Today Reese is 18 months! Once a kid is a year old I don’t think you should continue to mark their age in months, even though there is still rapid development and change from month to month. Unless it’s another mom of a small child all people want to hear is “oh he’s a year!” or “She’s almost 18 months!” or “He’ll be two in September.”

But 18 months is something to celebrate, because it is SO FAR from one year. She’s an entirely different child now, awesome in the same ways and so many new ones, with a completely different landscape of challenges and discoveries.

Six months ago Reese didn’t walk. She said “Mama” and “Dada” and “Toto” and “Wow.” She was still drinking more milk than eating food, although she was eating basically anything we offered her. She was napping twice a day and sleeping 12 hours a night like the angel nugget blessing from heaven that she is. She was freaking bald. She had zero teeth. All she did all day was read books.

And now all she does is talk. She is jabbering constantly, and making up a variety of facial expressions to go along with her words. She insists on walking/running everywhere and wants to hold hands with everyone. She still likes books, but she’d watch YouTube for hours if I let her. She’s down to one bottle before bed and it appears that, like her father, pasta is her favorite food, or perhaps popcorn like her mother. She takes one nap a day, and we’re lucky if it’s 2 hours – but we can’t complain when she sleeps 12+ hours a night and goes down like a little champion. She thinks she is bigger than she is, and tries desperately to keep up with big kids.

I’ve never really blogged one of these, since I keep a very detailed baby book, but something about reaching 18 months wants me to recognize all of this. I just look at this little 18 month old person and can’t believe all that she does, and all that she’s become. Since we don’t quite celebrate this like a birthday, I still want to mark how far we’ve come. And it’s not fair to say we won’t celebrate, when I’m sure I’ll be dancing around the church building when I leave her in nursery this Sunday. Who says celebration has to be cake and ice cream? Maybe it’s just as festive for Reese to live her best life with her buddies in nursery and for her mom to have two hours of quiet listening in a padded chair.

Words Include

• Mama
• Dada
• Toto
• Wow
• Mo (more)
• Mah-maw (Grandma Patti)
• Bampa (Grandpa Ed)
• Mimi (Grandma Kitty)
• Papa (Grandpa Chad)
• Uh-oh
• No
• Hi and Hey interchangeably
• Baiiiiii
• Ta-da!
• joos (juice)
• Bah-bee (baby)
• Maow (meow/cat)
• Pa-bah (panda)
• Shooz (shoes)
• Wes Go! (Let’s go!)
• Pees (please)
• Ow-sy (outside)
• Wa-wa (Her cousin Lillie, no idea where this came from)
• Wooby (Ruby, her cousin and her bestie)
• Pop (poop – we’re hoping this will help us potty train eventually? who knows)
• Ow
• Nigh-nigh (night night)
• “weh goooooo weh goooooooo” = “let it go let it gooooooo” hahaha
• “da da da da da di daaaaa” = “hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog!” lolol

Tricks Include

• Giving loves
• High five and “boom” (knuckles/bones/pound fist)
• Random tackle leg hugs
• Various stunning dance moves
• Folding her arms for prayers
• “Knock-a-door” where she knocks on the bathroom door while you’re peeing
• Letting Coco out of his kennel
• Getting into Coco’s treats and feeding him approximately 1,000 before I catch her
• Brushing her own teeth & hair (I mean, kind of)
• Finding YouTube on anyone’s phone within 20 seconds
• Spotting pandas of any size from an impressive distance
• Pointing to her button, ears, nose, feet, mouth
• Peek-a-boo
• FINALLY using a spoon successfully, praise the Lord (she used the blunt end for like 6 months)
• “Nigh-Nigh” where she pulls pillows off the couch and then lays down on them on the ground to watch tv/pretend to be asleep

Loves

• Totos of all kinds
• Talking constantly and earnestly
• Going outside
• Going anywhere at all
• The Office. I swear it, you guys. She literally dances excitedly at the opening jingle.
• Holding hands
• Her grandmas
• Pandas 4eva
• Weird freaking YouTube videos like Pregnant Elsa and Spiderman crap
• My Little Pony, Octonauts, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
• Her Klip Klop Princess castle
• Pretending to put on makeup with mom
• Singing and dancing
• Making people laugh
• Popcorn, Pasta, Yogurt Melts, fruit snacks, whatever you’re eating
• Sleeping with her bum in the air
• Her cousin Lillie. She would follow Lillie off a cliff.
• Splash Pads – especially if they have the shallow streams, which she prefers
• Doing her doll’s hair
• Her wubanub binkies
• Swinging and slides

Every day is a lot more intense, a lot more messy, a lot more frustrating. Every simple task takes longer and is a new discovery. I’m getting less done now than when I was breastfeeding for hours a day, which is just so bizarre to me. I definitely think often of 4 month old bowling ball Reese that just smiled and cuddled and made no messes and I miss her.

But the excitement I feel when I get to do something new with Reese – the anticipation of her reaction, the expectation of the joy or surprise on her face, the precious peals of laughter when she finds something to be hilarious… I’ve really only had that at 18 months.

Only at 18 months do you get a kid that is figuring out how to joke and tease.

18 month cuddles are more rare and more intentional, so they’re worth more than gold.

The babbles of an 18 month kid in the backseat actually feel like conversation, somehow, and if you know me you know how much it means to me that I will actually have a little talking buddy soon.

At 18 months they can tell you “mo” or “pop” or “ow” or “nigh nigh” or “toto” and TELL YOU why they’re freaking out.

18 months is still happy to see me when I come into her room every morning. Maybe even more excited, because she immediately starts spouting off her thoughts to me. It’s my favorite way to wake up.

18 months can feed herself and eat anything I’m eating.

18 months waves and says “hiiiiiii” to everyone we see.

18 months wants to do everything I’m doing. On her own. But with me.

18 months rocks. Happy 18 Months Reester Bunny!