A Contest

Andrew: Who can make the best owl sound?
Me: Whoooo, whooooo.
Andrew: Whoooo, whoooo.
Milo: Quack, quack.

Then Milo laughed. So did we.

Olive at 18 Months (only 9 days late this time)

First, the official doctor-sanctioned statistics:

Weight: 24 lbs., 8.5 oz. (75th percentile)
Height: 33 1/4" (90th percentile)
Head Circumference: 19" (95th percentile)

Since her 15-month check-up, Olive shot back up on the growth charts. She's definitely a tall lady. I wonder if she'll have the same memories I do of being literally a head taller than everyone else in her first grade class. I guess we have quite a few years for that one, though.

My daughter is utterly charming. There is so much personality packed into those 33 1/4 inches. When she pouts, she pouts big time. Lower lip stuck so far out, arms crossed, glaring eyes. When she laughs, she shrieks and guffaws and throws her body around recklessly. When she loves, she snuggles in close, practically climbing up your body, and she holds on so tight you think her fingers must be hurting from that grip. Nothing is halfway with her.

She is quite a mimic. When I say something, she repeats it and it's like she instantly learns the word. The one word she can't seem to get is "water." She calls it "nuk" which is, we think, her word for milk (maaaaybe "drink"). She knows juice, and coffee, even. But she can't seem to get water. Except when it is a lake or creek. Then she calls it water. Just not the stuff she drinks. That is nuk.

She's gotten into "my" as of late. Especially "my paci." Which I think is funny, because that is the one thing that no one else in the house wants.

I gave her bangs a few weeks ago. Totally a good idea. The bangs are keeping the hair out of her eyes and I haven't lost any hair ties in weeks.

Olive has started calling our cat (who is named Zadie) Lily. Lily is the name of our daycare provider's dog. (A very large dog, I might add.) Olive used to say Zadie, but somehow she decided that all pets are named Lily, or something.

She has an awesome dance. She spreads her legs apart like she's waiting for someone to crawl between them, then she nods in a very exaggerated way. Sometimes twisting back and forth too. She also has begun to sing. I caught her humming the Dora clean-up song at dinner. She started nodding in her dancing way, then quietly said "keen-up, keen-up." Ohmygosh, freaking adorable.

(By the way, that clean-up song has changed our lives. We were...not great at asking the kids to clean up their toys. We were inconsistent so of course they never wanted to clean up. But I was pretty sure they were singing that song at daycare, so we started playing it. And it was suddenly all Pavlov's dogs in here. They just started cleaning up. Racing to clean up, even. And they wanted to play the song over and over, and then one more time after the toys had been picked up just so we could have a little dance party. It has been nothing but good for us. And I'm not even complaining about how that song is stuck in my head Every Single Day because I will take it if it means no more toys all over the freaking place.)

She still sticks to Milo like glue and does everything he does. She adores him.

She knows the names of at least 20 people and loves to tell them bye. She's big on saying bye to things. An airplane goes by overhead, and she says "airpane! in da sky! airpane!" Then, "Byebye, airpane, byebye. Bye, airpane." Once is never enough.

She adores all her grandparents, and I'm sure they adore her right back.

Likes: doing what Milo does, going fast, watching airplanes and trains, swinging, eating ice, eating popsicles, getting tickled by Daddy, taking her sandals off, fruit, her paci, Fancy Nancy, drinking out of a regular cup.
Dislikes: getting too dirty/sandy/sticky, being poopy, eating tomatoes, getting water in her eyes in the bath, having to sit at the table when she's "ah dunn, ah dunn!", paying attention to TV for very long, drinking out of a sippy cup.

She is growing up so fast, but you know what? I like it. I like that she says more all the time and knows more. I like that she is getting more independent and can do more things for herself. I like that she and her brother can have conversations and their own jokes and play together. It's amazing. She's amazing.

Did she go? In a word, no.

Guess who is wearing diapers full time again? That's right, my dear daughter.

After trying potty training for three days, it was clear that we weren't making a bit of progress. In fact, we were regressing further because now not only was Olive NOT peeing in the toilet, she cried when we even took her in the bathroom.

FAIL.

Rather than scar her for life, we quit. It seemed like she knew when she was peeing and understood what we wanted her to do, but couldn't make it happen. I am still feeling optimistic that perhaps now that she's seen what the goal is, maybe she'll want to try it again on her own sometime. But if not, we will probably try again in maybe four or six months. Who knows?