Ada: Eighteen Months

Our little girl is not so little anymore. She is growing and developing in leaps and bounds. She wants to read books all the time. She likes to wash dishes. She speaks in multiple-word sentences. She loves to make us laugh. She runs instead of walking. She dances every time she hears music. Her blond hair is growing longer and developing ringlets. I can't call her a baby any longer. She is a toddler.

One of Ada's favorite games right now is SURPRISE EYES. She makes a face like the zookeeper's wife in Good Night Gorilla when she realizes her bedroom is full of animals, eyes wide, eyebrows raised, and mouth open, and yells PIZE EYES! It took Jude a while to figure out how to make that face, but now SURPRISE EYES is a common dinnertime game. Ada points, DAT! PIZE EYES, and he complies. Then MOM, PIZE EYES, etc. Eventually we all make the face, and then everyone collapses into giggles. We have got to get a picture or video of that.

Another favorite is "On your mark, get set, GO!". Jude made up this game a couple of years ago. At the bottom of our stairs, there's a wall at the start of a long hallway. We're not allowed to just walk down the stairs, turn the corner, and walk down to the bedrooms. Instead, we back up to the wall, look at each other expectantly, and wait for someone to say the magic words. With Jude, he wanted to race, and would usually take off a second or two before the GO. Ada wants to be the one to say GO. She'll wait for someone else to say "On your mark... Get set..." and then she'll yell GO and take off running. This is one of the (few) games that the kids play together pretty well without adult supervision. While we're getting everything ready for bedtime, they will run up and down the hall together, mostly laughing and shrieking and getting along and not pushing each other. It's a fun part of every day.

Ada still drinks most of her milk from a bottle. She loves her BOP and it is a sure way to soothe her when she's tired or upset. She actually drinks really well from a sippy cup, and I don't think it would be too hard for us to convince her to make the switch, but we're just not that motivated. I'm guessing we'll do it in the next few months.

Ada loves to play outdoors. She'll bring over her shoes and socks, ask for a jacket, and stand longingly at the door. OUTSIDE, she says, and it's hard to turn her down. Once she's out there, she loves to run up and down the sidewalk, climb in and out of the raised areas in front of our house, and play in the sandbox. It seems like her hair is permanently dusted with Oregon Dune sand.

Ada just started calling me "MOM-MEE" instead of "MOM", and this has coincided with wanting more of my attention. She gets upset when I leave her presence, and when I'm around I have to hold her or pay attention to her much of the time. Luckily, playing with an eighteen-month-old Ada is pretty fun, between reading books, pretending that it hurts when she jumps on me, and chasing her around the house. We are having a great time these days!

Ada knows all of the names of face parts and some body parts. She loves the game where we point to eyes, ears, nose, hair, neck. She has started using qualifiers: ADA HAIR, MOM NECK. She is especially drawn to Jude's hair and takes every opportunity to touch it or grab it. He doesn't like that much, but is unusually tolerant most of the time.

Ada loves her brother. Every morning, her first question is WHERE JUDE? She usually gets up before he does, so she gets to accompany mom or dad into Jude's room to wake him up in the morning. She runs to his bed and tries to climb all over him. She follows him around and wants to do what he does most of the time, although lately she has started taking the lead and he will imitate her. For example, when Jude is hungry, he'll use Ada-speak, making the "eat" sign and saying JU TEE EAT. It is a very effective way of communicating. Jude is always watching Ada, and will often tell us what she wants or what she is saying. "Ada wants some more cheese." These two are very in tune with each other, and I think that once Jude gets over his aggression towards Ada, they are going to play together really well. This aggression has diminished somewhat in the past few months, but we still can't leave them alone together for long without expecting some bad behavior.

Ada and Jude both love to crawl around and pretend to be kittens. They MEOW over and over again, and want to be petted and cuddled. Ada, what do YOU say? MEOW.

A few details: Ada is wearing 18-24M clothing as well as some 2T, uses size 4 diapers, and size 6 shoes. She naps once a day in the afternoon, for about 2 hours, give or take an hour. At night, she sleeps really well, going to bed sometime between 7 and 8 and sleeping peacefully until 7 or 8 in the morning. I don't remember the last time we had to go to her at night once she was asleep. She will occasionally resist bedtime, but a few extra stories or sips of milk usually does the trick. I'll post an update on her height and weight in a couple of weeks after her next appointment with Dr. Jack.

We're having technical difficulties with posting photos from Picasa. Will update later. Here is a video from the past week.

Ada can save herself.