Alanna 18 Months Old

May 14, 2015
18 Months

Alanna turned 18 months old on May 14.  This past six months have been SO fun.  Alanna's personality has just continued to be as beautiful as ever.  She is so happy and playful all the time.  She's so sweet and listens and obeys better than any of my kids have at her age.  She still doesn't like to hold still on my lap for longer than a few seconds but she will sit next to me while I read books and pay attention way better than she used to, especially if there are animals in the book.  She loves to laugh and when she feels like being silly she still wrinkles up her nose when she's laughing.   She is an outside girl for sure.  She loves sand, dirt, water, bugs, and animals.  She gets so excited when she sees birds and squirrels in our yard.  She points to them and tries to say something...usually she calls them "Doo" which means Duke.  I guess she thinks all animals are called Duke like our dog.  She is learning animals sounds.  Her favorite is "neigh-neigh" and she usually makes that sound for every animal.   She can say "quack quack" though, and sometimes says "moo".  She has a lot of teeth.  I think she has ten.  Alanna loves food.  And she loves feeding herself!  She gets very upset if I try to help her but she's doing really well with feeding herself. She's not a very picky eater.  She pretty much eats whatever I give her except for eggs and lunch-meat.  Her favorites are pizza, pancakes, muffins, cheese, oatmeal, black beans, applesauce, yogurt, bananas, and watermelon.  She just discovered dipping sauces like ranch and ketchup and thinks that it is awesome!  She doesn't nurse much any more.  Just 2-3 times a day for a few minutes at nap time and night time.  I think she will be completely weened before the baby gets here though because she's started to fight nursing at nap time.  She still loves loves loves her blankie.  She rubs it on her face while she is going to sleep and if she gets upset during the day, she will find her blankie and bring it to me and then lay it on my shoulder and rest her head on it.  She is such a great sleeper still.  She sleeps from about 7:30PM-7:30AM every night unless she's got a cold or cutting teeth.  She just went from two naps to one.  She sleeps from about 1PM-3 or 4PM now.  It's always an adjustment for me when they cut out a nap but she's doing great with not being fussy in the mornings and is not fighting her afternoon nap any more so it's actually been an easier transition that I had expected.  She is absolutely in love with her Daddy.  She asks for him all the time and loves talking to him on the phone when he's at the fire station.  She loves to sit on his lap when he's eating and steal some of his food :)  She gives him the biggest kisses but also loves to wrestle with him and the boys.  Speaking of the boys...she also loves her brothers.  She gets so excited when they play with her.  Liam tends to be a little too rough with her but Ruy is so gentle with her.  She loves it when Ruy crawls around on the floor and chases her.  Her and Liam have fun together as long as Liam is not sitting on her or trying to tell her what to do/not to do :)  Her hair is now long enough to put into a little side pony tail or two little pony tails.  But she hates having her hair done.  It's so hard to get her to hold still unless I let her hold a comb while I fix her hair.  But her hair is so soft and has the sweetest little curls in it.  She says so many words now it's been kind of hard to keep up with them.  She says a new word almost daily.  Here is a list of the words I could think of but I'm sure she is saying more than this.   

Bye bye
Hi
Ruy
Mommy
Daddy
Duke - "Doo"
Neigh-Neigh
Moo
More
Outside
Seat
Please - "Peese"
Banana - "Nanny"
Nana - "Nanny" 
Yes
Yeah
No
Blankie - "Baby"
Baby
Eyes
Belly
Shoes
Alanna - "Lana"
Cheese

She is our little sweet pea forever and always.  

We are all so in love with her.  It's kind of hard not to be!