Mia @ 18 months

Mia turned 18 months (a year and half!) this week. What a little girl she is turning out to be! When I wrote last months update, I didn't think I would have anything new to say, but boy I do!

Here are some things:

• She now weights 25 pounds and is 33 inches tall.
• Her new toy interest is stuffed animals. She never played more than a few seconds with them and now, a couple of them regularly eat our meals with us, get put to bed at nap and bed time, and go just about everywhere with us around the house. Her favorite is "Miss Monkey", a large monkey she got for Christmas from an aunt. (It's one of those dolls that you can learn to do buttons, zippers, snaps, tie shoes, etc. on - though she does none of that right now.) Also "Miss Daisy", a pink dog that plays "Brahms Lullaby", is favored. She's also fond of the toy baby that goes to her toy house. (It's about the size of an egg!)
• She is talking a lot! She is trying to say more words everyday, and it's hard to keep up! Mostly she says the first part of the word or a version that's not quite right, but I can usually tell what she means. Off the top of my head (no, I don't have a detailed list...) are snack, church, books, nap, hot, cheese, all done, I'm back (she says that to me when I come back in the room after leaving a minute), "muh" for monkey, and "dzz" for Daisy. Some words she's saying perfectly are Mama, De-Da (her name for Will), bye-bye, night-night, pee-pee, and hi. 
• She can eat cereal and milk with a spoon on her own and is getting much better with the fork. She enjoys using a straw some too.

• She likes to color with crayons and markers. 
• It looks like she might be left handed. She's always done things with both hands, but recently we've noticed that she seems more coordinated with her left. Will is left handed as well as one of his sisters. 
• She still loves to read. Her favorite right now is "Are You My Mother?" which is pretty long for a little tot to sit and listen too, but she'd have us read it 4 or 5 times in a row if we didn't kindly suggest we read something else. She loves books with other babies or animals in it and a mama involved. We have a little reading corner now by the window with a blanket and pillows and baskets of books. Being pregnant, I should sit up straight and on the floor more, instead of slouched on the couch. That was my motivation for the little corner, but Mia loves it! She'll even sit by herself and look at her books sometimes. 

Mia really is such a sweetheart. One cute thing she does is if I seem tired, or say that I'm tired, she pulls a pillow off the couch and tells me to lay on it. Then she comes over and sort of rubs my shoulder or leg, like we rub her back at night. She might even try to sing. :) She does the same when she puts Miss Monkey to bed and always give Miss Monkey a kiss on the nose. I think she's going to make a great big sister!