Grace is now closer to 18 months

Is it bad this just makes me laugh? Woo hoo!

The 15 month post for Grace is now the "nearly 17 month old post/closer to 18 months post (aka nearly 1.5 years old)!"

Smiley girl

"Cheese!"

Grace is such a ball of energy and I hear it over and over again: "Grace is SO busy." I don't really know what "busy" means, but I do know she shouldn't be left alone. Otherwise she will climb to the third level of the shelves in the playroom closet and get herself stuck there. Thankfully, William came and got me. "Mommy, Grace is stuck." Then, I've brought her to open gym time and I've had other moms that don't know us, ask: "She isn't your first, right?" Ha! Is that a compliment? I think so! I'm glad Grace isn't a shy girl. I like that she's out there, getting at it! She runs in a crowd smiling and waving at strangers. She didn't have a problem pushing the older boy that jumped in her way at the open gym time. The slide at the playground didn't present a single worry in her mind, and down she goes! 

Jump, jump, jump!

William: "Grace you need your bow! Come back!"

At the same time she is mellow. She's flexible and she's happy to go anywhere and do anything. She loves a great time. William makes her laugh so hard and she loves to join in the fun when she sees big brother doing something funny. It isn't hard to get her to try something new either.

Now that you took a picture, I want to climb.

What's William doing?

She's so smart. I can give her so many instructions already and she listens. Some of her claim to fames: Go find Pinky (her bear) and off she goes looking for the bear. Go find your shoes and off she goes to the mudroom to find a pair to bring back to me, then sits down and puts her foot up. Sit down and let's change your diaper and she lays down on her back and puts her feet in the air. Throw the trash away and she will go to the kitchen island, open the drawer, put the trash in and close the drawer (this is the most impressive and something I think took William until 20 months to do! Must be a girl thing ;) Let's go eat and she RUNS to her high chair and climbs up. Let's take a bath and she runs for the stairs to head upstairs. She's also saying words like ball, thank you, no, hi there, airplane, dog, baby, mama, dada, all aboard, water (wa-wa), all done, bye-bye and cheese, and also repeating lots of words we say too. A favorite thing to do right now is say "Shh..." and she raises her finger to her mouth. 

Loves the rocking chairs.

Yells "cheese" as soon as a camera appears.

Saw teenage girls and wanted to join their fun.

Goofy girl

She dropped the morning nap probably three weeks ago. It had been sporadic for the month leading up with her occasionally sleeping and then some days she'd just hang out in bed jumping from one end of the crib to the other. I gave up trying and when William is at school bring her to do something fun. We've been going to the open gym on Friday and it's been really fun to get the girl time. Poor thing has been following William around every where and now we can do something she'd like to do. Don't tell William though. He'd be pretty jealous to know she's been at the gym! He loves the gym time too.

Eye protection for the fearless one

Favorite toys are probably the airplanes and cars! I see her flying the airplane in the air and making flying noises. Then she will crawl along the ground with cars, also making car noises. She loves wearing shoes and is always bring a new pair over to me to put on her. She's very good at kicking her soccer ball too! She runs and kicks it, keeps running and kicks it again. Quite athletic!

She is giving hugs and kisses when asked. But usually laughs when you try to give her a kiss. She thinks it's hysterical and doesn't exactly dive in sometimes (unlike William who is constantly asking for hugs and kisses ha!). She likes a good open mouth kiss - so funny! It's the sweetest at night when we tell her to say goodnight to William. She runs over to him and they both hug each other. William gives her a kiss on the forehead and she loves it!

William tries for a hug and Grace of course laughs and plays
hard to get!

She loves to eat avocados, bananas, bread, cheese. She really isn't a HUGE candy/treat fan. She will eat it - don't get me wrong, but she doesn't seem to DEVOUR it like William. We ordered chocolate chip pancakes at breakfast a couple days ago and she literally made the most disgusted face when she tasted it. But a plain pancake or a pancake with blueberries in it is delicious to her.

Carbo loading

Stair climber

Loves her sparkle shoes

Yummy dinner?

Getting longer

Loves her Pinky bear

Oh hayy!

Laughs all the time

Climber in action

As you can see from several of the pictures, Pinky is still her favorite. She's grown very attached to her white blanket too. William has the exact same one in green. I will check on her at bedtime and she will have the white blanket over her head and she's passed out. She loves to cuddle with it.

I signed up Grace for 2 day 2's in the fall. I can't believe it. She still seems like my little baby, but she's getting big fast. Her hair is getting fuller and longer. I can't wait to braid it! She has a mouth full of teeth and she's getting taller - I'm buying 2T clothing for her now. She will start swim lessons at the end of March. Lots going on for Miss Grace! Nearly 1.5 years old!

Keep up the good work, little lady! You are the happiest, prettiest little girl and we love you bunches and bunches. XOXO!

Pretty girl!!