18 Month Update

Mer is 18 months old! It's hard to believe what a big girl she already is. Long gone are the baby days, and here now are the toddler times. Things have bee a little trying lately. She's not eating much, possibly due to teething. She is a bit fussy and has really been in that "gimme me" phase lately. BUT... the cute stuff and the sweet stuff she does far outweigh the difficult aspects. Mer is learning new words daily which is really fun to experience. My favorite is Spongebob, although it comes out more like Baabaab. She is running now, which makes this mama nervous on the concrete. Mer is a true water baby, she loves her bath and any other container of water she can access. The other day I found her giving the tv remote a bath in my cup of ice water. Later that night I heard her dunking something else. I ran in the living praying it wasn't my iPhone and found her sock in the cup. I gave up on having water out for the rest of the night. She tries to dress herself although she isn't terribly successful. She is fiercely independent and doesn't want to hold hands when out and about, and frankly she'd just prefer you to carry her. She doesn't want help eating and usually won't eat if we try to feed her. She wants the spoon and the food all to herself, which typically results in the need for a bath afterwards. Other fun things include mimicking everything we do and dancing. 

Yesterday we went to Council Grove for a family dinner because Mike's cousin was back in town from Dallas. It was beautiful weather so we gathered on the porch. There was quite a group of us outside and Mer is the only little one in the family. Someone started asking her to show them where her nose, ears and toes were, all of which she can find, and afterwards they'd clap for her mad cheer. Oh boy did she love that! Pretty soon she was just pointing to a body part, then clapping, which got everyone else clapping. This went on for quite awhile, it was pretty darn cute. It's always so nice to visit out there because there is no shortage of people to love on her and entertain her. Her 18 month checkup is on Friday so we'll see then how big she's gotten! 

Xoxo Jamie