Tera Evelynne is 18 months old!
What?!?
1 and a half??? A toddler? Where has the time gone??
At my baby shower someone gave me an outfit that said “18 months”. In my head, 18 months was SO FAR away and Tera would never, ever get to the point where she was wearing 18 month clothes.
A year ago I was so lonely and hated the winter and exhausted and didn’t know how to handle one more day of being a Mom.
And now? I LOVE IT! I love this age SO MUCH!
Weight/Length:
Eating: This child is a bottomless pit, and most of her first words have to do with food. She can eat just as much as me, and 10 minutes after dinner time she is telling me that she is hungry again. She is not picky, but sometimes she will be stubborn and simply decide that she doesn’t want to try the food. Since she is not picky, we usually don’t push her to eat something she doesn’t like, but we always make her TRY it. Oh, the tears. Oh, the misery. Theo is usually the one who will sit there and tell her “try it”. Of course, after a looooooooong drawn-out battle of the wills, she will usually like it. Figures. She eats all her meals with us, and loves snack time. One really funny thing about her eating habits is that she won’t drink milk. She was drinking it from a bottle until around Christmastime, when we cut it. And the child REFUSES to drink it from a sippy cup or a regular cup or a straw. Children are so funny sometimes.
Sleeping: Remember how Tera had such a hard time sleeping the first 8 months of her life? Well, no problem now! She takes one nap from noonish to 3ish, and then is down for bed at 8. She usually sleeps from 8pm to 8 am without a peep! We transitioned her to a toddler bed in order to move Little Miss into the crib. We weren’t sure it was going to work, but had a trial run, and she did so well! She has fallen out a few times, but she always stays in her bed. When she wakes up after nap, she will get out of bed, walk to the door and bang on it. It’s delightful to wake up to door banging at 7:30am!
Clothing/Diapers: Tera is in 12-18 month clothes, and transitioning into 18-24 month clothes! How is that possible? She is still in cloth diapers, although with Little Miss’ schedule I find that I am putting her in disposable much more often as we dash to all her visits and appointments. I’ve started pointing out the potty and telling her after she poops that it’s poop and it should go in the potty, but so far we have no interest in potty training and I’m not going to push it!
Personality: SO MUCH PERSONALITY!!! I love this age and how much personality comes out. Tera is talkative and social, but she also has a shy side when we are out in public. She’s not shy as in scared of others, but rather a shy observer. She just wants to watch people and when she is with her peers in the nursery, she mostly just watches them and what they are doing.
She is starting to follow lots of commands, too. In this picture, I told her to kiss the baby.
Tera loves to talk and talks all day long. She is saying a lot of real words now, but most of her talking is a mixture of grunts, real words and totally made up jibber jabber.
She is starting to have a fierce preference for things, like her Moose, her dolly and her purple monkey. Heaven forbid another kid touch one of those! She loves to play little Mommy with them, and is usually found giving them a bottle, trying to put them in a diaper or wrapping them up in a blanket and placing them in the carseat. She has just started to play pretend and I absolutely love it!!!!
Of course, we think she is a very smart cookie, but it’s hard to tell at this age. She has learned how to follow basic directions and can understand pretty much everything we are saying. We are now having to start spelling things š
Loves:
- Daddy
- Little Miss
- Dolly, Moose and Purple Monkey
- Bath time
- Diapers and towels to put on her babies
- Eating
- Going outside
- Going out in public
- BABY SIGNING TIME!
Dislikes:
- Certain foods like coucous and eating meat by itself (but throw it in a tortilla and she’ll eat it right up…weirdo!)
- Missing out on social time
- Being told “no”
New Developments:
- Running, climbing (she is busy all the day!)
- Saying a TON of words (repeating almost everything we say)
- Understanding basic directions (Put this in the basket, go to the table, come here, give this to Daddy, etc.)
- Playing pretend
Daddy and Mommy: We are doing well! The last four months have been incredibly difficult for us as we adjust to being foster parents and parents to two young kids. But I *think* the fog is lifting and we are emerging and realizing that we are better for it. We are looking forward to warmer weather when we can get these girlies outside! Work continues to go well for Theo, although he is in an incredibly challenging and physically exhausting position at work. He literally doesn’t sleep for 24 hours…twice a week. It’s very challenging for all of us, but we continue to be thankful for the job and the way the Lord is providing for us. We are blessed!
Tera-girl, we sure do love you. I cannot believe how blessed I am to be your Mommy.
