Ellie at 18 months

I'll be the first to admit that I'm terrible at keeping up with baby books, photo albums, and scrapbooks. I've almost completed her baby book for her first year, but time has a way of getting away on a person. So, here are a few things about our sweet Ellie at 18 months old that I hope to one day write down in her keepsake book. For now, I'll just blog it while it's on my mind.

Ellie at 18 months

Weight: almost 23 pounds
Height: about 33 inches long
Eyes: They have turned less blue and are more of a grey/green/blue right now. Not too sure what colour they are right now!

Favourite Security Object: Gerry the Giraffe and a plush flower blanket from G. Grandma K.
Favourite Colour: yellow (when we ask, "what colour is ___), the answer is always "yellow!")
Favourite Games: hide and seek, running, "stop and go", spinning, cramming inoto small spaces, doing anything Mommy or Daddy is doing (stirring, hammering, wiping tables, sweeping, unloading the dishwasher, etc.)
Favourite Foods: toast, creamy and cheesy pasta, milk, sweet potato fries, pineapple, oranges, cheeseburgers, and of course "choc-it" and "cookies". You were an extremely picky eater for awhile and would only eat grilled cheese and mac n' cheese for a long time. Mommy and Daddy were more stubborn (most days) than you, though, so you finally learned to expand your palate a little bit and are eating much better. There is still room for improvement :-)
Least Favourite Foods: mashed potatoes, peas, corn
Favourite Bedtime Book: Thankful Together
Favourite Phrases: "Pooh Coo", "See you later"
Favourite Chores: helping unload and load the dishwasher, cleaning up toys, helping with the laundry, stirring things in the kitchen

Sweet Ellie, at 18 months old, your vocabulary is exploding! You are learning things every day, and we are often amazed at what you pick up. For example, today Grandma brought over an ABCs and counting poster. After we counted to 10 a few times, you were suddenly filling in the numbers; we would say 1, you would say 2, we would say 3, you would say 4. I could hardly believe it! You understand so much and are getting to be a very good helper :-). Some of the ways you help Mommy are by unloading & loading the dishwasher (with help, of course), load and unload the laundry, bringing your clean laundry to your room, helping me in the kitchen by stirring and "pouring", cleaning up your toys, and dusting the tables with your own cloth. Mommy and Daddy are trying hard right now to teach you to obey and not throw temper tantrums. We are also trying to train you to sit still for awhile, so that you can sit better in church. Right now you are practicing this at home and also practicing "blanket time", playing on a special blanket with your toys for 20 minutes. You are climbing on everything! Once when Mommy wasn't looking, you were suddenly standing on top of the kitchen table! You climb up on the piano stool all by yourself to play the piano. You can climb into your high chair and pooh chair all by yourself. Nothing is out of your reach! We are very surprised you have not tried climbing out of your crib yet. Pretty soon we want to try potty training again and maybe switch you to a toddler bed. You tried potty training a few months ago, but gave up after awhile. Lately you've been taking your potty out and sitting on it again, so Mommy thinks it's time to give it a go again. You love music and often ask me to turn on a cd by pointing to the cd player and asking, "push?". You even sing along to your lullaby cd and sing certain words at the right time; that's how well you know the songs. Lately, you've really been enjoying colouring on paper and often ask me if you can "colour? colour?" You really do not like going to the doctor and scream the entire time the doctor examines you. I can't really blame you - you've been poked and prodded far more than most year-and-a-half year olds!

At just over 18 months old, you have an about a 200 word vocabulary. Here are more of your commonly used words and phrases (in addition to your earlier words listed here at 15 months.) For the most part, you regularly use and also understand what these words/phrases mean*

63) is it?
64) there it is!
65) love you!
66) glasses
67) coming!
68) blessing (from her lullaby cd, she learned this one)
69) rocking
70) shirt
71) socks
72) pants
73)slippers
74) sorry
75) water
76) hungry
77) thirsty
78) ketchup
79) yogurt
80) carrots
81) tower
82) empty
83) kick it
84) Gerry (her stuffed giraffe that she is very much attached to)
85) tasty
86) stand up
87) sit down
88) sweep
89) cloth (coff)
90) teeth
91) close it
92) orange
93) brush
94) teeth
95) wash
96) bounce
97) stop
98) freeze ("feeze")
99) go
100) cold
101) ready
102) dolly
103) "night night"
104) "side" (for outside)
105) snow
106) Sierra (her cousin)
107) phone
108) hair
109) open
110) close
111) auntie
112) yes
113) fruit (often "frook")
114) boots
115) shoes
116) bib
117) walk
118) run
119) dizzy
120) hamburger
121) cheese
122) dance
123) pooh coo (her favourite phrase BY FAR right now!) - from a Winnie the Pooh Book. She says it all the time
124) "ann-nan-na" (this is how she refers to herself!)
125) "num num"
126) dog
127) kitty
128) helper
129) fries
130) see you later
131) juice
132) monkey
133) coffee (used to be "caw caw" but now is more closely resembles coffee)
134) chocolate ("choc-it")
135) sweet
136) Bible
137) breakfast
138) supper
139) blocks
140) morning
141) taco
142) colour
143) pretty good
144) mittens
145) jacket
146) watch
147) necklace
148) tickle
149) thanks
150) beep beep
151) honk honk
152) hug
153) high five
154) two
155) diaper
156) knock knock
157) tweet tweet
158) bonkers
159) silly
160) cockadoodledoo
161) oh NO!
162) thank you (" tank you")
163) birdie
164) touque (tooky)
165) meow (mau mau)
166) whoa
167) morning
168) grandma (gwah-ma)
169) tummy
170) ouch
171) keys
172) truck
173) horse
174) nay (horse sound)
175) fish
176) house
177) table
178) chair
179) banana ("banan")
180) head
181) "poke it!" (especially with regards to punching down bread dough. LOL)
182) "tip it" (with regard to drinking out of a sippy cup)
183) bread ("bed")
184) toast
185) tv
186) story
187) "at-choo!" (when someone sneezes, she says this. Even in church. LOL)
188) zip it
189) toes
190) buttons

What a blessing you are, little girl! How we pray you might come to a saving faith at an early age. We love you, little Ellie!