Audrey at 18 months

Wow.  So Audrey is 18 months now.  Closer to 19 months, really.  And she is finally sleeping through the night.  The last 4 nights she has gone down between 7:30 and 8:00pm and sleeps past 7am in the morning.  Just a month ago she was waking up 3 times a night and sometimes keeping me up for an hour or more.  I was going crazy.  It's only been 4 nights, but it feels much longer.  It feels like a new era.  I knew for a long time that I was doing all the wrong things to get her to sleep better, but she's so little and still seemed like our baby so letting her cry for long stretches was too much for me.  Ultimately, we found a way that wasn't too painful for anyone.  It actually happened much faster than I expected. 

And now that she is sleeping well (she is also down to one approx 2 hour nap a day) she is nursing less.  After I cut out the night-time feedings (within the last month), I still nursed her when she got up in the morning.  But now we don't do that, either, since she stopped asking.  She usually still wants to nurse in the afternoon and before bed, but I think those will gradually go away now. 

And because she is nursing less, she is eating more.  She now eats the same oatmeal Aaron has for breakfast, although only a tiny fraction.  This is a big improvement over the first time I introduced oatmeal to her and she gagged on it.  She used to only eat crunchy snacks - cereal, crackers, chips, freeze dried fruit.  But she is gradually eating more and more.  Including yogurt, sandwiches, grapes, apple slices, cheese.  Stuff seems to taste better to her if it comes from Aaron's plate/bowl.

At her 18 month checkup, she weighed just 20 lbs 8 oz.  20 lbs is the minimum to put her in a forward facing car seat, but the new recommendations are to keep them rear-facing until 2 years, so we will probably do that.  She was down to the 5th percentile for weight.  The pediatrician didn't seem too concerned since she is otherwise healthy and weight gain tends to slow down at this age. 

Since she said her first word at 9 months, she was definitely ahead of Aaron on vocabularly.  I kept a spreadsheet list of the words Aaron knew at 2 years (a partial list is here).  I opened it up and created a new sheet with Audrey's words by 18 months.  Both lists were just under 180 words, but given that I forgot some, I'd say Aaron had about 200 words at age 2 and Audrey had about the same at 18 months.  Makes sense since she started talking 6 months sooner than he did.  Here is Audrey's list of words (she's added many, many more in the weeks since she turned 18 months - it's scary how fast she picks up new words):

hi

baby
Papa
Mama
Grandma
brother
Aaron
Audrey
Kim
Madeleine
boy
girl
ball
chicken
buddies
doggie
puppy
kitty
pig
sheep
horse
cow
bear
bunny
rhino
giraffe
duck
bird
monkey
penguin
alien
hat
shirt
sock
shoes
jammies
pants
jacket
hood
button
zipper
car
truck
train
star
bye
please
help
hug
kiss
yeah
ok
no
yeah
play
sit
off
done
go
more
again
away
table
door
paper
phone
book
hamper
cup
bowl
plate
milk
juice
food
waffle
grapes
apple
orange
pear
carrot
pea
green bean
cheese
chip
cracker
pretzel
bread
joe's o's
turkey
pizza
pasta
fun
open
up
down
in
out
buckle
cold
hot
on
off
clap
poop
pee
toot
bath
potty
flush
eye
nose
face
hair
ears
mouth
tongue
cheek
belly button
teeth
toes
arm
leg
hand
finger
foot
knee
head
tummy
neck
necklace
color
blue
pink
purple
red
two
nine
wagon
sack
bubble
night night
pillow
wet
water
walk
piano
guitar
drum
clock
move
crib
bed
chair
hop hop
cute
mirror
comb
dry
boogies
lap
tower
couch
push
dirty
clean
blanket
flower
timer
bow
work
home
this
that
drawer
clip
cupboard
did it
job (as in good job)
earthquake

(Earthquake is a game I play with her.  She doesn't know the real meaning.)
 
Although she says a few colors, she doesn't really seem to know which colors are which yet.  She also knows more instrument words than Aaron did at 2 since she picks them up from him.  As far as speech goes, she's been pretty stereotypical for a girl, I guess, speaking much earlier than Aaron.  She is not quite stringing words into sentences, but she is close.  She'll say things like "Papa.  Work."  Meaning: I don't see Papa.  He must be at work.
 
She is also trying to potty train.  She's not really ready in my opinion, but I don't want to discourage her.  She knows when she has to go and I'll put her on the potty.  A little more than 50% of the time she will pee when I put her on.  There have been mornings where her diaper or pullup (I alternate between them) stays dry because she is telling me she needs to go potty and waiting to be put on the toilet. She can't quite get her pants down by herself and she's too small to get on the potty by herself, but she is so interested in doing it.  She cries if I don't let her have some toilet paper (which she doesn't get unless she really goes potty).  And she loves trying to flush the potty and then climbs up the step stool to wash her paws.  She wants to be just like big brother.
 
I'll try to post an update on Aaron soon.  I can't believe he is almost 4.