We just got home from a trip to Grandma's, and it dawned on me that today Sophie Grace reaches 18 months. WIth the first kid, you know their age down to weeks; the second, you count in months; and the third, you're lucky if you remember their name, let alone their age. Nonetheless, 18 months is quite a milestone. You're still little enough to smush like a baby, but now you're more independent and interactive.
Just recently Sophie has started calling me "Mommy", which means she really knows who I am. I mean, she's always known me as the source of her food and comfort, but now I have a title according to her. It just happened all of a sudden. She never really called me anything before- mostly just held her arms up and fussed at me until I picked her up. Now, she walks around the house calling me by name, and I adore it just as much now as I did the first time I heard it when Trevor uttered it so many years ago. And she sounds exactly like Victoria, so much so that I often don't know which one is calling for me. Other words she can say include no, Bella, puppy, Phoebe, go, shoes, and yo! (as in Yo Gabba Gabba).
What she lacks in verbal skills, she more than makes up for in physical and problem- solving skills. Her dexterity is so advanced that she can screw and unscrew caps with ease. This enables her to easily win her game that she created and has dubbed "Ow!" in which she pinches you as hard as she can until you scream "OW!" She has figured out the secret to seeing her favorite show YGG lies in the remote. On several occassions, she has managed to push just the right combo of buttons to get the DVR to play it. Most of the time, though, she thrusts the remote onto the lap of the nearest person, so that they can put the show on for her. If said person does not respond as she desires, she brings every YGG toy and book she owns to the person since they obviously are too dense to realize what she wants.
Sophie is also the one child that willingly helps around the house. Albeit it usually is one of her own messes she's cleaning, but I only have to ask once for her to clean up after herself, and she does it. I wish I could say the same about her siblings.
Now that the majority of her teeth have come in, her sweet disposition has returned. It was a rough 6 to12 months there where she was majorly cranky and drooly, but my evenly tempered baby is back, that is until she's overly tired. Then it's game on.
I'm so excited that she is now at an age in which she can play with her brother and sister. She chases them around, and they chase her. At Grandma's, she got over her fear of floaties and was able to swim like a fish with Trevor and Victoria and not be literally and figuratively attached to my side, which brings me to what this is really about...
I offically have NO MORE BABIES!!! No you may remember this in which I professed that realizing it's my last baby is so sad- boo hoo hoo, and all that crap. Well, with every kid, and this one is no exception, 18 months marks the point in which the baby hormones officially completely depart, and I regain my sanity. This point is especially important this time around, because it's the last time I get to celebrate this milestone. My baby is finally a toddler, and I/ We are well on our way to regaining our normal lives- lives that don't revolve around diaper changes and scheduled feedings and naps. Soon we'll be potty training and done with diapers altogether, and I CAN"T WAIT! Don't get me wrong, I have thoroughly enjoyed having babies, but I've put in my time. Now before you say I'm asking for it with all of this celebration, the wonderful folks at Paragard have ensured that I will remain baby-free for 10 years or until one of us gets neutered.
So, this milestone is just as important to me as it is to Sophie. Happy Half -Birthday Baby!
