18 Months

Today is Katie's 1/2 birthday! Its been such a nice weekend and Matt took the day off so he isn't going into work tonight. I asked him if he took the day off for Katie's 1/2 birthday, or for the Super Bowl. He said "What do you think?" I said I don't think you even realized it was Katie's half birthday when you put in your vacation request. HA! :-)


Anyways, here is Katie's 18 month update. We don't have her check-up with the pediatrician until February 14th - so the weight and height statistics will have to wait another week.

1. Katie's speech and language skills are coming along. She's added several new words over the past couple months to include baby, wow, water, papa, down and Thank You (tank yu). She also likes to make a whole series of animal noises. Some of the sounds are make believe - some are legit. For example, her dog sound is "woof" but her lion sound is so strange I can't even describe it. Its definitely NOT a roar! :-) Probably her biggest accomplishment over the last 3 months is putting 2 words together. She can says "hi dadda", "hi mamma", "hi nana", or "hi baby" - so I think that counts (right??).



2. Body Parts - Katie can identify the following body parts: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, checks, tongue, teeth, head, hands, feet, toes, and knees. We are working on elbows, shoulders, and chin.



3. TANTRUMS!!! I was under the mistaken assumption that tantrums weren't supposed to start until the terrible two's. Boy was I wrong about that one! ha! Katie will actually throw herself in the floor and scream if I don't give her what she wants (like going outside). I try my best to just ignore the tantrum and at this point they are relatively short lived. Let's hope they stay that way.



4. Teeth - Katie has cut almost all of her teeth. She is still missing 2 eye teeth and one bottom tooth. I'll be so grateful when all her teeth are in - teething is no fun.



5. Its official...she likes LEGOS! :-) Over the last couple months, Katie started taking an interest in legos. She likes to put the blocks together, take them apart, then put them back together again. Over and Over and Over.



6. She can kick a ball and throw it overhand - though she does "throw like a girl." HAHA! :-)

Things we need to work on:

1. Using a spoon. Katie is pretty good at using a fork, but is really pretty bad at using a spoon. Yogurt days are a mess if I let her feed herself. I often feed her because I can't take it. I know its counter productive to her own development when I feed her....but I can't stop myself. She gets frustrated with using the spoon and results to eating yogurt with her hands - I think you get the picture.

2. Puzzles. Katie has excelled at the typical gross motor skills (i.e. walking, running, and climbing). But, her fine motor skills aren't developing as quickly. Some days she does really well with puzzles, other days she struggles.

3. Separation Anxiety!!! Katie is extremely attached to mommy, daddy, and Nana. Even when I leave her in the church nursery she flips out. Some weeks its okay, but this weekend they had to come get me before church service was over. Katie will start daycare this week (only part time initially), so I'm hoping the separation anxiety will get better.

Unfortunately this is a picture-less post for now. I'll update this one with a couple of pics and the physical statistics a bit later. Just want to get some of these milestones down on paper.