18 Month Check-Up

Well, I'll have to figure out how to do this all over again, since it's been so long since I've posted something.  We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas celebration and loved having Brian home with us for two weeks straight!  But for now, I'm just going to post a few things about Emory's 18 month check-up which was a couple of weeks ago. 

She FINALLY broke through the 20 lb barrier--blazed past it actually! (ha)  She weighed in at a whopping 21.8 pounds!!  Whoo hoo!  And she's 33 inches tall.  That puts her in the 15th percentile for weight and 90th for height.  Also, her head is still on the large side--she's in the 85th % for head circumference.  We really like shirts with buttons around the neck. 

Everything was fine at the check-up and she survived her one shot extremely well.  She's much braver than I am!!  (Is that the right word?  Braver?  More brave?  I've lost my ear for grammar...)

Each day she surprises me with the things she picks up.  She chatters away most of the day, putting more and more words together to make little sentences.  I wouldn't say she's exactly conversational yet, but she can definitely fill the silence during a meal!  Lots of observational phrases or bossy directions. 

Some of the fun things about Emory right now:
-She loves to "cheers" with us.  Our meals are interrupted frequently with her requests to do cheers with her sippy cup. 
-Affection.  She is returning and initiating affection--she'll voluntarily come running up and say "hug Mama" or come at us making her cute little kissy noise.  Irresistable!  And when we ask for a hug, she lays her head on our shoulder. 
-Books.  She is still LOVING her books.  She will literally sit for an unlimited amount of time and let us read books to her.  Sometimes it is a constant string of different books, and sometimes she wants to read the same book 20 times. 
-She is obsessed with anything having to do with moo cows.  Moo cow book, moo cow song (Old McDonald), moo cow movie.  This really goes for most any type of animal--cows, sheep, horses, ducks, puppies, pigs...  She got a couple of new movies for Christmas about animals and she literally bursts into tears when the credits come on and she begs to see it "gin." 
-Speaking of the tears, she is also starting to exert her opinion more often.  Lately there have been tears over leaving the duck pond, getting out of the bathtub and leaving the dirt in the backyard to go for a walk with us.  (Those were the incidents this week)  I think we're probably pretty lucky that this is a new thing and it happens infrequently enough that we find it unusual.  Fits are a rare thing for her.
-Puking.  I'm hoping this is a phase and a somewhat normal toddler type thing.  Several times over the past couple of weeks she has thrown up during a meal.  Seems like she eats a lot of something pretty quickly and/or is playing a lot while eating (as in at a restaurant where she is looking around more than paying attention to the meal).  It's only fair because Brian and I still laugh about the "puking incident" with Cousin Blake all those years ago.  What goes around comes around I guess...

I know the last couple of things are not so fun things, but even those are really not so bad.  Emory is such an easy-going, laid-back, sweet, funny and fun child.  We are so blessed by her and grateful for such a precious gift from God.