18 Months: You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

Normally, I post something after Lucy's well-baby appointment, and normally she would have had an appointment when she turned 18 months last week. We had an appointment scheduled, but it was the day that we needed to take Matt to the airport so that he could go to a conference. So the appointment has been rescheduled for the end of April. I did weigh her last week; she's about 23.5 pounds now. Last year at this time, she was 15 lbs, 12 oz. 

I've been reminded recently of how much she's grown in the last year. For example, today Facebook told me that Lucy learned to drink from a straw exactly a year ago. Now she can drink from a regular cup. We have to watch her because she likes to pour the leftover water out after she's taken a drink; otherwise, she drinks neatly.

March 2014. Lucy was in her Bumbo seat because she could not reliably sit unassisted for very long. 

March 2015. She stands on the sidewalk with her bubbles. "Bubble" is one of the handful words she uses regularly. She is also able to blow bubbles by herself.

She loves to dance and even says, "I dance" while she's dancing sometimes. Some of her 18-month size clothes are still a little big as you can see from the sagging jeans.

She has become attached to this dog. Dog, who she called "Bubble" for a day, needed to smell the pretty flowers. She hugs and kisses Dog and takes it to bed but doesn't sleep with it. Dog runs errands with us and got to try the blue sucker the cashier gave Lucy at Kroger, After this picture was taken, Lucy wanted to go swinging, I asked her if she wanted a piece of cake first. She shook her head and insisted that she wanted to swing. Then I asked if Dog wanted a piece of cake. It turns out that dog did want cake, so she put off swinging and ate cake with/for him. :)

Lucy is growing in so many ways. She now wears a life vest part of the time in the swimming pool. While wearing the vest, she is able to swim independently. She has great stamina. She can swim the length of the pool. And she maneuvers pretty well. She can spin herself in circles. She has started using her arms as well as her legs when she swims. I try to model what I want her to learn. I spend some time floating on my back next to her. She is now willing to put the back of her head in the water. It's a very helpful skill during bath time. She can wet her own hair without my needing to pour water over her head, which we both hated. I also go underwater sometimes when we swim in the pool and demonstrate how I hold my breath and come right back to the surface safely. I've started dropping her into the pool (with her vest on) so that her face gets a little wet before she bobs up again. I'm hoping that if she becomes comfortable with going under water briefly while wearing the vest, she'll tolerate it better when she's not wearing the vest.