thrills her to no end!  I think she already seems to have a true love of learning and I pray that continues in the future!

I am going to bullet point out a lot of the words she knows so I have it for my records!  I am starting to realize what a horrible memory I have and how much this blog means to me!!!!

This is the list of words she can SAY and recognize.  She's, obviously much better at recognizing pictures than being able to say everything.  Oftentimes, we practice both ways with different objects, puzzles, and picture books she has.  For example, I may point to a page in her book full of 18 different objects and say, 'Where's the strawberry?"  "Where're the fork and spoon"  "Where is the tree?"  OR  I may point to a picture of the sky and say 'What is this?" and she'll say "Sky" or "Clouds"  See?  haha.  Not rocket science.

But, using each method, she is learning!

List of words she can SAY, though not exhaustive cause I can't list it all!:
-Shapes - heart, circle (sounds like 'kercle'), square, triangle, oval, star (she has a shapes puzzle she can complete all on her own!)

-Names - mama, mommy, mom (this one's hilarious when she calls me 'mom'), dada, daddy, and since my parents and siblings were up here for a few days, she learned marmee, granddad (sounds like 'g-dad'), bill (her uncle-- sounds like 'bull'), katie (her aunt), vavery (her cousin, Avery) - she can even recognize my family over facetime and skype and in pictures!  mamy (her friend, Amy), mimmie (minnie mouse), donald, daisy, pluto, pete (her favorite after minnie!  She giggles non stop when he comes on the screen), baby, Georgia, Jesus (last, but not least!) 

-Food - cookie, cheese, cracker, milk, juice, apple, popcorn (sounds like "popca"), bib, ice (she's obsessed with eating ice!)

-Hot/cold - she knows when something is hot-- like food (we blow on it to cool it off) and the swings and playground when it's out in the sun.  She walks up and pats it saying 'hot' 'hot' to test if it's too hot for her to climb.  she also knows when something is cold - such as ice or the fridgerator.  It's amazing how little minds work and process things!!!

-Animals - she knows a lot of the normal ones like dog, cow, horse, pig but here are some random ones she's picked up - dino (dinosaur), rooster, owl, bear, turtle, geese, still can't say 'cat' though!  frustrating! can also say 'animals'

-Manners - says 'more' when she is out of milk/water, 'gone gone' when she is all finished or the food is gone, pees - means please, 'tan tu'= thank you, loves to say 'hiiii' to everyone we pass during our errands to the store - often catches people offguard, but it's a great conversation starter!  says up and down

-Phrases - "Dada shoes", "Mama shoes", Hi Dada

-Clothes - scarf (loves to play with scarves and belts!), hat, shoes, 'clock' means watch, glasses (so cute when she says this!), biper (diaper), tocks (socks)

-Body parts - (can say and point out) - hair, knee, elbow, arm, toes, belly button, eye, ear, nose (gives her some trouble to find), mouth, teeth, eye brow - she loves pointing out people's toes!

wee (swing), car, truck, train (choo choo), airplane, bubbles 

Swing and Minnie are the two things she asks for nonstop throughout the day.  They are her current obsessions and sometimes it drives me BANANAS!!!! 

She is stubborn and strong willed.  Some days she gets the better of me and I get discouraged.  But, God's mercies are new every morning -- GK and I are BOTH thankful for that!
                             
ps sorry for the heinous grammatical errors throughout-- I am tired...and lazy.  :)