Before I Forget

Ok, so no pictures with this post. Sorry, but I haven't had a steady computer since October, and therefore no pictures have been organized or downloaded from my camera properly, if at all. And a warning, this is long...

So, Julia is a little more than 18 months now. She is talking up a storm and still loves all of her books. She says things like broccoli, please, thank you, bless you (unprompted after a sneeze, I might add), lay down, come here, tomato, oil, butter, breakfast, teaching, jacket, slippers, shoes, bye bye, baby nap, kick the ball, and lots of other stuff. She knows who almost all of her extended family members are, can pick them out in pictures, and say their names (even the newest Baby Lyla). She will look at books by herself and loves for anyone to read to her.

She loves to sing too. She knows quite a bit of "Twinkle" (Twinkle, Little Star,) "Daisy," "Bimbo," (The Wheels on the) "Bus," and "A, B, C." She even started singing "Happy Birthday" Sunday night to my brother Tommy on her own, we think. This one is bit more perplexing though, you see, we don't normally sing Happy Birthday to her and that night she started singing to herself during dinner, well before the cake, and she wouldn't sing it when everyone else was, but it sure sounded like Happy Birthday.

She knows her belly button, elbow, knees, chin, neck, belly, fingers, etc. She likes to "tickle" people's feet. She likes for you to "tickle" her feet. She isn't really ticklish on her feet though. She is ticklish near her armpits (like below her collar bone, but to the side).

She is such a good helper. She loves to help us cook. She now gets up on a step stool and helps out as much as we will let her. She knows where and what the forks, bowls, plates, spices, oil, vinegar, butter, and other pantry items are. She helps set (by means of carrying the non-breakable parts to) the table for dinner. She loves her play kitchen and ALL of the food accessories that she got for Christmas. She is always walking around with her "food" in her bowls or frying pan.

She still loves her baths. She is now, as of the last two baths, back into having a lot of the tub toys in with her. After she started to enjoy all of her tub toys, she went on rubber duckies only kick for a while, then went to the bucket only kick, then to the bucket and other dumping/pouring toys, then bucket and rubber duckies, and now all toys. She will take showers, with me, if the handheld sprayer is lowered to her level and she can stay next to, and not under, the water. She then only plays with her bucket, but this is not, by any means, her choice.

She can also stand to have her diaper changed in a public rest room when we are out, but only if I make it happen a quick as possible. She is still unsure of the raised, hanging off of the wall, changing tables, but is not vocal about it right now. (Since about 12 months, I would say.)

Julia was not into opening presents for Christmas. She did, however, enjoy the process of watching me wrap them. She wanted to help cut the paper and put the tape, bow, and name tag on each one and put it under the tree all by herself. She then wanted to move them all to the other side of the tree and back. She enjoys moving whole lot of (insert group of objects here) from A (example, in a box) to B (example, onto the couch) and back.

She is growing steadily now, not that I have good measurements to give you. I believe she is near 22 pounds and is roughly two to three inches taller than the freezer compartment on our refrigerator (at 15 months I could still open the frig and miss her head, but now she has to move out of the way). She doesn't mind and she knows where the green beans are kept in the freezer.

She knows where things belong. She will put things away, for the most part. When she is getting tired, it is a struggle. But otherwise she will put things "back" for you if you take to long to do it. If she sees anything she knows as trash she will immediately take it to the trash. She puts her dirty clothes in the hamper. She (tries to) puts her books back on the shelves.

She loves to visit with Maw Maw just so she can have some M&M's. (She also goes downstairs to just visit too.) She likes playing with her cousins and any dog that will play with her. She doesn't do a slow walk, but more of a fast bouncing when she moves around, but it is not quite a full force running. She is generally always happy.

We have switched her to one nap a day, generally from 12 to 2-ish (sometimes a little later). I think it's been that way for a few weeks now. We did that because her afternoon naps were becoming evening naps.

Last bits of randomness: She loves (Curious) George. She can even say "Love You" now. Her R canine tooth came in maybe a month or month and a half ago. Her M canine tooth has finally broken through the last week, although it has been there for a while. That's it for now. Hopefully a few pictures in the next couple of weeks.