18 Months

Yesterday Beia turned a year and a half.  It's amazing to see what a personality she already has—with definite preferences that she expresses very clearly, despite not have a full vocabulary. She's mastered Mama and Dada along with doggie (pronounced "dogga"), all done, more, milk, Tonka, Dibi. All other words are a work-in-progress, so communication is often a guessing game. Luckily, Beia often points at what she wants, which helps limit frustration to some degree. Hopefully she'll get more words under her belt soon, alleviating frustration (and the possibility of tantrums) further.

Happy Mother's Day Weekend

We had a great Mother's Day weekend—mainly due to Beia's great mood both Saturday and Sunday. We went out twice to eat, and Beia not only ate well but also allowed us to finish our meals without having to rush through and remove her from the premises due to extreme antsy-pants. The weather was perfect, so we spent a considerable amount of time at the park. Beia also did a lot of walking this weekend—and was so good at holding our hands while out on the street. Previously this has been a challenge, so it was a nice treat not having to fight her to be safe. We're looking forward to having Beia's other set of grandparents visit this week—Grammy and Grandpa—so I'm sure we'll be out and about more next weekend too!

Overnight with Grandma and Granddad

This past weekend Steven and I spent the night in Long Island for a friend's wedding. We had my parents come up and stay with Beia for what ended up being a full 24 hours—the first time we've had anyone Beia-sit for quite such a long time. Naturally, Beia was happy with Grandma and Granddad and seemingly didn't even notice that we were gone. She was, however, happy to see us once we returned. Her favorite playmate, Steven, was back and she had a nice new crafts kids from Grandma and Granddad to play with! We wish they lived closer and could see us all more often, so this was a treat for everyone.

Curly Sue

Now that Beia's hair is finally growing in, we're seeing more and more curls develop. And as a result, her hair isn't getting longer so much as it's getting fuller. Of course she still gets mistaken for a boy often since we tend to dress Beia in gender-neutral clothes, but hopefully that will change as her hair continues to grow...

Flip Stool

This afternoon the flip stool we had ordered as part of Beia's potty training set up arrived. Of course it's a bit early for her to be potty training, but her day care noted that she was expressing interest—so why not be prepared? The sooner we can end with the diapers and the changing table the happier we all will be.

Steve had set up the stool in Beia's bathroom, expecting one of the cats to find it and make it a perch for an afternoon nap. Instead, Beia found it immediately upon returning home from day care. She already likes climbing and sitting on it—though has yet to ask about the potty itself. One step at a time...

My Little Pony

Yesterday when we picked Beia up from daycare her hair was "pulled back" into a little tiny pony tail on top of her head. It wasn't really pulled back as much as it was tied into a teeny fountain. Given that we've been waiting for her hair to grow long enough for her not to look like a boy we were quite excited. Although I think if Beia could have figured out where on her head the pony tail was she would have pulled it out so she could inspect the elastic.

Fall Foliage

Yesterday we rented a car and drove up to Harriman State Park, meeting R and B there (it's about 45 minutes to an hour away). Beia was very good—taking her morning nap in the car on the way out and her afternoon nap in the car on the way back. She was particularly interested in all the leaves...and wanted to eat them all, putting them in her mouth! For lunch though, she didn't get to eat the leaves, much to her dismay. We brought a lunch from home and all five of us picnic-ed at a smaller park near Harriman. Beia did very well—sitting on Steve's lap and eating everything we brought her (steak with roots veggies in a basil pesto). 

During our walk through Harriman, Beia started to get antsy in the stroller so Steve took her out and put her on his shoulders—which she of course loves. Here she found that Rob's ear—so close—was of interest. Although to be honest, the likely target was his sunglasses (she loves glasses). 

Beia is also starting to take a few steps—only three or four at a time before falling back down, but she seems unfazed by the falling (actually, she seems to think it is funny). Hopefully we'll be able to catch that in action before too long. We're pretty sure she'll pick up walking fairly quickly. She's determined and is enjoying being able to move while holding her toys. With crawling, she ends up putting a toy in her mouth before she can move anyway.