This little girl is full of sass and energy, that's for sure! Her personality has always been a bit spicier than Nolan's, but as she gets older month by month, she really shows how she is the true testament to a busier second child! She has already chipped her two front teeth and had stitches, all since turning one. She's always on the go and wanting to discover, climb, open, close, turn on, off, go up, down... you name it, she's gonna get into it! I love her sense of curiosity and girlfriend has zero fear when it comes to doing things on her own. She loves going fast on rides or swings and also loves the thrill of being tossed in the air or jumping on the bed. I can't wait to take her to Disneyland next month to see her reaction to all of the rides- I'm thinking she's going to be a fan!
Being such a Mommy's girl, she sticks close to my side in new situations and around new faces. Acelyn is known for having her signature "stare" and isn't the most friendly or smiley baby when she's first greeted by people. I'm not sure if it's a shy thing or if she's just that sassy, but whether you are a stranger or someone she sees often, you're most often going to get a side-eye and dirty look from her for a bit before she really warms up. She's a stubborn babe (go figure), and likes to do things her way and when she wants. At My Gym, she's yet to warm up to her instructors and when activities are set up, she refuses to do them at the designated time, but before or after with no one watching, she does it on repeat and enjoys every second! I can foresee our teenage years being super, super fun!
One person that she's obsessed with is her big brother, and constantly wants to be where he is, doing what he's doing. He's the fist person she asks for in the morning, and she's gotten familiar with Preschool pickup and will ask for Bro-Bro when we are driving to go get him. They are starting to "really" play together, and often go on adventures around the house hand in hand, which is one of her favorite things. They love to push each other on their cars and dance together after dinner. They definitely fight like cats and dogs, much more than they get along, but on the occasions they share being sweet together, she loves giving him love with tackles of hugs.
She's babbling up a storm and has a ton of words, most of which are her own little way of saying certain things. For example, she calls her pacifier her "P", but also refers to pouches as "Ps", too, so we rely on context to differentiate. She can identify most of her body parts, knows most animal sounds (but not actual animal names) and lots of characters and movies, like "eyhhh" for eye, "noooe" for nose, "eeeef" for teeth, and can say ear and toe pretty well. She knows "Moana" and "Sing", "Trolls" and "D" for Daniel Tiger, plus more characters within each of these shows or movies, and lots and lots of Disney characters like Minnie, Mickey, Pluto, etc. Some of her most used words are Mama, Dada, Bro Bro (she can also say "Nolah" for Nolan), "dah" for dog, "Meeee" for Milk, "Nigh-Nigh" for Night-Night, and absolutely LOVES shouting, "Baaahhhhiiiiii!" for Bye! My favorite word she says, other than her "Bye" performance, is turtle: "Tuuuwwt-ulle". It's the cutest!
Some of Acelyn's favorite things to do are empty the dishwasher (she's obsessed!), play outside, climb on everything she can, watch movies (her favorites right now are Sing, Moana and Trolls), Harley, dancing, snacking, reading books, playing Peek a Boo, her "P" (pacifier), cuddling, and playing with her picnic basket toy. She loves helping me out with tasks around the house, like emptying the dishwasher, folding and hanging laundry, and "cleaning" (dusting with a wipe), and can follow directions extremely well, but only when she chooses to!
Here's a look at what else this little lady is up to:
Height, Weight and Sizes:
Acelyn is a petite babe, and has stayed on a similar curve as her entire first year. At 18 months, she weighed in at 21 pounds even (24th percentile), and measures 32.5" (62nd percentile) in height. Her head is still super small, with a circumference of 43 around (4th percentile). She's in all 18 month clothing with a few 24 month PJs, and has started wearing size 4 shoes recently as she just outgrew most of her 3s, and all still mostly Freshly Picked moccasins since they are our favorite! Her diaper is still a size 4 and I can foresee her staying in this size until she's potty trained.
She has 12 teeth and is working on bringing in her canines in the upcoming weeks, I'm sure. She has a hard time teething (especially compared to Nolan, who didn't seem to mind at all), and I'm know these last four are going to be hard for her, until her second molars come in later in her second year, anyway!
Her hair is getting longer and has the best baby curls at the bottom, especially right after her bath. She hates keeping nylon headbands on unless her hair is styled (in a pony or pigtails), so she mostly wears clip bows if her hair is down. She's starting to get into accessories, and loves asking to wear pretties (bracelets or necklaces), but will only keep them on for so long. I think she'll be loving dress up in the near future!
Feeding:
Acelyn eats just about everything we eat at each meal, and still has quite the appetite and usually will finish everything we give her, and sometimes ask for more. She isn't too picky, but is getting pickier as she gets older, or is just finding preferences in food she likes that we cater to giving her! ;) (ie: she used to eat chicken allll the time, and now she definitely prefers chicken nuggets over any type of chicken dish I make... gotta try to cut that habit!) Some of her favorite foods consist of pouches (like, she has a serious addiction and asks for them every second of the day, so we have to limit her on them!), pizza, avocado, anything with cheese, apples, fruit cups, peas and carrots, pasta, and bananas (another absolute favorite). She loves her dessert, and favors cookies over anything. She drinks whole milk 4 times a day, but isn't the biggest fan and doesn't typically finish it during her meals or before bedtime; yet in the morning she's guaranteed to gulp it down quickly.
Acelyn drinks out of both straw cups and her Replay sippy cups, and can also manage decently well out of a normal cup with some assistance. She is not a fan of utensils and although she likes to play with them and try for a few minutes, quickly tosses them aside and continues using her hands to eat. Hopefully we can work on that a bit more in the future so she can get better with them!
Sleeping:
Acelyn's sleep has improved dramatically since our last update, and girlfriend has a pretty steady schedule, even with being on the fly for most of the week with preschool drop off and pickups, running errands and just being on to go! She no longer fights us going to sleep (thank GOODNESS) and can fall asleep most nights within 15 minutes of being rocked. Obviously some nights are better than others, but anything is better than where we were months ago! She typically wakes in the AM around 6AM, where I go in to lay her back down in her crib until at least 6:30... we're trying real hard to get her to sleep until 7AM but her internal clock says otherwise! By 6:30, I bring her in to bed to snuggle while Jason is getting ready, and Nolan is up right at 7 on the dot, when we start our day. When we are out in the car, it's normal for Acelyn to fall asleep around 9:30/10AM for a short nap, or if she doesn't take one then, she'll often fall asleep during preschool pickup at 11:30/12, which I try hard to avoid since it messes with her afternoon nap. On a good day, nap time for both kids is around 1:30 or 2PM, where both sleep for about 1.5-2 hours. Acelyn has gotten spoiled of napping in our bed during nap time, because she would sleep longer than 30 minutes there so I let it happen (and for my sanity, I continue to let it happen... oh well for now!) She's back down for bedtime around 8:15PM, and sleeps through the night in her crib soundly until our early 6AM wakeup. It's not perfect, but it works and it's MUCH better than 6 months ago, so we'll take what we can get!
She continues to use her pacifier (her "P") for sleep only, although she likes to sneak it out of her room, especially when she's tired in the morning or right before her afternoon nap. She recently has found a love for her Sleepy Bunny stuffed animal, which she asks for every time she goes to sleep. So sweet!
Likes:
-Watching movies (current favorites: Sing, Trolls, Moana, Zootopia)
-Peek a Boo
-Pouches
-Her "P" (paci)
-Playing with Harley
-Emptying the dishwasher
-Playing outside, sliding specifically
-Climbing everything
-Sleepy Bunny
-Dancing after dinner
-Looking through books on her own
-Pretties (bracelets, necklaces)
Dislikes:
-Diaper changes
-Getting dressed
-First interactions with strangers and familiar faces alike (she'll give you "the stare")
-Getting in her carseat
-Being held back (she constantly wants to do things on her own or walk by herself places)
-Shopping carts and being confined to them (shopping is harrrrrrd with her)
-Ads or commercials on TV or during music (SO impatient!)
-Brushing her teeth
-Being away from Mommy
Happy 18 months, baby girl! I can't believe how big you're getting and I love watching you grow into your little (big) personality! We love you!
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