Happy 19 Months!

Here's what's happening with Emily at 19 months:

 - She's wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 4 diapers and a combo of size 4 and size 5 shoes.

 - No more paci!  She's weined herself totally off her pacifier!  That was way easier than I expected it to be.

 - She has 12 teeth - 6 on top and 6 on bottom.

 - Over the last several months, she has been learning her colors at school and she's starting to point to colors at home now and say which color it is.

 - She's so funny!  I know I'm biased, but even her teachers at school tell me all the time, how funny she is.

 - Just in the last week or so, she has started to say Mama more and more.  For the longest time, all I would hear is Where's Dada.  I'd say now she asks for whoever is not there.  If it's just me at home, she constantly asks for Dada and vice versa. 

 - She still does really well at bedtime.  We've moved her bedtime back a little.  She now goes down closer to 7:30 or 7:45 instead of 7:00.  She still goes down easily for me, but in the last few weeks, she doesn't fall asleep right away.  Instead she plays in her crib and chats up a storm.

 - We've made huge strides with brushing her teeth!!  We can get throught it now without Emily in tears (and Mommy almost in tears too)

 - She's doing so well at drinking out of a regular cup.  She now gets her milk at meals in regular cups.  When she's playing, she still uses the sippy cup.

 - She's continuing to talk more and more!  Each day her communication gets better and better.  I think her favorite words right now are "more" and "no". . .oh and "dada"

 - She wants to do everything herself.  Rarely does she want us to carry her up and down the stairs.  Instead she wants to do it herself.

 - She's very girly.  She loves to wear necklaces (actually any jewelry) and loves carrying around purses. 

 - She doesn't like it when her hands are dirty.

- She is so strong-willed.  She knows what she wants and gets frustrated when she doesn't get her way.  She continues to test her limits on everything.   Every so often we are getting a glimpse at the terrible 2's.

 - She loves to be outside (and swinging outside is her favorite).  She could stay outside all day, if we let her.

 - Her naps are getting shorter on the weekends.  :(  They used to be 3 hours, now they are consistently only 2 hours. 

 - Her appetite changes constantly.  Some days she will hardly eat at all, other days she won't stop eating.  I guess that's just part of her being a toddler.

- She's sensitive.  She cries easily when you raise your voice at her.

 - She's so sweet.  She loves to give hugs and kisses.

- She's starting to let us know when she has a dirty diaper.  She'll start pulling on it and if we ask her if she needs to be changed, she'll sometimes shake her head yes (although other times she'll say no even though she is).  I'm hoping this means she's becoming aware that she doesn't like sitting in dirty diapers.

I feel like she has made huge milestones in the last couple of months.  She's turning into a little girl now instead of a baby!  In some ways this makes me happy, in other ways it makes me sad to realize that she's getting older.