Joey turned 18 months yesterday! I think being one and a half is a pretty big deal … definitely worth of cupcakes! She isn’t a baby anymore, and I have to say, I’m totally ok with that. I just love each new stage we move into with her (even though navigating the emotional roller coaster of a toddler all day is exhausting, omg). But I love to see her growing into her personality, learning soooooo much so fast, and mostly she’s just plain a ton of fun to hang out with.

At 18 months, Joey:

• is walking everywhere. She took her first solo steps at about 15-1/2 months, but it wasn’t until around 17 months that she actually started walking on her own. From 15-17 months she would want to walk around and around and around while holding our hands, just practicing, getting the hang of it, before she was ready to go out on her own.
• is an observer and a learner. She’s cautious when it comes to trying new things (like walking), so she practices a lot before she decides to try it on her own. This means she tends to be a little later than other kids on certain milestones, but whatever. Lately she’s been teaching herself to go down the stairs, so she’s been going up a stair or two, and then back down, on repeat for 20+ minutes at a time. One day she’ll go all the way down, but only when she decides it’s time.
• says “yuck” HA HA! Yep, “yuck” is her first word! She says it all the time — if she sees a bug, finds something on the floor, has a dirty diaper. Not really the first word we had in mind, but ok?
• has four teeth as of this week when the left front tooth finally popped through!
• can point to pretty much all of her/your/a toy’s body parts … but she especially loves belly buttons! She will show you her own belly button but she mostly wants to see yours! She even tried to pull up the shirt of one of our friends who she just met, haha. She thinks my pregnancy belly button is hilarious. Hmph.
• points out every flower she sees and said “oooh.”
• LOVES BOOKS. We spend tons of time reading. She constantly brings books to us to read to her and will ask for the same book so many times that I’ll be going crosseyed. My mother, who Joey was named after, was a librarian, so I think it’s especially sweet that books make her so happy.
• points to my tummy when you ask her where her brother is. I don’t think she has any idea what a brother actually is or what a huge change she’s in for soon (only 5 weeks to go!!), but we’re confident that she’s going to be an awesome big sister!

Some of Joey’s favorites…

Toy ukulele: we actually got this for the new baby’s room, but Joey found it and fell instantly in love. I think we have a future rock star on our hands.

Ice Cream Play Set:  considering how much we love ice cream around here, this is a must have! Joey got this for her birthday yesterday and played with it alllll day. We love toys like this that don’t have a bunch of noisy electronic buttons, because obviously they’re less annoying but they’re also so much better at encouraging creativity and imagination. We’re talking about instituting a no-noisy-toys rule.

Stride Rite Charlotte Sandals: now that Joey is walking nonstop, these sandals are her favorites. They’re easy for us to put on (and for her to take off) and she seems to walk really comfortably in them. Plus they’re cute!

Toothbrush: Joey gets super excited about brushing her teeth after her bath. It’s really funny, but we always try to make it sound fun, instead of a chore she has to do. I think she mostly likes the taste of her toddler fruit-flavored toothpaste!

Toddler pillow: Joey was fascinated by the pillows on the couch, so we decided to get her a bed pillow of her own. Then we caught her pulling a blanket into her crib, so now she gets “tucked in” with a pillow and blanket, and she loves it! It lasts about two minutes before she’s out of the covers and off the pillow, but that’s fine.

A few favorite books:

Gaston: I just saw that there’s a follow-up to Gaston called Antoinette that we’re going to have to get!

Footloose:  since we played the “Footloose” song at our wedding ceremony (on banjo!!!), we HAD to get this book. It’s a story about zoo animals set to the same tune as the song, and it’s a huge hit around here.

Rosie Revere, Engineer:  — this whole series is so great…. and all the parents have awesome fashion sense and live in amazing midcentury houses! (Of course I’d notice that.)