the BIG 18 (months)!

Happy half birthday Marlie! Sometimes I look at her standing there 'doing her thing' and think that she is just too big to be my little girl. I stand at her crib-side at night and watch her sleep and stretch to reach 2/3 of her bed now. I remember when she looked like nothing more than a little peanut in there! Time flies...

Where to begin... well, to sum her up in just a few words: Cute, Smart, and ACTIVE. What parent could ask for anything more. Some days I could do without the smart and active part though. Don't get me wrong, but her grandma put it this way just last week, "She really is Hell-on-Wheels, isn't she?!" Ha. She just doesn't stop. Sometime Chris and I just stare at her and then at each other with mouths wide open and think "how'd she learn to do that?"

Biggest Achievements:

• hair long enough to braid! (Mommy is excited about this!)
• finally out of the 9 month clothes (and most of the 12 month too)!
• feeding herself (successfully) with a spoon/fork
• drinking out of a cup
• getting finger nails and toe nails painted
• learning to hold a cell phone to her ear with her shoulder (no kidding!)

New-found Loves:

• Wearing BIG shoes (mommy's, daddy's, grandma's... doesn't matter)
• Dipping sauces, of all varieties! Everything tastes better when it's been dipped in a sauce or glass of milk
• Climbing.
• Riding in the laundry basket - it makes a great race car!
• Running with her arms stretched out behind her! (so funny to watch!!!)
• Wearing random objects on her head (clothes basket, plastic bowls, pants...)
• "Riding" Briea like a horse while she is lying down
• Working on Mommy's computer. She loves to email her Grandma!
• Reading... she loves to just curl up in a comfy spot and read. Amazingly enough, the books are almost always right side up.
• I'm not positive, but I really think she likes "Time-Out". She's there often enough!

I love the pleading look on her face as she sits in time-out!

Favorites:

• Pink silky blankie
• Horse stuffed animal "Hoise"
• Baby doll - no name yet
• Milk, smoothies, and milk. Graham crackers (or any crackers), broccoli, cottage cheese, yogurt, craisins/raisins, and pizza.
• Crayons (at the DMV the other day, Marlie found the crayons I had in my bag and was quietly coloring on the floor while I was registering the car...AHH! Everyone behind me in the waiting area was watching. Thank goodness for washable crayons)
• Her buddy, Briea!
• Songs: "Popcorn Popping", "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes", "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam"
• Reading about Jesus and looking at pictures of Him!
• Sesame Street - and of course - Elmo!

Discoveries:

• Text messaging. Whenever she hears my phone, she automatically says "Daddy!!!"
• Putting her fingers in her ears (better than her nose!)
• Looking out the car window. She gets really excited when she sees horses or cows
• The Nursery at Church... still not sure about that one yet.
• Door knobs. Nothing is safe anymore... or private.
• Laying down on her back in the bathtub
• Flinging food off her plate with her fork
• Tried to plug the laptop charger into Mommy's cell phone to charge it. Didn't work.
• Standing on a step stool opens a whole new world of possibilities!
• Washing your hands is lots of fun!

Funny Story:

So Chris has had to work a lot this past week on the current product release for work. So Marlie and I sat and vegged after dinner and bath time. We were watching American Idol. Of course, Marlie doesn't really sit for anything and was playing around the living room and trying to climb the entertainment center. It was an uneventful night. She went to bed, I went to bed. Then on Saturday, we were at Grandma Giesey's house. She has a small flash light on the side of her refrigerator... Marlie loves to play with this regularly. But, this particular day she was being really funny and walking around with it up against her mouth and in a sing-songy voice saying "la, la, la, la..." and walking all around the house. I asked her if it was a microphone. Her response, "ya!". I then asked, "where did you learn that?!" (not having made the connection yet) She said (or did the sign for) TV. Oh Dear! Chris and I decided that very day that we were only watching PBS and "family movies" from now on! She apparently is picking up more from TV than we thought! Not that American Idol is bad - it certainly could be a lot worse. (this video is a different day, but she started to do the very same thing, so I caught it on camera this time!)

She is so full of expression these days! I can hardly wait for her to start talking... oh the things she'll say!