18 Months

Anastyn with her friend Hannah, and Hannah's mom, on her 18 month birthday.

Anastyn turned 18 months old this month! Quickly, her stats at her check-up were 19.5 lbs (2%) and 30 inches (I will have to look up that percent). She seems to be right where she needs to be as far as milestones go. Still small, but I think she is just going to make her own little curve on the graph. She has 12 teeth and loves to have her teeth brushed with the little finger brush. She also has been using her potty some. She has gone #2 about 3 times in her potty, but she doesn't like to pee in it. She has only gotten a few drops in there. She loves to sit on it and read her potty book though, so hopefully we can crack down soon and really work on training her.

~She LOVES our shoes!!! ANY SHOES. She is constantly trying to take the shoes off of our feet so she can put them on her feet. Or she will get them out of our closets. She also likes to put on our socks, which I need a picture of because it looks hilarious. She loves her books more and more now. She finally sits still long enough to get through the stories. And loves to look at a book while she is in her carseat.

~She is always learning something new these days. She tries to repeat most things that we say and has picked up a few phrases that she likes to say for most everything, like...

"one mooore" - as she holds up one little finger (she really puckers her lips when she says more) . She is constantly saying this about everything, especially if she liked it. Like "one more" snack, or "one more" time being tossed in the air, " one more" story, "one more" drink...I think you get the picture! I need to get it on video, because it is so cute... it makes me smile so big everytime I hear it!

"no-no" - has become fairly popular, but she really only says it when it is needed.
"yessss" - she thankfully knows this word, and uses it appropriately so we actually her yessss, more than we hear no-no. That might change, but for now, I like the yes'.

"bye-bye" - which is usually said quite emphatically

"I love you" - which is sometimes said very sweetly and sometimes very loudly

"good day" - every day we leave her at Ms. Norma's, Norma says "have a good day", to which Anastyn says "good day". I love it!

~Anastyn can point to all and says (or repeats) some of the following body parts: head {head}, hair (rubs hair), forehead, ears {eaerss}, eyes {eyeess}, eyebrows {eyebow}, eyelash {lasssh}, nose {noose}, mouth, teeth (shows teeth), tongue (sticks her tongue out), lips (puckers), chin, cheeks (puffs up her cheeks and points to them), neck {neck}, elbow {elbow}, arms, wrist {wrist}, hands {hands}, fingers (wiggles fingers), belly {beyee}, belly button, knees {knee}, legs, feet, and toes.

~She knows all of her articles of clothing and likes to point to them when asked "where is your ...(ex. shirt)"

~She knows her right from her left. If you tell her to give you her right/left foot or wave her right/left hand she is able to do it.

~She knows lots of animal sounds and says them when she sees those animals in books or in person. She has learned tons of new words lately. I won't put them all here but I am writing down a list so I can remember how she says some of them. I love to hear her when she talks. It is such a sweet sound and she tries to say everything that we do.

~Our new bedtime routine is one that I want to remember as well. Either Nathan or I will pick her up and say "time for bed, give me a kiss". She gives whoever is holding her a great big kiss and hug and then looks at the other person and starts to kind of squeal... she is waiting for the other person to try to kiss her so she can turn her head away from them. She thinks it is sooo funny, so every night one of us chases the person holding Anastyn and we pretend we can't catch her and then when we do we give her a great big kiss. It is so much fun and I love to hear her squeal and then when you catch her she laughs sooo hard. Such a sweet sound to our ears! Also, once we put her in her bed, she lets us get about halfway across the room and then she stands up and puckers her mouth and makes a "mmmmm" noise so we will come back and give her another kiss. Then we say "night-night, I love you" then she responds with "niiiight-niiiight" (sounding a little southern) "I ya you".

~She loves to kiss the pictures that we have sitting around the house, especially the ones of her self. She kisses the blankets that are in her bed every morning before she gets out of her crib. And her piggy of course gets kisses as well. She is such a loving little girl. I can not think of a better feeling than having your child's arms wrapped around your neck and getting a sweet little kiss from their puckered lips. Melts my heart!!!

~I could honestly go on naming the things I love about our sweet little girl, but I will stop here for today though. Now go give your babies some hugs and kisses! ;0)