Charlotte at 18 months

At 18 months, Charlotte is a bundle of energy. And emotions. She goes from smiling to crying in two seconds flat and then back to smiling a few minutes later. If she doesn’t get what she wants when she wants, or if we tell her no to something, she starts stomping her feet and wailing and putting on quite the show. I was shocked the first time she did it because she has always been so sweet, but her temper has definitely come to light! What’s funny to me is that even though she may be crying because of something we said or did to make her mad, she will come running to us with her arms outstretched. She still needs us to make her feel better and help calm her down. There is nothing I love more than feeling her little arms tight around my neck and having that sweet head of hers nestled into the crook of my neck.

Smiling at Daddy while wearing his shoes

Speaking of her head, Charlotte continues her trend of having a head circumference in the 90th  percentile. Her head has been large since the beginning, and as I said yesterday on Twitter and Facebook, it’s because she has a giant genius brain. How could she not, with such brilliant parents? (Says the woman who just the other day was looking for her sunglasses only to realize they were ON HER HEAD.)

Charlotte’s current stats:

Weight: 25 lbs (slightly above the 50th percentile)
Height:  33 inches (75th percentile) She grew 2.5 inches in 3 months!
Head:   48 cm (90th percentile)

Of course, the minute we got back to the doctor’s area yesterday, Charlotte started crying. She’s no fool. She knows where the pain happens. Even when the nurse was trying to weigh and measure her, she was crying. Poor baby. I am so glad that we don’t have to go back for another checkup for 6 more months! She only had one shot this time, too, which was nice for a change. I hate the way she cries and looks up at me as though I’ve willfully caused her pain. (And I guess in a way I have, since I brought her to the doctor. Oops.)

These days Charlotte babbles all the time, and she’s starting to talk more. I’ve been a little bit worried about her language development because she’s not saying a ton of words, but she knows over 10 words, so the pediatrician wasn’t worried at all.

Charlotte’s favorites:
1. Our dog Bailey. She wants so badly to be friends with Bailey, but Bailey’s having none of it and keeps her distance whenever possible. Charlotte brings her toys and even feeds her food, but still I’m pretty sure if Charlotte were gone tomorrow Bailey would throw a party. I hope they’ll be friends when Charlotte gets a little older and learns to be more gentle. Right now her idea of petting is to swat at her.
2.  Snacks. The girl could snack all day long (hmm, wonder where she got that?). She loves puffs and veggie straws and goldfish and bananas and grapes.

Fascinated by the macaroni and cheese

3.  Outside. She loves to go outside and asks every day when we get home if she can go outside. Today when I told her we couldn’t because it was too hot and wet, she threw herself on the ground and thrashed about as though her life were ending. I can’t imagine where she got such a dramatic streak.
4.  Her paci. We primarily give it to her only for naps and nighttime sleep, but she is SO attached to it. Her face lights up when we give it to her, and she has to sleep with one in her mouth and one in her hand. For a while she was doing a good job of willingly giving them up when she woke up, but lately we’ve had to wait until we can distract her with food before getting it away from her. Man oh man, are we going to have a time when we wean her off the pacifier!
5. Music. Charlotte has loved music for a long time, and that hasn’t changed one bit. She will start dancing the minute she hears music, and on our rides home from daycare I often catch her bobbing her head along with the music. It cracks me up to see her bustin’ a move. I hope she grows up loving to sing and listen to music. 

Charlotte’s dislikes:
1. Getting into the car seat. She has started fighting this with a vengeance. Last week I spent literally 20 minutes (and I do mean literally) trying to wrestle her into the seat. She was screaming and kicking and then she would giggle like she was playing some hysterical game. Mommy was not amused. She still puts up a fight, but I’ve gotten better about getting her strapped in. The kid is strong!
2.  Diaper and clothing changes. I don’t know why she hates these things, but it’s rare for Charlotte not to get upset while we’re trying to change her diaper or change her clothes. We’ve had some success with changing her on the floor instead of the changing table, but even then she sometimes tries to roll away naked. She’s free-spirited, I guess.
3.  Baths. She’s gotten better the last few baths she’s had, but for a while now Charlotte has cried and screamed when we try to give her a bath. A few times we resorted to just sponging her off in the sink, she was so hysterical. It’s incredibly stressful, and sometimes not even toys or her paci will calm her down. I’m hoping she grows out of this phase soon!
4.  Vegetables in solid form. This is really weird, but lately we’ve hardly had any luck getting Charlotte to eat vegetables UNLESS they’re pureed. Has anyone else experienced this? We can try to give her some carrots cut up, and she won’t eat them, but then she’ll gobble up a baby food jar of carrots! That makes no sense to me!
5.  Saying goodbye to us. It’s hard to drop her off in the morning for daycare and at church on Sundays. She gets very clingy and starts to cry and doesn’t want us to leave. It breaks my heart! She’s getting better at this, though.

I look back at where Charlotte was just 6 months ago and am amazed at how much she’s grown and changed. I know that by the time she’s 2 so much more will have happened. I hope I can savor and cherish every minute!

Our little diva

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