18 and 19 Months

Ayla,

What can I say...you are FULL of personality. Seriously, from sun up to sun down you constantly have me laughing and thinking that one day you will be an actress because you are so dramatic. Everything is dramatic with you. From diaper changes to playing with your toys.

So what's new with Ayla?

• You love to throw balls...especially to the dogs, which like to take them and practically eat them alive.
• I'm not sure if you are teething right now but if you are I am not sure what teeth you are getting. You have so many. I am pretty sure you have all of them so maybe what's left is your 3 year molars...which if you are getting them now and you are not even 2, I'm not sure where you are going to have room for all of them! Ha
• You love to walk backwards. I am honestly not sure what started this but you have found so much humor in being sneaky and walking backwards.
• You are still 100% obsessed with the dishwasher. Everyday you go over to it and say "Help Mommy?" I tell you that they are dirty and then you will run around saying "Ewie...dirty".
• You love to drag your daddy around the house. You will grab his hand or his fingers and pull him around. You love for him to fall and plop on the floor and laugh. You will then follow suite and plop on the ground and laugh.
• You are totally obsessed with the shower. I'm not sure why you love it so much but you think it is super funny to take Daddy in there to sit. When Peyton comes over you love to drag her to the shower to sit too. Very strange child...very strange.
• You purposely "snoot"- which is toot but you call it a snoot. You like to snoot when you are sitting on mommy's lap. You will then look at me and laugh and smile.
• You are in love with yourself. You love pictures of yourself, videos of yourself...anything that has you in it. You love to watch videos of yourself that we have recently taken...to the point that we have to tell you "No, we aren't going to watch that video again." You would watch the same 30 second clip 50+ times if we would let you.
• When looking at pictures you now not only name all the people in them but you point to different things in the pictures- hands, glasses, flower, feet, hair, etc.
• You have quite the vocabulary for a 19 month old. You are speaking in small sentence fragments. Today you told me you had an "Owie" and you said, "Mommy, owie kiss." I honestly don't think I could name all the words you know at this point. I swear you pick up about 2 or 3 everyday.
• You are still an excellent sleeper. You will lay in bed and talk, kick the wall through the bars of your crib and play with your animals for at least 30 minutes after we put you to bed. You don't fuss, cry or anything.
• Your bedtime routine consists of the following...bath time- which has become so wild that I seriously should wear a raincoat. We brush your teeth and then take you to your room. Get you all ready for bed and then you go crazy. You will jump, run, scream, laugh, wrestle, etc. We have to sing at least your 5 favorite songs before bed. Itsy Bitsy Spider, 5 Little Monkeys Swinging on a Tree, Mr. Moon, Wheels on the Bus, Jesus Loves Me and the Name song...Ayla, Ayla Bo Bayla, etc.
• Speaking of singing- you LOVE to sing. You LOVE to do the motions to the songs, you love anything about music.
• Unfortunately, this child who used to eat anything has become a crazy, picky eater. One day you will eat your veggies and meat...and the next, not at all. You went through a stage when you were sick last month that you would hardly eat anything at all. I started to get worried because you just wouldn't eat. You did however drink milk like a mad woman so at least your got your nutrients from that. You are also very finicky. One day you will love apples and the next, won't even touch them. It's not just apples it's anything. Needless to say, preparing your meals has become quite a challenge. Mark my word now child...I WILL NOT be the mom who prepares 3 different meals for everyone just to please you. I will fix what everyone will eat and if you choose not to eat it, then I will save it in the refrigerator and when you get hungry before bed and ask for your snack...I will give you your supper and tell you that is all you can have. We have done this a few times. Sometimes you will eat it and sometimes you still refuse. The way I look at it is that you will eat when you get desperate enough. Your pedi says that's the way to do it and I'm doing great so we are pretty sure you won't starve or anything.
• At your last well visit you were in the 50th percentile for weight with 24 lbs and you were in the 90th percentile for height with 53 1/2 inches.
• Temper...Oh Ayla, oh my mercy...this child is STRONG WILLED!!! You have started to have little meltdowns when you don't get your way. You have even stepped into the stomping your foot and frantically waving your hands in the air. Diaper changes used to be hard we thought but now they tend to go into the dramatic status. You start to run away or when I finally grab you and lay you down, you kick frantically. At first we kept telling you no and telling you that it hurts and you will make mommy cry. That only lasted a few times and now you have resorted back to kicking like crazy. We have finally started spatting you leg when you do this and that has helped but I honestly don't know how you will deliberately look at me and disobey.
• You actually like "Time Out". We started time out about 2 months ago and at first it was tramatic. You didn't like it, you would cry and say "No No". But now...you will deliberately do things and then put yourself in timeout. You are not supposed to climb on our exercise bike. So, you will LOOK ME IN THE EYES and start to slowly creep towards it. Then when I say "Ayla, no maam", you will look at me and say "Go, Go" while pointing to timeout. That is what I would do when I would put you in timeout was tell you that you had to go to timeout and then point and keep saying "Go" until you got there. Time out is in the hallway and you are supposed to sit with your back against the wall. So...discipline has become quite a struggle. I do know that I am going to have to be more consistent and that I'm going to have to start spanking more and using either a spanking spoon or a switch...something because that is another issue. Spanking doesn't phase you at all. Sometimes you will get upset but mostly you just look at me and then get this little sneaky smirk on your face. So...either I am not doing it hard enough or you are just a little toot :-)
• You love your shopping cart. Sometimes I will find the shopping cart in strange places...our bed, in the bathtub, etc.
• Your hair is finally starting to grow and it looks like it is going to have some curl to it! :-)
• You love "hot tea". Mommy fixes herself about 3 cups a day and you love to have sips of it. So I started taking a little and pouring it into your own little coffee mug. You think you are such a big girl when you get it. You go around saying "hot tea mommy, hot tea".
• You are the child of faces. You have your stink face, crazy face, cheese face, awe face and many more. The awe face is when you put your hands on your cheeks or my cheeks and we say "Awe".
• Unfortunately, January was a rough month. You got sick with a bronchial infection and then to top it off...we went and had some blood work done to make sure it wasn't RSV and it came back strongly positive for MONO!!! The child who stays at home and isn't around many other kids unless at church is the one who gets mono. You've been a trooper. They say it's easier on little kids because half the time you don't even know they have it. Now, Mommy had it when she was in college and missed almost 2 months of school. So, I'm glad that if you are going to get it once in your lifetime that it is now and not when you are older. We are so glad you are finally feeling better!
• Everyday is a new adventure and I don't possibly think I could love you anymore than I do!