My 18 Month Old Little Bundle of Joy

My little bundle of joy is not so little anymore. In fact, she's quite big for her age. At her well exam, Doc said she is 35 inches tall already. That's really tall for an 18 month old girl. She's at the 100th percentile for height. Yep, she is taller than 100% of girls her age. Wow! And her weight is well proportional to her height. She weighs 28 lbs, 3 oz which is in the 91st percentile for girls her age. Nicholas was a big baby and has consistently been tall for his age. I was so excited to have a little girl because I just knew she would be a cute little petite thing. Wrong! She's got all her Daddy's tall genes. That's ok, she's still a bundle of joy, just not a little one. I can still cradle her in my arms but her long legs hang way down. But she's a good armful when she wraps her arms and legs around me as I hold her close to me. So sweet.

Rachel is all toddler - walking, talking, and into everything she can get her hands on. She is wearing me out. I can take 5 minutes to clean up the bathroom only to walk into the bedroom to find that she has opened all of the DVD cases, scattered DVDs all over the floor, AND found a marker which of course meant she had to draw on herself, her clothing, and everything around her. The mess I have to clean up on her and in the bedroom from that 5 minute bathroom cleaning hardly makes me interested in cleaning the bathroom again anytime soon. Maybe we need a maid!

Rachel is quite a chatterbox. She is good at repeating words that you say even if she doesn't get them 100% correct (I personally think those are the cutest!) She still has a hard time saying diaper. She uses sign language to tell us she needs a diaper change but she also tries to say the word. It comes out a little different each time but it's something like "Dee Dee" or "Die Dee". But she makes the sign language word for diaper with her hands as she says it just to be sure we know what she's talking about.

Some of her other cute sayings...

Milk is "Nil" or sometimes it even sounds like "Nolk"
Tomato is "May-doe"
Nicholas is "Thlick-o-lus"
Blanket is "Be-lo"
Tick Tock is "Tick-Tah"
Ball is "Bahl"
Mess is "Meh"

Her favorite place to be is outside. Usually when she's at a window, she will point outside and longingly say, "Ow-sye"



Her latest thing is when she sees a truck on the road, she points to it and says, "Truck!" or "Bus!" if she sees a school bus (her favorite!). She also calls out "pig" and "fish" when she sees them but says "Woof! Woof!" is she sees a dog.

Rachel loves Nicholas' toys as much as her own girly toys. But she also likes some of his new "educational" toys like Magna Tiles. She loves to stick a bunch of squares together in a stack and just carry them around with her.

I have so many little nicknames for Rachel...Sweet Pea, Little One, Lady Bug, Chickadee. Sometimes I even call her Rink or Rinky Dink which was my grandmother's name for me when I was little and the smallest one in the family.

Rachel is rather easy going in general. She especially likes to kick back in her stroller. Everyone laughs when they see her do this.





Look at the size of her foot! She's certainly going to be tall.



Want to know what Rachel had for breakfast or for dinner last night? You could always check in the little storage compartment on the back of her booster seat to see what leftovers she has stashed there. She doesn't just accidentally drop her food in there. She really has to turn herself around to get it in there.

Here is some sliced turkey and a crust from her toast...



Later she stashed some mandarin oranges...



Her favorite foods now are strawberries, baby tomatos, cheese, and chips. Yes, chips are not the healthiest food I can give my child but my husband does work in the Frito Lay division of Pepsico so what do you expect? Actually, she doesn't get chips very often but she is so funny when she sees a bag of chips. She reaches out for them and gets all excited as she says, "Chip! Chip!".

She's still a messy eater but doing better. Here she's eating a meatball with her hands. She likes chicken, turkey, and pork but doesn't really eat much beef.





Rachel is very sweet and loving but she can be stingy with her kisses...



You see how she loves that little pink bunny blanket. It was part of a baby shower gift from Stuart's previous supervisor at Pepsico. I never thought Rachel would be so attached to it. But she calls out for it if she sees it on the other side of the room and she always wants it at bedtime. Heaven help us if it ever gets lost!

Happy 1 1/2 Birthday, Little One!