18 Months

 This girl decided to grow up on us.  I'm not sure how I feel about that fact, but I do know I'm pretty excited to take her to nursery this week!  Woot!

 Here are the stats for the gril (yes we call her "gril" instead of "girl" because that's what E calls her)

Weight: 22 lbs. (18%)

Height: 33 inches (80%)

Head Circumference: 18.3 inches (40%)

So she's tall and skinny with a pretty good head I guess?

 This girl brings all kinds of fun and cuteness to our days.  She is learning new words every day, but "no" and "mine" are among her favorites right now.  She just uttered her first sentence the other day when she dumped food off her tray and yelled "Ah-peeyo!" (I spilled!)  She also says "uh-oh" and "Oh no!" a lot.

She loves choo-choos because of her brother, but she also loves girly things.  She got dress-up jewelry for Christmas and a purse and she knows just what to do with them.  She also loves carrying her babies around and adores anything remotely cozy.  When she sees something cute or cozy such as an animal, dish towel, or her sleeping older brother, she says "oooooooh! hee hee hee hee!" (in a high-pitched voice) with a slightly pained expression on her face with her arms outstretched to hug whatever is tickling her fancy.

Her true love, however, is blankie.  I can't currently write the baby jabbering that she uses to say "blankie" because I don't think the sounds she utters exist in English, but I know what it means when she says it.  She has to stroke the crocheted edges of her blanket between her middle finger and ring finger and suck on her tongue as she's going to sleep.  No other blankie will do, so mommy has to time the laundry very carefully.  Stroking demonstrated here:

I'm not sure how to express the amount of anxiety I have each and every day as I keep track of my kids' prized possessions.  Blankie and Pooh Bear are like my third and fourth children, I swear.  I am THAT vigilant.  Luckily they can't make any noise and don't have the ability to walk and I don't have to feed them.  Having inanimate objects for children is a pretty good idea...maybe I'm onto something.

Nah, I wouldn't trade my little rats.

Sammi is very good at eating her breakfast and dinner most of the time, and her favorite drink is "meeyo?" (milk)  She is definitely less picky than a little boy whose name rhymes with Lemerson.

She is very good about taking her nap every day and usually sleeps for about 2-3 hours.

She is a ninja about getting into the pantry and finding pouches of fruit snacks.

She still loves books and only likes you to read them to her about half the time.  She usually prefers flipping through and telling herself the stories.  I would've been interested to know the story she was telling when she was reading Ben's Step 1 Boards book.  She seemed quite intrigued, but I don't think her dad ever was.

She loves to have "cozies" in the morning with mom and/or dad if she wakes up earlier than we want to get up.

She loves to color with crayons or just scribble circles with a pen on a post-it note.

She loves to "go-go" places and often just grabs her coat and pulls on her hat when she thinks it is time to go somewhere.

Anytime she hears the back door, she asks "Da-da?"

She is also into telling long nonsense stories and won't stop until you respond appropriately.  They are very cute and she is very animated as she tells them.

She puts up with a lot of crap from her brother, but she's also learning to dish it right back out.  One of her favorite ways is by stealing Pooh Bear and stroking his nose just to tease him.