Marina Grace @ 18 Months Old

Growth & Appearance: You are about six months overdue for a well-visit. Just keeping it real. There are a lot of reasons for this. The two primary reasons are that 1. I don’t like the way that the pediatricians make me feel when I tell them that I’m spacing out your shots and 2. Life has been a little bit bat-shit-crazy-insane lately (always? just me?) and you and your brother are regularly sick, so we see the pediatrician plenty enough as it is.

All of that, simply to say that I’m not quite sure how tall you are or how much you weigh. What I do know is that you’ve outgrown most of your size 18-month clothes and you fit comfortably in size 2T, and even then you’re starting to push the limits on a few of those pieces.

So, in my book, you’re as healthy as a horse and you eat like one, too. But we’ll get to that in a moment.

Sleeping: Since so much time has passed since your last update, a hell of a lot has transpired and I couldn’t hope to note it all. However, the most notable change, is that between 15 and 16 months, you stopped nursing and started sleeping through the night. If this were a game show, this is the part where the horns would blow, balloons would fly, and confetti would fall from the ceiling.

Up until the very last night that you were nursing, you woke up every 45 minutes through the night. Yes, you read that correctly. Every forty-five minutes. All night, every night. When I finally weaned you, I didn’t have very much discomfort/leakage which goes to prove that you were, indeed, comfort nursing (i.e. using me as a pacifier). After the second night without, you slept a straight twelve hours through. Clearly, you were ready and, needless to say, so was I. We both benefited greatly from the change and the whole new world of uninterrupted sleep.

These days you generally sleep straight through the night between 10-12 hours. However, if you are sick or teething — which, let’s face it, happens a lot in the world of toddlers — you tend to wake up throughout the night and require lots of cuddles to get back down.

As for napping, you typically take one nap a day which lasts between 30 minutes and three hours, all depending on how tired you are and how quiet and dark the room is. For awhile, you would only nap in the car and I spent a solid six months driving around for an hour or so each day so that you and your brother would sleep. Now, you’ve started napping in your crib and your stroller most days which is a huge relief.

Eating: As I alluded to above, you eat like a horse that got loose in the grain bin. I’ve never seen a little girl eat so much. I don’t know where you put it! Although, admittedly you do have the sweetest, roundest Buddha belly around. You love all of the food. You favor salty/savory foods over sweet, unlike your brother and your Papa, but just like your Mama. You’re an amazing eater, really. There isn’t much that you won’t eat and you eat in large quantities. You can easily pack in three bowls of spaghetti at one sitting.

Development: I thought that you were behind Roman developmentally, but when I looked back at his update from this age, I see that you are right on par with him. You are smart as a whip. Your vocabulary expands daily. You are strong and agile and pretty damned fearless. You tackle any obstacles in front of you and it’s amazing how you differ so much from your brother in this regard. He wouldn’t even go near a step until he was at least two-years-old. Meanwhile you can make it up a flight of stairs in a flash.

Favorites: You don’t have very many favorites, per se. Like your brother, you never attached yourself to any one object like a blanket or stuffed animal. You treat all things equally, although you do like to have something in your arms while you sleep. As far as food goes, you love rice & beans and spaghetti. You will eat any type of cheese that is put in front of you. You also love potato chips and french fries. You still don’t really give a hoot about TV, much to my dismay. However, you have just in the past few weeks taken a liking to Sponge Bob and you will sit and watch that for a few minutes which is about the longest that anything, ever, has kept your attention.

Dislikes & Behavior: Speaking of keeping your attention… it’s nearly impossible to do. You have the attention span of a fly. You are constantly moving from one thing to the next. Up until the past month, there was no such thing as independent play for you. Your days of “high needs” infanthood have blended into your days of high needs toddlerhood. I have a whole lot to say on the topic, but I’m going to save it for another post. Suffice to say that you are my little handful. Still, you have come a very long way from those newborn days of crying eight+ hours a day and sleeping no where except my arms. You are gaining some independence, little by little.

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You are my silly, funny, wild girl. You give the biggest hugs and the sweetest kisses imaginable. You are so beautiful and so smart. I love you, Marina Grace, now and always. xo