18 Months

Little girl is 18 months old today. Wow. Mallory has been such a joy lately and it has been awesome; I'm soaking in these moments for sure. I've never been one to sugarcoat our parenthood experience thus far - such as here, and here, and again here - but I can confidently say that the journey is becoming easier and more fun as we go along. Here's a recap of our one-and-a-half-year-old's latest happenings:

• When she's finished with something - bottle, juice cup, pacifier, toy, etc. - she'll throw to the floor like a rockstar dropping the mic on stage at the end of a killer performance. And then she'll proclaim she's "done." It's very fitting of her diva attitude, but I'm not a fan of the lack of respect she shows when she does it.
• She is quite the entertainer; I would even go as far as to say that she thinks she's a comedian. She'll mock you, make silly faces, and show off all her tricks and skills when she knows she has an audience.
• She is becoming more daring and adventurous. She loves to jump on anything and everything, even if said jumping could cause immediate harm. She just assumes that you'll be there to catch her if something goes wrong. The best place to put her when she's in a jumping mood is her crib; she goes to town in there. The bad part about is then she thinks jumping on any bed is acceptable.
• Her obsession with items that she likes is taken to extremes. Recently it was Kix, but currently it's Cuties. If we allowed her to, she would eat an entire three-pound bag of Cuties. And while I can think of worse things for her to pig out on, too many Cuties means orange colored diarrhea.
• She has turned into Linus from Peanuts as she always, always has her blankie ("beem, beem") with her. It is her best friend. She calls out for it when she can't find it and becomes ecstatic when she is reunited with it, wrapping it as close to her face as possible. I was a blankie kid (still am) so I can relate to the relationship she has created and will never take it away from her.
• When Mallory was younger I taught her how to sign for "more" and when I would do it I would say, "more please". She caught on to the signing and had no problem saying "more". The problem: now she honestly believes that the word "more" is the same thing as "please". We have tried and tried to get her to say "please" and usually all that happens is her dragging out the syllables of the word "more". Just recently we can get her to say "pa, pa" but no "please". She has "thank you" down, no problem so we're half way to having manners.
• We're optimistic that her increased interest in potty time means that she's on the road to potty training. We bought her a potty and placed it in the bathroom for her to get used to. So far she's gone poo (in her diaper of course) squatting next to her potty, but not when she's actually sitting on it. The good thing is that she at least recognizes when she has to go so now it's just a matter of getting her on the actual potty.
• She's not very interested in books at the moment. She rarely looks at them on her own anymore and even when we try to read to her, she either leaves or takes the book away from you so you stop reading. The only time I seem to get away with reading to her is during bath time. And even then she tends to whine at me while I'm animatedly reading her the story.
• She loves, loves, loves to be chased. And hide-and-seek is becoming a regular as well; though she still has trouble with waiting while Jody hides. I have to hold her back from cheating. She's been pretty defiant; pushing all kinds of boundaries and limits to see what she can get away with. Not surprised with that one at all. Has a hard time sharing her crayons and coloring space, especially with me. Jody seems to get away with it more often.