Clothing size: 18-month everything; size 4 sneakers, and I’ve pretty much given up on making her wear shoes to church because she takes them off so much that I just know we’re going to lose them one of these days. She has been wearing some 2T dresses, and I’m thinking soon it’ll be time to switch over to her 24-month things, especially since she has a lot more summer-appropriate outfits in that size. I’ve also started moving her diapers up to the next-tallest snap setting.
Eye color: Blue.
Hair: It’s blonde, thick enough for pigtails, and the curls are just out of control now with the humidity. I was backing up pictures from January and noticing how straight it was, even just those few months ago! She also wakes up with the most insane bedhead and tends to get these mega knots on the back of her head. These curls make me swoon every day.
Teeth: Still 12! She really doesn’t like me looking in her mouth, so I had a hard time counting this month.
Eating: She’ll eat anything except lemon-flavored Greek yogurt and bananas! She has recently become obsessed with mini wheats and will eat a TON of them in one sitting… but I try to limit her intake, because that’s a lot of fiber for a little girl. Her favorite Goldfish crackers are the cheddar and pretzel ones (which happen to be my favorite, too), but she’ll eat only the pretzel-type ones first before she even touches the rest. She is also really good at using a spoon and feeding herself her yogurt!
Sleep: She’s a great sleeper, and will still sleep for about 12 hours at night. She needs a 3-hour nap in the afternoon, but sometimes her sisters wake her up before she’s completely ready, so that’s been our most recent challenge. She has also gotten her leg stuck in the bars of the crib a couple of times now- that’s a pretty good reason to wake up screaming! Poor baby.
Words: She tries to say words all the time, so it’s really hard to limit it to a list. She still mostly uses “baba” to ask for anything she wants. Some of her cutest new ones: cheese, uh-oh, ta-da, mmmmm (as in yum), “gain” (again), “go dahhh!” (go dog!), hey, baaaah (bye), “dah-puh” (diaper).
Favorite things: She is more obsessed with her Beagle than ever, and she officially needs him to go to sleep (which poses a problem when she wants to do everything with Beagle in her arms, because sometimes that means he ends up in the water table, soaking wet…)! She has loved playing out on the deck since the weather’s been nicer, too. In the mornings lately, I usually just let her run around in her diaper because she ends up drenched from pouring water in and out of the water table.
She’s still obsessed with babies, loves reading books and singing songs.
Dislikes: Getting her face wiped and getting rinsed off in the bath. She also hates to be told “no” (something she’s been hearing a whole lot more these days), and she’ll scream and cry when you say it.
Nicknames: Nellbells, Nels, Nella Bella, Nellie Belly, Nellie, Nella Sunshine. Her new nickname lately is “Troublemaker” because she is seriously into everything.
Milestones, etc.: -She gives the sweetest hugs, and as she puts her arm around you, she’ll even stroke your back! It’s the best thing.
-She gets soooo excited to see her “Daaaa!” every evening when he comes home. She runs to the door and gives him a giant hug.
-She plays pretend in so many ways now… anything can be a baby doll, which she’ll rock and kiss; her Beagle gives out kisses to other people, and she likes to bring us pretend cups of water to drink.
-She’s already hamming it up for the camera. I ask her to “say cheese!”, and she makes the most giant, scrunchy-faced grin she possibly can.
-She blows KISSES! She does it so loudly and it’s just the most adorable thing ever. She mostly only does it when she is pretending to “leave”. She’ll say “Bah-bye” and walk away blowing smooches. Once, she even put my running watch on and then did it. I guess she was going for a run!
-She’s obsessed with her toothbrush and toothpaste. It takes her about a split second to grab the tube of toothpaste and start sucking on it, so we are always making sure it’s out of reach.
-She still loves putting things in the toilet… cups, stuffed animals, her arm… So the bathroom doors need to remain closed!
-She points to body parts on request: nose, eyes, hair, teeth, mouth, and belly button! I asked her where her belly button was for this picture…
-We’ll ask her all the time where the baby is, and sometimes she’ll point to mommy’s tummy, but other times, she’ll point to herself first!!! Sometimes, she’ll point to herself and then my belly, as if to say we have two babies.
-She’s become a little more sensitive about going to nursery at church. She sometimes gets upset after Daddy leaves her, and then usually falls asleep on one of the leaders each week.
-She loves drinking out of other people’s cups and eating everyone else’s snacks. It’s like these things taste better when they aren’t yours!
-We usually sing her “I am a Child of God” before we put her to bed, and she tries to actually sing with us now! It’s more like a humming sound, but it’s adorable.
Dear Nella,
Today, after nap time, Kaya took you out of your crib, and I heard you running down the hall to my room. You pushed open the door and yelled “Mama!”, with the biggest grin on your face, as soon as you saw me. You are always that happy to see me, and it just makes my day, every day. I look forward to your first smile every single morning.
I’ve been telling your Daddy that you’re “too cute for your own good” lately. But for every ounce of cuteness in you, there’s a pound of mess-making and getting into everything! You have been keeping us on our toes lately, little girl. I love how independent and resourceful you are, and even if right now that means you’ll try to sneak yourself a cup full of chocolate chips, I know those skills are going to come in handy in the future.
We love you so much little sunshine baby.
Love, Mommy