How Old: Eighteen Months
Weight: 21 pounds 14 ounces (20th percentile)
Length: 31.5 inches (45th percentile)
Head:18.5 inches (70th percentile)
Dr. Update: Dr. Donna said Emersyn was growing beautifully and could tell she was ahead developmentally. She was such a big girl letting the doctor check her without getting upset. She even gave the doctor a hug and a kiss before leaving. We discussed the next steps for her port wine stain around her left eye, and she suggested we revisit her doctor in Charleston this winter again to probably begin laser treatments. We have to wait until winter when she does not have a tan because the laser treatment is most successful this way. The port wine stain is growing as she grows and has not gotten any lighter. We are still praying for complete healing and that it would disappear, but if that is not in God's plan, we are praying that he would lead us to the right doctors in the right time.
Teeth: 13 that are in but I can see the buds of more eye teeth. She has been gnawing on her fingers for several weeks!
Clothes: She is in mostly 18 month clothes unless it snaps in the stride, then she needs 24 months. I have been buying mostly 24 month clothes for the summer. She is wearing a 6 in shoes and size 4 or 5 diapers.
Sleep: We have entered back into sleep heaven this month!! Yay!! We had two very rough months of naps (mostly due to having croup and then roseola). She sleeps anywhere from 11-12 hours at night without waking and her naps are usually two and a half hours on average, some days a little more some a little less. We had done "cry it out" for middle of the night wakings back when she was 11 months old and she has been sleeping through the night great since then (minus during sickness), but I was still rocking her to sleep for naps and bedtime. This past month, I decided to bite the bullet and sleep train for nap time since she had struggled with it so much after I let her sleep on me a week for naps when she had Roseola. So now, I sing her three short songs while rocking her, but lay her down awake for naps and bedtime. It was hard for about 3 days listening to her cry and one day she didn't cry but instead played for 2 hours in her crib with no nap. After about a week of adjusting to the transition, she was good to go. It typically takes her no longer than 10-15 minutes to fall asleep on her own. And she no longer cries when I put her down :) YAY!!! Nothing worse than leaving a baby crying :( YES, I spent many days during that week glued to the monitor praying for her to settle as my heart was breaking. BUT, we made it!!
Food: This past month, her favorite foods have been any fruits (especially raspberries and blackberries), pastas, avocado, spaghetti, oatmeal with cinnamon, CHEESES, her daddy's grilled pork chops, any nuts or peanut butter, and she is my child because she will attack chocolate...
Here is her schedule give or take 30 minutes.
7:00 Wake/Milk
8:00 Breakfast
9:30 Snack
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Nap
3:00 Snack
5:30 Dinner
7:30 Bath/Stories/Bedtime
Emersyn's Highlights:
- Her language is continuing take off. She can say many words and will attempt to say anything we ask her to.
- She enjoys helping me with chores each morning! She will bring me the pillows to help me make the bed, she loves taking the spoons and forks out of the dishwasher to help me unload it, and she knows which clothes basket belongs to each person in our family. She will take all of our clothes and sort them in the correct hamper. She is great about putting things back where they belong and is VERY particular if they are not in their correct spot.
- At bath time, she runs with her little legs as fast as she can to the bathroom to get out her towel and wash cloth by herself. She is an independent little girl :)
- She got her first true "boo boo" on her knee one day when we were walking into the library. She is now obsessed with her "boo boo" and wants to rub Aquaphor on it each night before bed! Thankfully it didn't bleed enough to need a band-aid so we haven't begun the band-aid obsession yet... I got my dose of that when I taught first graders!!
- She is learning how to "call" for mama and daddy across the house. She especially loves to call for her daddy "Daaaaaa Daaaaaaa" in a high pitch loud voice. Haha! We went to Costco one day with her Mimi and Mimi was on a different aisle from us, so Emersyn decided to yell as loud as she could across the store "Miiiii Miiiii." Of course Mimi came running so she got what she wanted :)
- She is very good about saying "please" and "thank-you" as well as greeting and saying good bye to her family and friends with hugs and kisses. Her little kisses will melt your heart!! Especially when she grabs your face and turns it to the side so she can give you a sweet kiss on the cheek.
- Speaking of kissing... it has been reported by the church nursery workers that she enjoys kissing a little boy in there. Her Pappy had a talk with her right after church lol!
- We are working on how to love and not hit. If she gets really frustrated or is not getting her way, she will sometimes hit. Hopefully this will pass soon :) We redirect, correct, praise good choices, and have used time out.
- She transitioned to a new car seat this month!! It was a little sad for this mama because it was one more reminder of how my baby is growing up. She loves her new seat and likes to help us buckle her in it.
Emersyn Loves: Playing outside, her new pool on the back porch, going to the garden with daddy to check their plants, looking for birds outside while eating breakfast each morning, playing with her friends and cousins, to "go" (she loves car rides because it usually means she gets to go somewhere special or is about to see her family or friends), her blankie and paci, baby dolls, blocks, music, helping her mommy and daddy, reading books, loving on others, shoes, and routine
Emersyn Dislikes: Dirt or crumbs sticking to the bottom of her feet (she will sit down on the floor and brush off the bottom of her feet), having her mouth wiped after a meal, things out of place, sitting in my lap/being still at library time... she's on the go!
Emersyn is Learning to: communicate using many words, organize/sort, use blocks correctly, help with buckling her car seat, role play, engage in toys or books for longer periods of time
Pictures from the day she turned 18 months old!!
Loving the cheese grin!!
Daniel and I took her to Runway Cafe in Greenville for her year and a half celebration!! They have a super nice playground, cafe, and you can watch airplanes take off from there. She was a little scared of the noise when the first airplane took off, but after watching it go up in the sky she kept saying "more, more, more."
The day after she turned 18 months, she had her doctor check up.
These are more pictures from the last month!!
Emersyn and her daddy planted a garden and she loves going out most every day to check on the progress.
She can do P90x better than we can!!
Sliding down head first... daredevil!
Peanut butter jelly time!
Saying "cheese" for her daddy
About to meet her friend Lilly at Strawberry Hill for breakfast
Sampling some berries
Rocking with Lilly
Helping daddy put potatoes in the ground
I'm off to the grocery store mom, "back." Anytime I ask her where she is going in her car she will either tell me grocery or church and then she will say "back," meaning I'll be right back.
Enjoying spaghetti on the back porch.
She was so tired she decided to lay on the toilet!!
One day we caught her up in the rocking chair with her baby. She had climbed up by herself to rock her baby :)
Sitting with daddy waiting on mommy to finish getting ready before church.
Checking out the garden
Back in the garden...
Wiping the bottom of her feet off. She does not like when things stick to the bottom of her feet.
Taking over Papa's chair
