18 (and 1) months old

I wanted to do an all things Georgie at 18 months post but since she turned 18 months just five days after I had a baby, it didn't happen. So she is technically 19 months old, but we're going to pretend this is her 18 month post.

"Say 'cheese'!" and it actually works!

Georgie talks. Constantly. Most of it unintelligible until I connect her sounds with something she's pointing at and realize she's a lot closer to imitating words than I frequently realize. She's even starting to put words together in really basic sentences. Her recognizable vocabulary is easily in the three dozen word range and grows daily. She is very good and imitating the first sound of a word but then she babbles the rest - "music" has become "mu-nee" and her special blanket is her "bee-lah", etc. Her favorite word is "no" but she is catching on to "yes" now too. She loves to open books (any book) and "read" it, complete with inflection and occasionally fake laughter.

A reading action shot with the TV on in the background. Yes, I let my kid watch movies, but not all day and almost all Disney, so, you know, there's that. It could be worse?

Georgie has been very attached to people since Rosie was born (not surprisingly). She does a roll call of sorts multiple times a day: "Mama? Dada? Nana? Rah-rah? Eeee-ah?" (Me, Tim, my mom, my sister Rachel, my brother Ethan.) She frequently just says "Mama" over and over and over again, to which I reply, "Yes Georgie?" over and over and over again. We are definitely in a repetition phase. 

Everyone asks how Georgie is with the new baby and she is a very loving big sister. Sometimes she loves a little too hard and sometimes she gets frustrated and melts down when I can't hold her or help her, but for the most part, she's been great. She has a baby doll who she likes to diaper, feed (today she tried to shove tortilla chips into the doll's mouth), burp, swaddle, etc. The one that makes me laugh is when she tried to use the bulb syringe to suction out the doll's nose. She is very, very observant.

I was taking pictures of Rosie and Georgie wanted in on the action. This is a fairly typical lunch - cereal, raisins, pear and apple slices, and apple juice. Notice that most of it is untouched.

Georgie still doesn't eat, or at least not consistently. Some days, all she does is ask for food. Most days, I give her a variety of options and she picks at them. Her favorites (aka foods that she'll always eat) are Ranch dressing, peanut butter, popcorn, Ramen noodles, bacon, apple juice, and "no-nee" (candy). Some of the foods she'll pick at when she's in the mood are scrambled eggs, toast, apples, raisins, cereal, chicken, olives, cheese, lunch meat, hot dogs, and whatever Tim and I are eating. She loves "ahssss" (ice), asks for it with almost every meal, and will eat two full Pedialyte popsicles in a day if I let her.

Georgie loves music, videos, and dancing. Music of any kind catches her attention and prompts some amazing dancing when she's in the mood. (See the videos below.) Her favorite song is the theme song from the show Psych (the link is a compilation video that I frequently pull up for Georgie) and requests "I know, I know" multiple times a day. Her other favorite is "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" and she knows all the actions and even some of the words. 

Other things Georgie loves: coloring, going outside (nothing beats going to the park for her!), knocking on doors, tickling, climbing on everything, watching videos on my iPod (mostly Sesame Street and the songs from Tangled and Frozen), and taking a bath. She likes to help me by 1) putting things in the garbage can when I ask her to, 2) pushing the vacuum when I get it out, and 3) putting clothes (and occasionally other things, like toys or food) in the dryer when I do laundry. The other day she put away some of her clean clothes all by herself, without my asking; she also tried to throw away the clothes I asked her to put in the dirty laundry bag. She likes to wave to people leave from our front room window and she's very good at saying "bye bye" and blowing kisses - she even does it when she leaves a room. She knows all her body parts and hasn't gotten tired of being quizzed on them yet. She's still initially shy around new people and situations but she usually warms up pretty quickly. 

Georgie is energetic and playful, serious and observant, sweet and loving, capable of adorable gestures and gigantic tantrums (sometimes in the same minute), sensitive to changes, and insistently determined until distracted by something better. In other words, she's an 18 month old version of our Georgie girl.

Not the best selfie but I love A) how Georgie is looking sideways at me, B) her crooked smile, and C) that our hair is exactly the same color. She's definitely mine.