Susannah at 18 months: sugar and spice with extra spice

I spend way more time on this blog than I do on Susannah's baby book. I figure a baby book will just sit there, but the magic of the internet allows me to easily share Susannah's childhood with anyone who is interested. So, in true baby book style, here is my attempt at a comprehensive documentation of Susannah at 18 months. I'll try to stick to the facts, but I may brag a little, too. (hey, it's my blog!)

For those of you who like hard data (ahem, Dad):
Weight: 22 lb, 11 oz (25%ile)
Height: 31.5 in (50%ile)
Head circumference: 75-90% (gotta put that big brain somewhere!)

Verbal development:
She has been and continues to be quite the little chatterbox. She narrates everything with a mix of real words and sing-song babble. I did my best to list her current vocabulary below (along with alternative pronunciations, if they deviate significantly from the normal way of saying it. Some of them are quite funny):

Uh-oh (her first word)
No
OK
Yup
Up
Down (dow)
Buckle
Puppy
Bird
Bear
Bunny
Monkey
Animal
Mouse (mow, rhymes with how)
Baby
Keys
book
Car (ca)
Sock (cock...hopefully she'll get this one straightened out)
Shoe
Clothes
Jacket (yock-a)
Mommy
Daddy
lego
Ball
Walk (wok-y)
Bath (bai)
Go
Moon
Star (sta)
Tree (tee)
Pen (bye) (I know, this makes no sense)
Hi
Bye (accompanied by wave and/or blowing kiss)
Poop
ID (Alex's work badge or any card-like object)

Body parts:
Eye
Nose (No)
Ear (Ea)
Mouth (same as mouse, see above)
Chin
Neck
Hair
Head
Teeth
Toe
Knee
Elbow (elmo)
and she can point to many more....including bellybutton

And she's going nuts with the animal sounds:
Baa for sheep
Moo for cow
Quack for duck
Meow for cat
Neigh for horse
Woof for dog (woop)
Oink for pig (oak)
Grrr for bear
Oooh-oooh for monkey
Funny tongue thing for snake (hard to explain, you'd have to see it)

Food words:
Apple
Raisin (ray-ray)
Blueberry (boo-bay)
Cheerio (O's)
Meat (meep)
Pea
yogurt
Cracker
Grape (brape)
Bread
Bottle (ba-ba)
Soup
Spoon
Cup (puc)
Bowl
Coffee (cockee)

Libia, the woman who runs her daycare, is from Peru and only speaks in Spanish with the children. Susannah's Spanish vocabulary (that we know of) consists of:

si (yes)
agua (water)
leche (milk)
zapato (shoe)
nariz (nose)

As of this writing, she is just beginning to recognize a few people by name (other than mommy and daddy); interestingly, they are all other toddlers, including her "friend" Esme (Em-may) and a few of the other kids at daycare.

Activities:
Susannah is extremely active, and spends much of her waking time running around, climbing on things, and generally getting into some kind of mischief. She also loves dancing, and will dance to almost anything, including the ring of the cell phone, the annoying music that her toys play, and even the elevator music that accompanies the safety video on airplanes. Her current favorite toys are legos (an Xmas gift from my parents) and a little box with holes of different shapes that match blocks with corresponding shapes (she can match almost all the shapes now!). She also LOVES books, and one of her favorites seems to be "Goodnight Moon". As we read, she points out various things in the pictures, including the mouse, which is pretty impressive since it is tiny and moves to a different place on each page! She loves any book with animals, and will accompany the reading by making the appropriate noises for each animal (see above).

Feeding:
She is quite adept with a spoon and likes eating when she's in the right mood (see pics below), but is generally a fairly picky eater. Favorites are oatmeal, sweet potatoes, crackers, apples, raisins, and turkey meatballs.






Susannah vs. oatmeal


Disposition:
I would describe her disposition as "sugar and spice and everything nice".... but with extra spice. She is very sweet and affectionate, loves waving and blowing kisses to just about anyone, and has recently started hugging and kissing us, which is heaven! She is quite strong-willed and can be very stubborn (for example, she has suddenly decided that she doesn't like the stroller and would rather walk everywhere HERSELF). This can be a real pain if you actually want to move from point A to point B in a reasonable time frame, but the last time I tried to wrestle her into the stroller against her will, I also felt so proud of her. She is so smart, and if she wants to do something, watch out, because she does not give up easily! As long as we do a good job as parents, she will be a force to be reckoned with someday!