18 Months!
After Lilly turned a year, I decided I wouldn’t do monthly updates anymore because I didn’t want to bore y’all with my proud mom moments… hahaha! Just kidding… I just didn’t want to bombard you guys with updates about the little things… BUT, I did think it would be fun to do “check-ins” or update posts at 18 months and two years and then every year after that… MAINLY because it’s a good way for me to document the major things and I can look back on these posts and remember the fun details of her life.
I also know so many of y’all have loved watching Lilly grow and would love to know what she’s up to! So, with that in mind, I thought I’d share a little update of what’s going on in her life! I can’t believe our girl turned 18 months old yesterday!! It’s CRAZY to me how fast time is FLYING.
John and I are more in love with this girl every day. She just blows us away with how much she’s grown and how smart she is!! We are so lucky to be her parents.
Lilly girl, we love you so much!!
Lilly’s 18 Month Update!
Weight and Length: 26.9 pounds and 31″ long.
Nicknames: Putian. Smunk. Munka. Monkey moo.
Sleep: This girl is (for the most part) an awesome sleeper now… FINALLY. She sleeps about 12 hours a night and she naps once a day for about 3 hours. If I’m lucky, I can sometimes even get a 4 hour nap out of her and it is glorious! We transitioned her to one nap around 13 or 14 months and it happened sort of on its own… and it’s been great! It’s freed up our mornings for playdates and fun stuff.
She does still occasionally wake up in the middle of the night but we can almost always get her to go back down… I’m so thankful she’s finally a sleeper!
Eating: This girl loveeees food. She has had some periods where she’s extremely picky, but now that she really understands more of what’s going on, we’ve made it pretty clear to her that she’s gotta eat what’s on her plate… she doesn’t have to eat all of it, but she eats what we eat and that’s that. For a while I kept getting up and making her something different if she didn’t like what we gave her, but I just felt like I was creating a bad habit because she knew she could get something different if she didn’t want what was in front of her. It took about three days, but she quickly got it and now she will really eat everything and she has even tried new stuff that I thought she’d hate but she ended up liking.
For example, I made some sauteed kale the other day and thought she’d hate it… NOPE. She loved it!! She doesn’t really like many veggies (I think some of them are still just tough to eat… despite the fact that she has ALL of her teeth)… so I don’t force her to eat the ones I know she hates… but the kale was a big win!
She also LOVES fruit. All fruit. She could eat ALL the fruit all day long. And of course cheese is a food group for her in and of itself.
She still nurses twice a day (morning and night) which is great. I don’t know when we’ll stop, but I’ll let her take the lead on that…
Words and Signs: This girl is a TALKER. I have no idea where she got it from. Right around Christmas it’s like a light switch went off and BOOM… she just started talking. Some words are super clear while others are not so much (even though I know what she’s saying…) She really loves to communicate and I know I’m biased but I just think she’s so smart! She is already putting two and three word sentences together. It’s amazing.
Her favorite words are:
- No
- Oh no
- No no puppies
- Bye bye puppies
- Baby!
- Hi puppies
- Mom / Mommy / Mom mom
- Daddy / dada
- Cracker (sounds like gra-gra)
- Good girl (she says this to the dogs when they do something)
- Cheese
- Snack!
- Shoes
- Socks
- Bible
- Ball
- AMENNNN!
She loves to say the alphabet (she’s getting really good at it!) and she loves, loves, loves to try and repeat what you say. It’s awesome and adorable.
The way she says shoe is, like, the best ever. #lillstillhomemovies #sorrynotsorryforallthevideos A video posted by Molly Stillman (@stillbeingmolly) on
Mood: She is so happy 90% of the time, but I already see a very strong-willed toddler coming out in her. If she doesn’t get her way, she immediately throws herself on the ground. It’s good times. We’re working through it. She’s usually super easy and so fun and joyful… but there is definitely a feisty toddler in there that rears its head…
Loves:
- Playing outside
- Puzzles
- Reading (this girl LOVES TO READ – she will grab a book and crawl up in her rocker and “read” to herself all the time… it’s adorable)
- Playing pretend
- Her baby dolls
- Babies in general
- Her crib – she will just sit and play happily in her crib forever!
Doesn’t Love:
- Being bored
- Riding in the car at night
- When the dogs steal her snack (obviously)
Practicing our vowels. #lillstillhomemovies #toomuchcute
A video posted by Molly Stillman (@stillbeingmolly) on
What I Want to Remember / Milestones: All of it. I want to remember the way she snuggles when we watch Veggie Tales on Saturday mornings. I want to remember the hilarious way she says “shoes” and “socks.” I want to remember how sweet it is when she clasps her hands to pray and the way she says “AMEN” with such enthusiasm. I want to remember how much she loves puzzles and how hilarious and awesome her “dance” moves are. I want to remember how awesome it is to see her play with her friends and the look in her eyes when she figures something out or discovers something new. I want to remember how smart I know she is. I want to remember how funny it is when she imitates me whether it’s by making a face or through an arm gesture.
She’s in such an awesome and fun stage right now and I literally want to remember all of it. I need to do a better job of writing things down and documenting and remembering the little details because I know I’m going to look back on this stage and it’s just going to be a big ol’ blur.
She was a “late” walker and started walking right at 15 months…
What I’m Looking Forward To: All of it. I am so blessed to be her mama and I love watching her grow and learn new things every day! She constantly amazes me with what she is learning and what she knows…
What a sweet post! 🙂 I’m not really sure how our kiddos turned into straight up kids from those squishy little babies… but I love it!
Such beautiful pictures! I have been following your blog for a while now. I just started my own blog, like literally, this week, and it makes me look at all my favorite blogs in a new light. I’m always googling “How do you do_____ on a blog.” Anyways, thanks for the inspirations, this was a great post as usual!
Taylor
https://tspoonfulofsugar.wordpress.com/
Molly, thank you so much for these pictures. I just started to follow you..and so glad I am. My son and his family live in Maryland and we live in Michigan
awww thank you, Sandy!
She is adorable. Her “poses” at the beginning of this post look just like you with your outfit of the day! Too funny!
thank you!! she’s so sassy!
She is so cute! Post as much as you want momma….looks like she has your personality!
<3 thanks, shelly!
I love seeing the pictures and updates about her; it takes me back to when mine were little! Also, it’s wonderful that you have all of this documented for her and yourself as she gets older and these memories fade. Those pictures in the snow are simply wonderful!
thank you so much, darcy!
She is so so cute. And you’re giving my hope that my daughter will one day sleep through the night too 🙂
it will happen!!
She is such a doll. You are so blessed!
i am!! thank you, alyssa!!
Your daughter is the cutest! I cannot get over the way she says shoes… loved the update!!!
thank you, Deborah!