March 6, 2013

Marianne at 18 months old.
And she is such a sweet beauty.  Even in these unedited pictures her eyes glow.  My darling.  I let her play outside today after her nap, and she was thrilled.  Even if all we have is a porch or dirt to play in.  She has a bucket and shovels gravel into it.  She got to draw with chalk on the porch.  The cement trucks around the corner scared her and she came and sat by me.  We had  soda and a sandwich together.

Really she was 18 months old two almost three weeks ago, but we hadn't done our well check or taken any pictures.  And now we have.  So here is the post about her at 18 months old.

Height:  33..25 inches  88 %
Weight   24lbs 13 oz  56%
Head   48.5 cm    93%

And she has seven teeth I think.  She surprised us one day when we had been expecting her front teeth to come in after her two bottom, and all of a sudden she had three or four molars instead, a whole mouth of teeth around 17 months old.  Up until then she only had the two bottoms.

My baby is a giant.  My biggest kids at this age without doubt which is shocking seeing as how she was such a little one at birth.  I don't know that I really knew she was a giant baby until we went to this appointment. Since I have noticed her towering over two year olds and hardly fitting into clothes that are not 2T.  She wears Kate's old clothes I can remember her in at age 3.  She has always been a chubby one though.

Motor skills wise, she is climbing, jumping, getting into everything, running down the street after the neighbours cat, and quick running away from me when I need her to come.  She likes to put things away, like toys into tubs, puzzle into boxes, food into baggies.  She loves to color..... on anything and everything.  We have had to hide every writing utensil we own because she has already colored on most every wall and hard floor surface in the new house in two week.  She likes to dress herself too, and although I dress her, she will attempt to put on a 2nd or 3rd pair of pants through out the day, and not new ones, just over the top of what she is wearing.   She loves pj's.  And always want to puts pj's on, specifically ones from Christmas, or her siblings. She wields a fork or spoon daintily and doesn't really like eating things with her hands, and she knows how to work the iphone swiping her fingers across the screen.

Marianne continues to be a pure delight.  Though she recently has had a hyper streak unmatched by any of our children ever where she just runs and laughs and teases and jumps out of control.  It is her normal happy self over the top.
She loves everyone in our family too.  Every morning when I wake up she still runs to tackle me.  She seems to love her daddy most and hates when he leaves and doesn't let her come with him to work or errands.  And she loves her siblings.  Though she seems to tease most especially Sam more often than I remember teasing happening with other sibling pairs in the past.  Mostly she just takes whatever they are playing with and wait for them to chase her, it is her way of getting them to play rough house with her not her being mean really.  She has finally learned how to run and give a hug or a kiss  and I make her do it for me over and over again all day because it makes us both so happy.

Her words have really been taking off in the last month.  She says more things than I could likely list, but new words this week include pizza, chalk,  bunny, ears, and barbie.  The things she says most though are "more, mine, no, and up"
She thinks both Sam and Kate are called "tate"
For a long time she didn't say so many words because a simple grunt or "no" or "mine" seemed to get the whole family doing whatever she wanted us to do.
She still refuses despite much coaching to say anything that sounds like "I Love You" however. And won't really cuddle except if she wants to sit on your lap and read a book- which she won't let you read, because she likes to control when the pages are turned not you.  She loves to dance and gets lots of attention when she does and only sings three songs, and only a word or two at that. "Happy Birthday, E-I-E-I-O, and Sunbeam"

Currently her favorite things to do are play with blocks, read books, color and go outside.  She gets so excited when I get colors our or say we can go outside she literally  starts hyperventalating.  Whenever anyone is going anywhere she always can tell and runs to get her coat and shoes and says "go".  She just loves to go.  I often reserve errands for when she is napping and Jake listens for her from his office, so she has been home more of her little life than some of the other kids, and so she just loves to "go" anywhere.  I remember a month or so ago, I took just her to the store with me and she just stared wide eyed at everything feeling so lucky to go somewhere just her with me.  Another thing she loves is computers and phones.  Games and movies on the phone or computer get her hyperventalating as well, and if she sees you with a phone, and then you put it away she tries to dig in your pockets and lifts up your shirt trying to get it.

She is a smart one, and mostly obedient.  If she needs to have a diaper change she will go get the diaper and wipes for you.  You often takes her cups and plates from the table and puts them in the sink without us asking or even having taught her that, she has just watched us.  She still goes to sleep like a champ, and will often ask to go to sleep by getting her blankie and laying on the floor with it and sucking her thumb.  She still sleeps with her blankie and her pink baby doll every night and every nap.  Sometimes she will add several other dolls and animals to the mix too.  We lost the pink baby doll for a while and I was beside myself with guilt we had lost her favorite companion.  It was found a week later only after I had searched the house for more than 10 hours, gone to several stores to try to find a replacment, and attempted to find it online for hours.  I was even up at night worried about it.  I bought her a replacement that was a bit different but I thought she still might like, but she did not really care for it.  When it was found a week later she seemed so happy and it has rarely left her side since it was found.  I love that she is such a little mother.  And she is.  She loves playing with babies and dolls.
Another thing she loves.  Baths.  If I mention the word within seconds she has ripping off her clothes and headed for a tub.  She never wants to get out and would happily take 5 baths a day.
She also loves the pantry.  She loves going in and finding something to eat.  We jokingly called her our cereal baby for a while because she would go get a bag of cereal from the cupboard and drag it around the house eating it all day.  She still does that, but has learned that we prefer if she gets a ziplock and puts a few handfuls in.... which she will sometimes do.  Which is good because she often ended up accidentally dumping entire bags of crackers and cereal all over the carpet.  She also loves oatmeal.  It may be her current favorite food.

We call Marianne lots of different things.
Mary, Mer and Maize seem to be the current most popular.
She was a bit concerned her first try at nursery at church, but has since gone without a bit of trouble.
Which is a bit surprising since she seems to always be concerned whenever anyone comes over that I'm going to leaver her or something.

I love my Marianne.  I can't get enough of her big eyes, or her still somewhat dark long locks of hair.  I can't get enough of her chubbiness and her checks.  She giggle and laughs and smiles and delights us all constantly.  Seriously, we have been so lucky to have such a happy beautiful little girl.  My heart explodes with love whenever I peek in on her cuddling with all of her loves and her blankie in her bed asleep.  I say this about so many ages, but she is currently in one of my favorite ages... well she has been since she was 6 months old.  I love all the learning and laughing she does.