18 Months!

On my 18th month birthday I had my 18th month check-up; good news no shots!  With all my spring doctor visits I got the shots I needed already so it was a nice, simple appointment with no tears!  At my appointment Dr. Morris said my ears were still clear and looking good.  She went over all my hearing and ear test results with us and those looked really good as well.  So far no tubes which means no surgery which is all a very good thing.  I found out that I'm almost 32 lbs. and over 34 inches tall putting me in the 95 percentile for both areas.  Fun things that I'm able to do now that I'm 18 months are:

• I love music, dancing, rhythm, etc.  The above picture shows me playing my music and I am picking up the eye-hand coordination to hit the bars consistently and the ones I want to.
• I can run!  I don't toddle anymore and actually really pick-up my feet and can get moving pretty fast.  I love this new found freedom and am on the go all the time.
• I am using more sign language such as "more" where I pound my fists together to indicate I want more milk or food or whatever.  I also do "all gone" to indicate that I'm full if eating and/or whatever we were doing is actually all gone.  I'm really good at pointing to what I want or showing you if I can't say the word(s).
• I now give hugs & kisses on a more regular basis in addition to still blowing kisses.  I even give hugs to my friends at daycare and hold their hands.
• I'm getting better at using a spoon & fork and still use my hands off and on.  I tend to alternate using my spoon for one bite and then my fingers for the next.
• I'm learning my body parts such as my belly-button or head and when you say them I try to show you or point to them.
• I love being in the bathtub and now try to drink the bath water when I'm in there by bending at the hip and sticking my head in the water.  Not scared at all!  Here's some pictures of my latest bath trick:

Mom & Dad find it pretty funny when I get soap suds everywhere & make a soap suds beard and then I giggle too!

I also love to ride my trikes all over the house and outside.  I'm starting to get interested in side walk chalk and coloring time however still prefer playing with trucks, tractors, and anything with wheels.  Here's me driving my tractor:

Although I may love wheels more than art I found out this past week I do love to paint.  On Tuesday, May 10th and Wednesday, May 11th we painted spring flowers at daycare.  Here's a picture of the two I did (*I picked out my paint colors blue & green):

I now like to ignore when Dad or Mom or anyone says "no" to me and get a little bit anger about it.  I don't act out too much however will give a fake cry or show my displeasure now and again...as I do know what I want and am practicing selective hearing!

I'm starting to play more with Kato our puppy and actually say "Tot" which is our nickname for him.  I'm working on my K's now that I have the T's down so hopefully I'll say Kato soon too.  Kato comes to me more and lets me pet him and hug him and I can't wait until I'm a little bit bigger and we can go play on our own!

On May 12th I got to go to the Circus with Grandma Judy & Mom - my first one in Fairmont, MN.  It was more side show acts than a big top as they only had a few smaller animals however the acts were terrific and fun to watch.  Here are some pictures from the circus:

 Here's Grandma and I excited for the show to start!

 Here's the ring right before the show started.  While we were waiting I made friends with the blond lady behind us and actually left my brunette Mom & Grandma to go sit on her lap!  Even when the show started I wanted to stay with her however Mom had to take me back because her son wanted to sit on his Mom's lap.  Apparently I still prefer blonds!

 Some of the animal acts included puppies!  Here is Lorna having the puppies do tricks, jump through hoops and play "leap dog"!

We really liked Benito's trapeze/swing act and he really hammed it up for the audience and I think he was trying to flirt with my Grandma too!  The circus was a lot of fun and the best part was I got a light up stick that plays Spanish inspired music.  I love dancing around with it & watching the lights.  So fun!