19 months

R.A. had her 18 month appointment last week.  She is 80% percentile on weight.  She speaks more words than I can count.  Her favorite things are books and being outside.  She loves accessories: hats, backpacks, gloves, oven mitts, her mom's scarves.  She loves giving hugs and kisses.  She sleeps like a champ still, sleeping from around 7pm to 6 or 6:30 every morning, though sometimes she'll sleep in till 8 or goes to bed at 6pm, depending on the exhaustion level of the day.  She takes a nice nap each morning, for around 2 hours, and then has a quiet hour in the afternoon, reading books.  She also spends time reading books in her crib each morning, so I can try to catch a few more Zs before facing my wildly hectic days.  She spends the morning with her dad, her lunch with me and then goes to her friend Carolina's in the afternoon, who's mother is so kind to make time for Squeaks each day from 1:30-4:30.  My dear friend Kristin is still so kind to watch Squeaks each Tuesday, where they go for walks, sew and cook together.  It is so comforting to know Squeaks is so lovingly cared for each day. Aaron joins us for most evenings as we enjoy ourselves and our sweet family.  Moments seem to have more meaning and more value as we make memories and share laughter together as a family.

Squeaks adores the outdoors and requests early each day to go "side" bringing her "shoes" and "jacket" to me to prepare for our departure.

She is still dear friends with Puffin who has unofficially been named "dog sister of the year," as she puts up with sharing her dog bed, ball and favorite spot on the couch with Squeaks.

Weekends consist of family hikes, swims, reading books and turning our house inside out as Squeaks makes discoveries and explores.

She shows nearly no attachment to any particular item or thing in our house and spends time equally with all stuffed animals, books and toys.  She also shows no real interest in vegetables.  In general she is almost too busy to enjoy stopping to eat at all.  She often finds herself "all done" with her meal a few seconds after siting down.  Aaron and I are trying to come up with ways for her to stop and eat.  We've tried books, having her eat on our laps, music, but nearly always the outcome is the same "all done" which translated means I am still hungry but I would rather be free to play on my own.

Her favorite word is "ma" which translated means I want something, you can figure it out, and I will continue to say "ma" over and over until you do.  And if/ when you do figure it out I will soon be interested in something else and say "ma" again.

She also loves going to Edgecumbe each day for lunch as dozens of children often rush to play with "Squeaks!".  One of my students for a Spanish project did a lovely life size replica of her for a class project.  Now each day when she walks by her poster hanging on the wall (which actually looks shockingly similar to her), she stops, points and says "me" giving a big grin.  Here are some pics from this past month showing some of her aforementioned favorite things and activities: