18 Months

If we had any lingering doubts that Sophia may still have some baby left in her, they're entirely gone now because this kiddo is ALL toddler!
At her physical she weighed in at 26 lbs 14 oz and measured 33 inches. This puts her around the 80th percentile for both measurements, which is lower than she usually averages. She had been battling a stomach bug, and she screamed and squirmed the entire time the nurse was trying to measure her, so I'm not totally confident in the accuracy of those numbers. Her head however, is still in the 90th percentile. Thanks Daddy!
Every day she impresses us with her ability to comprehend what we are saying, and she constantly surprises us with new words. I'd estimate her vocabulary to be well over 50 words (not including animal sounds) which is well above average. One of her favorite activities is a computer game that teaches the alphabet and animal sounds. We thought she just liked the game because it gave her a chance to bang on the keyboard, but she's actually starting to learn some of her ABC's. She totally shocked me the other morning by casually going up to the refrigerator and pointing out the magnets for the letters O, R, and Y. I tried to recreate the moment on film, but she was a little camera shy.

She loves to imitate us and we've quickly learned to manipulate this to our advantage. She will now put our dirty laundry in the hamper, throw garbage in the trash can, and take the clean silverware from the dishwasher and place it into the drawer. Unfortunately she still screams in terror when we turn on the vacuum, but hopefully she'll get over it soon! She also loves to put on Mommy's sunglasses and say "cool!"

She does the same thing with my headbands, but I don't have the heart tell her that it really isn't that "cool"!

Her interest in TV has quickly turned into an obsession. All day long she points at the remotes and asks "please,please"! We normally only let her watch TV in the mornings before breakfast, but that doesn't stop her from trying to wear us down with constant whining. However, her love for TV has resulted in 2 of her cutest words: Elmo and Barney.

We've pretty much abandoned the potty training for now. Sophia's interest in it seems to have waned, and we're definitely not in any hurry to start that process if we don't have to. Once she starts showing some interest in it again, we'll give it a more serious try. For now, we're all happy just reading Sophia's current favorite book, Everyone Poops.
Sophia still loves,loves,loves the water. I think sprinklers are still her favorite, but she's getting more and more comfortable in the pool too. Whenever we walk by our neighbors house, she runs up to his gate and throws a tantrum when we tell her that we are not going swimming. I think swimming lessons will definitely be in her future this spring.


And here are a few other random pictures that I decided to throw in.