Karys Alexandra: 18 months

Karys Alexandra,

I know I say this every time, but I can't believe that you are already 18 months old.  You are turning into a toddler right before my eyes!  You a sweet and lovable, sassy and determined, huggable and stubborn.  You have a little spit-fire of a personality and you rarely sit still.  You are always "into" something and the other kids have started calling you "baby-zilla" because it appears that your job is to ruin everything that they create (duplos, lincoln logs, card games, etc) throughout the day.  But oh my goodness are you absolutely adorable.  We get comments all the time about how precious you are, how cute you are, how brave you are, etc.  But what else are you up to right now

• You are in size 2T-3T clothes. You wear shoe size 6.  You are in size 5 diapers.
• You are 30lbs 10oz and 34" tall.  Above the 90th percentile for both height and weight!
• You don't have many words at all. I think you are putting all of your energy into your motor skills! The words that you do say are: all done (ah-ba!), hot, go, hi, bye . . . and I think that might be it. Not even "mama" and "dada" yet!
• Because you don't have many words, you get frustrated easily. You throw things (including your plate, cup, silveware, toys, etc) when you are trying to communicate with us and we don't understand you. And sometimes you even throw yourself on the ground in a fit because of your frustration. :( We have tried teaching you sign language and you will sometimes sign "more", "all done", and "please" but you'd rather scream instead.
• You still nurse in the morning when you wake up and in the evening before going to bed. 
• You still love your pacifiers but often at nap time you will throw them out of your crib and then fall asleep without them.  We try to limit pacifiers to naps, bedtime, and in the car . . . but you often find them around the house and help yourself to them. Or you go into your room and stand by your dresser and screech and point until one of your siblings takes pity on you and hands you one of your pacifiers out of the cup on the top of your dresser.
• You nap from 1 or 1:30 to 3:30 or 4.  You haven't ever climbed out of your crib (thank goodness) but you did try to climb out of Grandma's crib a couple of months ago. You ended up falling out and it scared you so much that you haven't tried it again.  You go to bed around 8:30 (usually I lay you down awake after you nurse) and sleep until 7 or 7:30 in the morning.
• You love to fold your arms (sometimes to copy other people doing it and sometimes when you are mad and sometimes when you just want to be funny!) in front of you and put a little "attitude" look on your face.
• You have a little collection of 12 small animal figurines that I bought at Hobby Lobby for you. For whatever reason, you have become very attached to the pig and to the cow.  You could care less about the other animals but whenever I bring out the bag for you, you immediately look for and grab the pig and cow. If you don't see them, you'll put your palms up in the air, shrug your shoulders, and say "go?" You even bring them to bed with you for your nap.
• Your favorite toys right now are baby dolls and play food.  You also love the slide that it is the playroom.  You have mastered going both down and climbing up the slide.  You have been watching your siblings and now you can go down the slide on your tummy as well as on your bum. You always pick the biggest slide to go down when we are at parks! Mommy doesn't worry too much about you going down such big slides but other Mommies at the park will sometimes get pretty nervous watching you! You also love playing with your siblings and doing (or trying to do!) whatever they are doing.  You and Samuel love to play chase around the house. He plays pretty rough with you but whenever I tell him to be careful, he says, "But Mom! Karys is laughing!" Which is true.
• You are also really starting to show an interest in books.  Sometimes you will go and grab and book and plop down in my lap to have me read it.  Your favorite books are "Animal Sounds" "Where is Baby's Belly Button" "God Made Me" Peekaboo Baby" and the "That's Not My . . . " series.  Books usually need to have either flaps or touch/feel to keep you interested.  
• Outside is your favorite place to be. If someone leaves and you don't get to go, you are so upset! Whenever you see shoes or a coat or hear the word "bye" you run to the door and wait (not so patiently) to go. You love to go away in the car and sometimes when we are playing outside you will go over by the side of the van where your carseat is and whine.
• Favorite foods . . . I'm not sure if you have favorite foods. You eat almost anything we put in front of you. You do not like raspberries, oranges, juice (I'm okay with that!), and blueberries can be hit or miss.  You do eat a lot of yogurt, applesauce, jam sandwiches, cheese, mac and cheese, and bananas. Mashed potatoes is also a big hit. Actually, now that I think about it, chocolate is probably your favorite food. You went trick-or-treating with the big kids and now you have your own pumpkin full of candy. Whenever they are allowed to have a snack, you run over to the pumpkins too and scream until someone gets you a little treat. You especially love kit kats and reese's. ;)
• I asked Daddy if there was anything I needed to write down about you and he said "she screams" - you are a screamer! I hope those words come quickly! He also said that you love to rough house.