Annabel - 18 months

Oh what a year and a half it has been with this little lady!

And because I'm a sucker for comparisons...

My sweet girl. She is the definition of sugar and spice, and I love every ounce of her.

Since I haven't really captured much about her lately, here it goes:

Annabel is a full-fledged toddler, climbing chairs to reach light switches, running around outdoors, wanting to walk up the stairs with minimal help, ordering us around, refusing to follow the rules, throwing some pretty epic tantrums... my baby is no more.

She still loves to carry things in her hands. She will pick up just about anything in sight (remotes, a sock, paper, toys) and carry them around. If she finds another item she wants to grab, she piles everything up in one arm against her chest so she can grab it with the other hand. Then it all spills and she tries again. If you give her a bowl with crackers, she will fit every last cracker in her hand immediately and then nibble at them as she goes about her business. Who needs a bowl?!

And she loves animals. She squeals when she sees dogs or birds out her window, loves petting our neighbor's dog, and had to be dragged away from the goats at the county fair. I'm pretty sure she touched every single one. At the State Fair, she touched a horses ear and squealed with such delight.

She only says 6 words: Mama, Dada, Papa, ba (for Barb or goodbye, we think, but has used it randomly for other things), da (that? there? not sure...), and uh-oh. Her comprehension is incredible, so I'm not terribly concerned that her vocabulary is so small. Reading back on Carter, he went from 4 words to 20+ in a matter of a couple of weeks, so I'm sure something with switch on with her and off she'll go. Her pediatrician says this is common for second children, as the older ones tend to do all the talking. Oh, how that is true in our house!

She has always been quite attached to me, but most evenings lately all she wants is her pacifier and to lay her head on my shoulder and snuggle in. It's so endearing, and I try to remind myself at how little and dependent this girl is, and if me holding her makes her feel better/calm/secure/whatever it is, I should never complain. But of course this makes making dinner or getting anything else done nearly impossible, and the alternative is hearing her whine and tug at my pant leg.

She is very ticklish under her arms, and you can barely touch her armpit and she giggles. And she wears the most adorable pigtails (when she sits still long enough for me to put them in).

She tries to keep up with her brother, and does quite well. He will tolerate her most of the time, but then smothers her (sometimes almost literally) with affection that she gets angry and goes off to do her own thing. She's usually a good sport about laughing at his antics, or doing what he suggests, which makes her his number one fan.

We have had another rough patch with sleep, making Annabel most definitely the worst sleeper of the house. With the onset of a cold and 4 new molars all at once, she refused to sleep in her crib. We resorted to holding her a lot, putting her down when in deep sleep, only to have to pick her up when she woke from that sleep cycle. Once the molars were through and the cold was gone, we had a battle to get her back to sleeping on her own. Oofda. It called for some very rough nights, and days at daycare (like falling asleep before lunch).

In true Annabel fashion, it took weeks and lots of ups and downs, but we're finally back in a good place. She naps well (provided she doesn't poop 20 minutes into the nap and then refuse sleeping more), and is putting herself to sleep at night and usually sleeping the whole night. She has come up with a sudden case of separation anxiety, so we have to stay within eyesight while she falls asleep, but we've graduated from laying next to her on the floor to just sitting/standing in the doorway for a few minutes. I can tolerate that.