18 months and counting!

Bailey, you are 18 months old!  I can hardly believe it.  Where did my baby go?

In the last 6 months, you officially became an East Tennessee girl, which makes your mama, who will always be an East Tennessee girl at heart no matter where she is, so happy.  While this meant transitioning from your former school where you were immersed in Spanish spoken by native speakers all day (a sad day for you and your parents, as we all loved that school, especially including your favorite teachers - we will never forget sweet Ms. Miriam, Ms. Yolanda, and your all-time favorite, Ms. Carmen, who I think almost got a little teary when she found out you were leaving), you've done a great job in your new school which is, awesomely, one of the best preschools in town AND part of the church your mama grew up in.  You've loved your teachers, and while you've had some issues with biting, which we're still trying to straighten out (I think the count is up to 6 or so bites you've inflicted, while you've received only two), overall you've loved school and seemed to do really well.  Although you've had a few phases of crying when I drop you off off, mostly when you're transitioning to a new class or when you don't feel well, recently you have been hopping out of my arms, giving me a hug, and starting to play while I leave.  I'm pretty sure I'm sadder than you at the separation, which is probably a good thing in the long run, but it still hurts my working mommy heart a little bit.  And, when I come to pick you up, you're happy to see me but you're still so happy at school you usually tell me "no" when I ask if you want to go home with me.  So, I usually have to pretend I'm going to leave without you if you don't come in order to have you go willingly.  I sure hope that doesn't make you end up with abandonment issues, because I use that tactic A LOT.

Your belly laugh is so darn cute that it cracks me up when I hear it and makes me smile just thinking about it.  You can point to just about every part of the body we ask you about (including head, shoulders, knees, and toes, but you haven't yet put that song together).  You  love to dance, run, and hold hands (especially with both your dad and me when we do the 1, 2, 3 SWIIIING).  You're a great hugger (you and Will Kizer hugging is cuteness overload),  you've recently started sittting still for longer periods of time, and you will even use a crayon on paper instead of just sticking it straight into your mouth (most of the time).  You just recently started watching television - your very favorite show is Peppa Pig, and it's pretty much the only show that will hold your attention.  You've started picking up your "babies" and rocking them and trying to feed them whatever you're eating.  You still sleep with JR and bunny (who really needs a new name but I'm going to let you do that) and numerous blankets every night, and you usually want to take a couple of those items with you when we take you out of the crib in the morning.  You more or less sleep through the night, but you consistently have what we call "shout outs," where you cry out and either immediately fall back asleep or fuss and cry for a minute or so before you fall back asleep - I've stopped going in to check on you, as you're either still asleep and I wake you up, or it makes you stay up longer because then you cry when I put you back down. 

You recently started wanting to sit on the "big" potty, so we let you pick out a potty for yourself.  You LOVE to sit on your potty and you've amazed us by going "pee pee in the potty" almost every time you sit on it!   You have done so well, I think that we are going to have to consider some serious potty training in the next six months or so, which is pretty early based on what I read.  Such a smart girl!

We've implemented a "time-out" routine, which mostly gets used when you decide to run away from putting on clothes and/or getting a diaper change or decide to yell "no" repeatedly to something that was not a question, and while you don't always fully cooperate, you know what it means and, strangely, sometimes seem to decide on your own that you need it (as in, you will do some smallish thing and I will ask if you need time out and you will say "yes" and go sit in your chair).  After you sit a minute or so, you're always thrilled to see me and listen (again) to why you had to go to time out, then you agree that you are going to listen and that you're sorry.  So you get showered with kisses and hugs :).

It seems like your vocabulary increases every day.  You say please and thank you really well and often without being reminded (we both LOVE when you give an unprompted please or thank you).  You say mama and dada allll the time, sometimes acting like its one word, and you have said "I love mama dada" at least once VERY clearly.  You will parrot back just about any word we ask you to say, but still won't say your own name or your Mimi's name, which is surprising (you usually say "no" when we ask you if you can say Mimi.  You just ignore us if we ask you to say Bailey.)  You'll say the names of your other grandparents, and it makes Pops especially happy when you say his name and hand him yet another Corduroy book or the "sing a song of sixpence" book and climb up in his lap.  You try to say all your aunts', uncles', and cousins' names.   You like to say "bye bye" to everything, whether its animate or inanimate (although if it's a person, you'll usually wait til they turn their back and/or are out of earshot), and you tend to say it every time I get off the phone, or when you want me to get off the phone, which is pretty cute.  You have a very cute way of saying "hiiiiii" and Pops just taught you to say hello (or, more accurately, "hewo") which is now a fun game for you - you say "hewo," wait for someone to answer, then say it again, varying the length of the "o" on the end. 

You're still a little inconsistent with pointing out the right colors when asked, but you're pretty darn good at it when you focus, and while you don't pronounce the colors very clearly yet, you will try for us.  

We spend a lot of time talking about sounds the different animals make, especially ducks, birds (you make a "tnn tnn" noise almost every time we go outside and it took me forever to realize you were saying "tweet tweet" when you heard birds.  I'm not very quick.), dogs, bears, cats, lions, snakes, bees, and so on.  You love to make all the sounds (especially quack and woof, those were your firsts and favorites), and I'm amazed at how many you know.

Speaking of dogs - oh, B, you just love them.  You love to help feed Reilly and give Reilly (sometimes unprompted) hugs (and also orders - Reilly hears "NO" a lot from you). You say "woof woof" every time you see a dog and you always want to say hi to them (which basically means getting near them and standing there, as you don't really "pet" yet).  

One of mine and your dad's favorite memories so far was when we were on the boulevard playing with Reilly and you wanted to say hi to a dog we didn't know for the first time (which you indicated by whining and pointing).  We asked the dog's owner if it would be ok, and he said yes so we put you down.  You picked up a stick and then tried to give the stick to the dog when you got close enough.  This was a completely unprompted and unprecedented act on your part - it was like you just instinctively knew it would be nice to bring the stick to the dog to break the ice, probably from watching Reilly eat sticks and giving them to her. 

That story is the best way I can sum up your sweet, intuitive disposition - you just seem to have a gift of knowing what to do in just about any situation, even if you've never been in it before.  You are sweet and gentle with babies, and silly and playful with adults and dogs.  You can be reserved and shy at first, but when you decide to turn on the charm, your sweet and bubbly personality and energy just shine.

You make me and your dada soooo happy, and every day it just gets better.  We love you, we like you, and we will always be the best parents we can be for you.  Thank you for being a sweet, fun, happy, and sassy little girl.