Our Noble Pursuits: 18 Months

I'm a little later than usual with this post, but I guess that's what happens when the holidays mix with work busyness, which mixes with regular life busyness. Between Christmas and New Year's, the Nobles celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss AND the 18 month birthday of our Annie. Our anniversary was great - we snuck off for a night in Louisville while my mom and Annie had a big time together. I have definitely progressed to the point where I find trips away from Mommy duties to be relaxing and restorative - especially when I know that Annie is in the very loving and very capable hands of "Gaga" (Annie's preferred name for my mom these days). That took a little time, but we have arrived at this nice balance.

As for Annie's half birthday, her 18th month was every bit as entertaining for us as all of the months that have preceded it. She is becoming increasingly verbal (with her own name and "Mine" being new favorites) and increasingly discriminating, for lack of a better word. She has firmly embraced the fact that she has the ability to choose things - which foods she eats, which books she looks at, which songs she sings. And there is very little we can do to change her mind when she gets her heart set on something. If she decides she wants another mini waffle in the morning instead of a mini pancake, well, there's no forcing her to eat the pancake. If she wants to read the Sesame Street version of "Hey, Diddle, Diddle" at bedtime (because it has Elmo in it and somehow, some way, despite the fact that she doesn't watch television yet and has never seen Sesame Street, she has become a big fan and requests him by name) instead of "Good Night, Gorilla," well, guess what we read. Any attempt to the contrary gets a decisive "No!" from Annie, with some pretty convincing protests to reinforce her opinion. Ah, toddlerdom...it is this delicate balance between sheer joy and utter chaos!

With her 18-month birthday came a well visit with the pediatrician, where we learned the following stats:

* Height: 33 inches (83rd percentile)
* Weight: 23 pounds, 6 ounces (38th percentile)
* They always measure her head and tell me the measurement, but it isn't included on the print out they send home with me, so I never remember. Let's just assume it's average sized.

The doctor talked about starting to introduce the idea of potty training. That's a little freaky. I mean, Annie is pretty good these days about telling us after she creates a wet or dirty diaper, and she has actually attempted to climb on the toilet a couple of times with the indication that it is for the intended purpose. But actually potty training her? That's an overwhelming thought. Our pediatrician just said now is a good time to introduce the concept - the actual dirty work (excuse the pun) of getting her to fully participate is still 6 months to a year off. Whew! I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

As I've mentioned before, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that our little girl is getting more fun as the months go on. I sort of feel like we've really entered a new stage of parenting now. She's more like a kid every day...and she catches on to so much more now than she ever has before. It's amazing to see how she changes on a weekly - even daily - basis. And we are simply enjoying the ride.

I'll leave you with some recent pictures of our girl. 'Cause that's what you came to see, right? :-)