At 18 months, Rose is a very active and opinionated toddler! In mid-August, she transitioned from the older infant classroom, where she was the big girl, to the toddler classroom, where she became the baby. We continue to experience difficulty at school drop off in the morning, but Rose never wants to leave school in the evening. Moving to the older class meant we also had our first two incident reports filed by the school. Apparently Rose fell off the couch and landed on an ear. The fall busted her earring and gave her a small cut. She was fine by the time we picked her up, but school reported that she needed lots of cuddle time. She also fell off a chair while standing on it and hit her mouth on the table coming down. Again, by pick up time, she was fine, but the incident left a little scab on her upper lip. After just one week full time in the 18-24 month class, she adopted the practice of wanting to wash her hands at the sink with soap and water.
Giving a big cheesy smile for the camera
Rose now has 12 teeth - the four front on top and bottom and the four first molars. The month of July was a struggle as those teeth came in. Rose wanted to chew everything, she would have tantrums for no reason that we could figure out, and she just was generally less joyous. Since the molars have come in, she still has the occasional tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants or if we try to rush her when she's not ready (usually worse if she's tired or hungry), but she is much more her happy, fun self.
While she is still a pretty good eater, she has developed some serious food preferences. Every day when we get home from school, the first words after "Darwy" (for Darwin), are "Cra-cker." The girl fell in love with crackers at school during her molar teething days and now won't quit. She could probably eat them and drink milk at every meal every day. While it isn't something I'm proud of, we've started using the crackers as bribes to get her to do things she doesn't really love - like get in the car seat. When you're 9 months pregnant, at the end of the work day, it's 90 degrees outside and your 18 month old is screaming because she doesn't want to get in the car seat, you'll do anything to get her to calm down so you can get home. Besides crackers, cheese, and milk (kefir), Rose loves her beef. Meatballs, meatloaf, shepherd's pie, burgers, etc. are our staples these days. She also seems to be satisfied with her oatmeal and eggs each morning. Colin does a good job alternating the oatmeal mix-in. Rose loves the raisins, cinnamon, prune juice mixture (usually reserved to promote a good BM on the weekends), and does a pretty good job when the oatmeal is mixed with strawberries or blueberries. Sometimes, if Colin hasn't made eggs, Rose will ask for them (eggs sounds like "ice"). We are also at the stage where Rose wants to feed herself. Oatmeal and other sticky foods are not too messy. She does a decent job getting the food from the bowl to her mouth, both with a fork and a spoon. But, sometimes she gets distracted and tips the spoon so that the food spills down her arm, or has a hard time stabbing smaller pieces of food with the fork. While we occasionally use sippy cups, or cups with straws, Rose has almost always been able to drink directly from a cup. She drinks her milk from a small glass cup and only has an occasional spill if she's not paying attention to how full the glass is. We tend to give her water in the sippy cup and leave it where she can reach it so that she can drink as she needs water.
Rose spends more time eating at the pool than being in the water
At the 18 month appointment, Rose impressed the doctor with her vocabulary. She has well over 40 words she can communicate, which include: mommy, daddy, Darwy, come, baby, walk, blanket, night-night, ball, eggs, crackers, milk, cheese, raisins, all done (or I'm done), please, thank you, bye-bye, outside, pool, water, trash, shoes, socks, up, car, hat, hot, chair, hands, down, poop (means poop or pee), avo and vovo (grandma and grandpa in portuguese), the Portuguese words soupinha (little soup), chuva (rain), and signs for more, all-done, eat, and potty. She also loves saying the names of her classmates Stella and Locke, and her former teacher Kiki. When prompted, she'll repeat most of the words you tell her and loves making the "choo-choo" and various animal sounds.
Rose loves smiling for selfies
While it would be great to have an 18-month-old potty trained, we haven't really focused on trying. Rose does seem interested in the potty and I expect she will potty train sooner rather than later. She understands the concept of the potty and helps mommy flush the toilet. When she goes potty in her diaper, she often makes the sign for potty (usually when having a bowel movement), or telling us that she went poop. Poop could mean pee or poop though. We have a small potty she can use and she does sit on it sometimes. She has successfully peed in it twice in the past month when she was naked, but the first time she proceeded to pee on the wood floor and in her highchair. These latter two were much more substantial than the little tinkle on the potty. She's still in her crib, so she can't get up to go when she needs to overnight or in the morning and she occasionally takes off her diaper. With the upcoming arrival of baby #2, it would be nice to have Rose out of cloth diapers, so we can just focus on diapering one baby, but I don't want to rush her if she's not ready.
Speaking of cloth diapers, I am proud to say that we have cloth diapered (and used cloth wipes) now for pretty much the entire 18 months Rose has used diapers. With the exception of the first week, a few times during illness and travel, and just one diaper per night since she turned a year, we have used cloth. My routine continues to be to wash them on Sundays and Thursdays, which is very manageable now that she only gets changed ~4 times a day. My stash has about 14 Bum Genius and 8 Charlie Bananas diapers, and unfortunately a few have elastics that are getting stretched out. Not all the teachers at Rose's school know how to put kids in cloth, so she sometimes ends up with them on really tight or leaks because they are too loose.
Rose is a very sweet and loving child. All the teachers at school love her and dote on her. She reciprocates with the best hugs and kisses. She loves being with the teachers (much more than the other kids), and likes to play independently. At home, she takes care of her two dolls (her babies) and models much of the actions she observes from her teachers at school. It's so cute to see her put her babies down to go "night-night" by covering them with a blanket and patting their backs when they get put down. She also mimics the teachers by hoisting a baby on her hip like the baby is heavy, and taking the babies for a ride around in their stroller. She also loves to flip through her books and point out some of her favorite things (like the train, car, ball, etc).
The pictures we get from her activities at school show her to be very attentive during activities that require sitting and listening. At home, she runs laps around the house, taunting Darwin with various objects. She now almost always runs where she needs to go instead of walking. She still loves the swings, and does a very good job going down small and big slides by herself. She is intrigued by older kids (mainly older girls) and frequently wants to do what they do. She and her 4-year-old cousin had a great time playing together during a week at the beach in July. Rose wanted to do everything her cousin did.
Eating some cheese at the beach
Rose is still on the petite side. At 23 pounds and a little over 30", she is at the 30th percentile for weight and the 15th percentile for height - following her growth line fairly consistently. She's grown out of most of her 18 month clothes and is now in 18-24 month or 24 month outfits. Her feet also remain on the small side and she is transitioning between size 4 and size 5 shoes (depending on the brand and style). She loves picking out her shoes and sometimes needs to try on a few pairs before deciding which ones to wear for the day. Our little diva also loves carrying around a purse containing her sunglasses. She is pretty good at taking her shoes (and sometimes socks) off, but still needs help getting shoes on. When she cooperates in getting her diaper on or getting dressed, it can be a very easy task. Unfortunately, she'll only do either one when she's ready, and doesn't care about your schedule. When we rush her, she usually makes it very difficult for us.
Carrying her purse and putting her sunglasses on her head as we go out to dinner
Rose loves putting her babies "night-night" - hopefully she loves helping to care for her new sister
During the month of August, I've been balancing the preparation necessary for a second baby along with the daily needs of being a productive member of my household and office. Thankfully, work demands have normalized compared to my busy spring, but there are lots of things I'd like to wrap up before I go on maternity leave. As my belly grows, the demands of caring for an 18 month old get a little more difficult. After I pick up Rose from school, I just want to toss all my bags on the ground and flop on the couch to rest for a bit. Thankfully, Colin can pick up the slack and help meet any demands Rose has when I really need to relax. But sometimes Rose wants mommy, and it's not possible to spend the entire evening relaxing. There is dinner to be eaten, time with my little girl to be enjoyed, and a bedtime routine to be followed.
To take care of myself and the new life I am creating, I've been getting to the neighborhood pool 3-4 days a week for most of the month. Usually we go to the pool as a family on the weekends and Colin hangs out with Rose while I do some laps and pool exercises. During the week, I try to go do my exercise at least two nights after Rose goes to bed. For most of the month, the pool was open until 9pm. Now that kids have started back at school in most of North Carolina, the pool closes at 8pm, so I have to get there earlier. Thankfully, Rose loves the pool, so we can go right after school and have dinner or a snack there before starting the bedtime routine.
This pregnancy has been a little different than the first. It's crazy to think that I have been pregnant since December! Sometimes it feels like it has taken forever, but sometimes it feels like it flew by. The first trimester was worse this second time around. While I didn't ever throw up, I came very close on Super Bowl Sunday and just felt queasy much more often. My pants got tighter sooner, and my belly popped much earlier. They say the body remembers what it is supposed to do, and I think that is correct. While most people enjoy their second trimester, I had a difficult time finding a good work/life balance for most of April and May. Work was really busy with travel, managing a grant, managing contracts, and helping to write another grant.
When work started to calm down, I entered the third trimester and the summer heat. June was the hottest month here this summer, with record 100 degree temperatures. With an old HVAC unit on its last leg, the hot temperatures nearly killed it. A repairman was able to revive the unit for about 6 weeks before it crashed again. Thankfully, the temperatures were not as hot in August, and we had a backup window unit in preparation for the final crash, so I really only had to suffer one night in June sleeping in temps in the mid-80s. I don't know how people survived being pregnant in the summer before A/C. I was pretty miserable that one night. I can now say we have a nice, fully-functional and efficient home heating and cooling system. It has been well worth the investment as I continue getting bigger, hotter, and more uncomfortable!
We managed to do a little traveling this summer with a trip to the beaches of RI and to visit family in NY in early July, a day trip to the beach in Wilmington, NC in August, and a couple of weekend getaways to the mountains of Virginia. We had some good food in Blacksburg on the way to hike the beautiful Cascade Falls in mid-June and enjoyed exploring Charlottesville and the Blue Ridge Parkway before hiking the strenuous Sharp Top mountain in the Peaks of Otter hiking area in late July.
The end of the hike at Sharp Top
Our beach-loving girl and her daddy
Overall the pregnancy has been good. While I do get tired at the end of the work day, am battling a few varicose veins, and now get winded climbing up a flight of stairs, I have not experienced any swelling, have maintained a good weight gain (about 27lbs through 38 weeks), and have been able to continue working, swimming, and doing daily activities. With just about a week left until the baby is due, I really can't complain. I've actually been measuring smaller in these past few weeks this pregnancy than I did with Rose, and I haven't gained quite as much weight. It might be because of the swimming, chasing a toddler, and/or eating less/better in the summer than in the winter. Being pregnant in the summer was much more exhausting and debilitating than the winter - although it might have just felt like it because I also have a toddler this time around. But, it will be nice to be on maternity leave with a newborn in the fall, with comfortable temperatures and the ability to be outdoors.
We'll see how cooperative baby Miller is. I've asked her to arrive some time between Saturday Sept 5-Thursday Sept 10 (her due date is the 10th) because I still have a few things I want to wrap up at work before she arrives and I don't want to go past 40 weeks. But, I know that she will come when she's ready and I just need to be prepared. My go-bag is mostly ready, the car seat is in the car, we've got diapers ready, newborn clothes washed and organized, and the co-sleeper is set up in the bedroom. But, I'm not yet playing the waiting game and wishing her arrival ASAP. I'm okay with her waiting a few more days.
I wasn't as good at taking weekly pictures this pregnancy, but did manage to get a few these past few weeks. Stay tuned for a post about Rose at 18 months - if I can get her to sit for her picture - and for developments of our expanding family!
