18-Month Quinn

Here's the scoop on 18-month (going on 16 years) Quinn.

Stats: 

Height: 34 inches

Weight: 27 lbs. 15 oz.

Talky, Talky

Quinn is talking a lot more. She can repeat pretty much anything we say (yikes...careful) and uses her words very well. When she gets whiny we tell her to use her words and she's getting a lot better at telling us what she wants with words or hand signs. She's definitely at the age where she wants to get our attention by saying the same thing over and over and over again. Some of my favorite things she says: 

-Motorcycle (mo-tu-tu-tu)

-Bicycle (ba-tu-tu)

-Guitar (GEE-ta)

-I love you (i-oh-u)

-Where is he/she/it? (eh-EH-ti?! in a high pitched voice w/ hands out)

-Heart (hawt...like a little British child)

-Tee-tee (when we go potty)

-No (the way she says it is more like a question, but the girl knows what she doesn't want)

Still a Perfectionist and Very Independent
Q is still a little perfectionist. She wants everything in its place including no creases in her baby's blanket, cabinets and doors closed, her sippy cup turned the right direction on her highchair tray and more. We haven't even childproofed our cabinets because she doesn't want to get in them. That would make too much of a mess and she doesn't want that. She's also very independent about her perfectionism. She wants to do her own hair sometimes (hence the headband pics below) and she'll try doing something by herself for quite a while before she'll start whining or say "help". 

She did NOT want that feather boa touching her.

Singing Songs

Quinn loves for us to sing songs. Some of her favorites are:

-Happy ("Happy Birthday" which we have to sing to everyone that we know including pets and stuffed animals)

-Gee-ta ("Home on the Range" She calls it this because a cowboy in one of her books plays guitar and sings that song.

-Elmo (the Elmo theme song which is about to drive us crazy)

-Abby (the Abby theme song)

-Bible ("Jesus Loves Me")

-Hawt ("Joy Down in My Heart")

Wired

We are starting to notice a trend that when Q is tired or needs to go to sleep she gets really wired. She moves around, makes herself very busy and generally fights sleep to the best of her ability. The other day I had to pick her up right before nap time at school. I walked in and all the other kids were sleeping or laying quietly on their cots while Q was doing headstands, rolling around and doing anything but sleeping. Oh dear. She does that at night too and sometimes it takes her an hour to get to sleep. I guess I'd rather she do that than cry. 

Separation Anxiety

Speaking of crying, we've found a new way of comforting Quinn when she cries in bed. Shockingly, we don't even have to go in her room. I've figured out she's going through an 18-month separation anxiety stage and she just wants to make sure we are around. So, we leave her door cracked when we put her down so she can hear us downstairs and if she starts crying, all we have to do is peek in her door and say "It's okay Quinn,. Lie down and go to sleep." Ta-da! It's magic! I can't believe it works but we've been blessed so far to have an independent sleeper and she's  proving herself more and more as she gets older.

Book Worm

Books are still Q's favorites. It's  been fun lately to pull out some of the "vintage" books at my mom's house that my Margaret used to read to me. Here are some of Q's faves:

Here's a list of other fun (and some not-so-fun) things about Q right now:

• She's obsessed with putting her shoes and socks on (or ours)
• She's obsessed with watching Elmo on our phones. When she sees an iPhone, she immediately says "Elmo".
• When we ask what she learned at school, she starts listing off all the kids and teachers in her class.
• She's not eating meat as well lately, but loves broccoli, rice, cottage cheese, bananas, blueberries, sweet potatoes, beans or really anything we are eating that she wants.
• She's eating really well w/ a spoon and fork and really gets into stirring things.
• We got a learning tower off Craigslist for $30 (total steal). I hope this helps w/ the whining in the kitchen. Not gonna lie...I've done a lot in the kitchen w/ Q sitting on the counter top, praying she doesn't fall off. Don't worry, I'm standing right next to her.

(Ignore her "go to h-e-double hockey sticks" look)

• She likes to open and close doors and regularly closes herself in the pantry. We can always hear her saying "boo" from behind the door. I guess she wants us to play peek-a-boo with her but it's so funny how she just stays in there, sometimes even with the light off. 
• The car is getting a little better but it's still not her fave. We try to talk about things and encourage her to look out the window a lot. 
• Changing her diaper is probably my least favorite thing now. Not because of the contents, but because she hates it and wiggles around so much that I have to physically hold her down. 
• When we go over speed bumps she says "Whoa!"
• She knows my dad drives a truck and parks it in front of our house when he visits. Now, when we look out the front window she always says "Pawpaw. Truck."
• She and Ella continue to build their relationship (and by build I mean Ella still licks her mouth and Quinn chases her around trying to give her love. We have to say "gentle" a lot.)

• She's testing us by trying to hit, but we've been able to give her some pretty stern looks and she apologizes by giving us gentle love pats. It's almost like "Oh, I was just kidding. This is what I was trying to do."
• We find her in unusual places with unusual things. (i.e. in boxes, our closet, wearing my bras around her neck, with her shoes on the wrong feet, etc.)

Quinn is definitely in super toddler mode and quickly turning into a little girl. I miss my baby, but she's so much fun now that she can interact with us. She cracks us up all the time and we are just in love with her little personality. Toddler-dom isn't so bad. (Knocking on wood, praying I don't eat my words.)

More pics...

Lovely. Picking her nose for the first time.