19 Months

This was my attempt at getting a half decent photo of Eden. It is SO representative of her stage in life right now...Miss Independent. I tried to take her out of her bike for a few shots and she just threw a fit and then ran back to her bike and climbed in. That's exactly what she is doing in this photo. 

Five more months until you are a 2 year old! There's no doubt about it, you certainly are growing up at a rapid pace. From reading so many blogs I knew you would have a HUGE growth in personality and the things you would learn during your 18th month and were they ever right. Wow. You are such a great talker now. Your words amaze us each day...in fact there are very few words that you cannot say now. You know most of the alphabet by sight, but forget K and Z sometimes. You are such an imitator. You repeat EVERY SINGLE THING we say. I have found that I said, "okay" "alright" and "honey" much more than I ever realized. I do love hearing you say "honey!" You are so very loving and compassionate. Your personality is starting to come out more in public...it's apparent that you are comfortable around almost everyone. I just cannot believe how much you have changed and yet you still have your signature "Eden" personality. 

Things You Love

Dance Parties

Splashing in your bath

Sidewalk chalk

Talking about baby "HeHe"

Helping mommy in the kitchen

Backyardigans

Dora the Explorer

Elmo (still "MoMo" around here)

Playing with your babies

Your buggy (vintage stroller)

Animals

Apples

Being outside! 

Things You Don't Love

Getting teeth (one more on the bottom!)

Being sick

The sun in your eyes

Being dirty

Dirty houses (she will say "UH OH!" until it's clean)

We had a BIG event in our house. Just as promised, the pacifier got taken away before she was 19 months. We made 18 months the rule because her pacifiers specified only being suitable until then and she finally was at an age where we felt like she could understand what had happened, but also forget about it rather quickly. Well, for those wondering, here's how it went down. Josh left out of town for the weekend. So, on Friday, I just never gave her the pacifier. She had been sick the week before and had used it 24/7 (we usually only left her have it for sleep EXCEPT when sick). So I was so surprised when she never even asked for it that day...and it was even sitting on the counter where she could see it. I put her down to sleep and although she fought it she never once asked for the "bink." I should mention that Eden fighting sleep is not something new, it happens almost daily so the pacifier didn't cause this necessarily. She finally slept and at 4 a.m. I awoke to SCREAMING. I pick her up and she is stiff as a board. It took 20 minutes to console her (I think she mostly wanted daddy), but she still never asked for it. Yes, I wanted to grab it knowing that she would settle down instantly, but I promised myself I wouldn't touch it. Saturday went the same way. She has since seen pacifiers with other babies, or even in pictures of herself, but the most she says is, "BINK!" and then moves on. I did not expect it to go this way at all. I assumed we would have to fight it. I'm so glad we went with our instincts as her parents and waited until we felt she was ready (but not tooooo long). It's a great reminder that for the most part, we were made to be able to know our children and how to help them. So, don't be scared about taking away the pacifier, the results may just surprise you. Or not. And then I'll just say, "I'm sorry!"

Dancing with her bear

"Colors!"

A future mommy-in-training

*This is actually something for her 19 month post, but since I am late in posting it and WAY too excited I had to mention that Eden went potty on the toilet! Of course it was when I was out of town. Apparently she asked to go "pee pee" and sat down and went. We are still not pushing it, but we are so excited that she is that excited about it!