18 months

 Today Celia is 18 months old. The summer is flying by. Before we know it, we'll have a two-year-old. We've kept this tiny human being alive for a year and a half, and not only that. She's thriving in every way!

Stats: Weight and length will be checked at the doctor tomorrow. Pita still wears size 18-month clothes, with plenty of room to grow. She still wears size 4 shoes, and might actually wear hers out before she grows out of them. Update: She weighs 20 lbs 15 oz (6th percentile) and is 29 3/4 inches long (7th percentile). Still my tiny Pepita :)

Sleep: Celia's down to one nap per day. I'd like her to last until 12:30 or 1:00, but she usually needs her nap closer to noon. She naps for 2-3 hours most days. At night, she sleeps from 7:30 to 6 or 6:30. She has started sleeping all the way through the night some nights. Other nights, she wakes up once and I rock her or give her a binky.

Speech and Language Development: Pita's vocabulary just continues to grow. She still uses 1-2 word utterances, and puts 3 words together once in a while. She makes different types of phrases, like subject-verb, noun-adjective, etc. Yesterday during lunch I told her to say thank you, and a minute later she called out "Thank you Mama!" Celia has started responding to more "wh" questions. She can often answer a question about something we did during the day, where something is, or what we do with something. For example, when we saw roosters and chickens at the farm one day, I asked her later "What animals did we see at the farm?" and she told me.

Motor Development: Celia's newest trick is that she figured out how to walk backwards. It was funny to see the expression on her face when she realized what she was doing. Now she does it just for fun, and when she had a doll stroller at Nana and Grandpa's house last weekend she liked walking backwards pulling the stroller. Pita can also go up and down stairs while holding on to a railing all by herself (obviously we don't let her do it alone). Most other motor skills are the same as last month. She is doing great.

Cognitive Development/Play: Pita's pretend play continues to develop. She does all kinds of cool things now, like sitting all her stuffed animals and dolls at the table and feeding them, or having them all take turns riding in a car. She loves to crawl around on the floor pretending to be a baby or animal. If you ask her what she is, she will tell you. She is currently really into body parts, and knows almost all of them (even less common ones like "elbow"). She always wants to see everyone's belly. She finds the belly on all her animals, shows her belly, and will ask to see yours. This morning she turned a toy car over and pointed to its "belly"! Celia has very good memory and attention. She isn't impulsive at all, the way many toddlers are. In fact, just the opposite. Everything she does is planned and very purposeful. Even if she's momentarily distracted by something, she will then continue with whatever she had planned to do. She knows all of our routines and will take charge of a routine when she wants to do something. If she wants to go outside, she gets her shoes and socks, asks for her hat, and asks for sunscreen. Sometimes I don't even realize what she's doing until she has everything she needs and then says "Outside!". She's also good at figuring out sequences. Last night she found a cd case, took one out, went to the cd player, pushed the right button to open it, put the cd in and closed it up. We just stared at her completely shocked. She's probably seen us do that only a few times, but she doesn't miss anything. We have to remember that she sees everything we do. Pita has also learned more letters since last month. We don't sit down and try to teach them to her. If she has a letter or points to one, we tell her what it is. Later I will notice that she has remembered it and can name that letter.

Behavior: Celia is still very happy and easy going most of the time. When she's tired or bored, she does tend to be easily frustrated and will have little tantrums. A change of scenery always helps. Usually if I take her outside to play her mood instantly improves. When she has trouble with a transition or with putting something away, I tell her I'm going to count to three and tell what she needs to do when I get to "three". Then I count slowly and it always works. We have sat her in little time outs a few times, only when she's been hitting me and won't stop (she thinks hitting Mommy is just hilarious). Pita definitely knows her boundaries and stays within them most of the time. When one of the child safety locks or gates is left open, rather than trying to get in where she shouldn't be Celia will tell us it's open and wants to close it again. She does test us every so often though. She likes to start pushing buttons on the stereo or reaching for the knobs on the stove while saying "No, no, no" and looking for my reaction. Cute little stinker.

Self Help: Pita is very good at using a spoon and fork now. She can drink from an open cup by herself.  She helps us get her dressed, and is very good at taking her shoes off. She loves to brush her teeth, but doesn't really do much brushing. Unfortunately she also doesn't let me help her so hopefully her teeth are okay for now! She can also take off her diaper, which isn't ideal... Speaking of diapers, Celia tells us when she has a poop and sometimes tells me when she is peeing or if she's about to go. She knows what the potty is for and likes to go over to the potty when we flush it, waving and saying "bye bye!" to whatever's in there. Gross I know, but hey- she knows exactly what the potty's for! We think she will definitely potty train early, but she isn't quite ready yet.

That's about it! I still think she's the cutest, most lovable little thing I've ever seen. She's also the most snuggly little snuggler and gives great hugs. I can't believe we're already at the second half of her second year.