18 Months Old!

Delia is 18 months old. One and a half years. Half way to two. Please explain to me how that happened so fast! The best word to describe Delia at 18 months is FEARLESS! She will climb anything, jump off anything, and loves to do somersaults. Tonight she climbed into the rocking chair in her bedroom, stood up and started rocking. I had a hand nearby, just in case, but she got the biggest smile on her face and started laughing. I think she amazes herself with what she can do (and Mommy and Daddy too)!

At 18 months, Delia:

• Weighs 24lb 10oz (50th percentile) and is 32.5 inches (75th percentile). She continues to come down the curve in weight, but I attribute that to her lack of appetite recently. Unlike her big brother, Delia has become a picky eater and the only certainty at the table is her love of fruit. That child could eat her body weight in blueberries, watermelon, bananas, apples and nectarines!
• Jumps!
• Climbs!
• Talks, a lot! She consistently says---hello, Mommy, Daddy, JJ (for JGray), Usty (for Dusty), oggie (for dog, always accompanied by a panting sound because Dusty doesn't bark), oooh ooooh (for train), please, more. She's also used lots of other words but not as frequently---bubble, book, cup, all done, baby, eat, tomato, glasses, car, bye bye (although she waves good-bye all the time). She makes lots of great animal sounds----pants for a dog, roar for lions, dinosaurs and bears, "eow" (meow) for cats.
• Loves playing with her dolls and stuffed animals. She recently started sitting them in the chairs at her little table and bringing the play food over to them.
• Loves to push her doll stroller, usually filled with a variety of items. Necklaces, shoes, drinks, toys, and the occasional doll or stuffed animal.
• Finally started getting her top teeth. The top two on the right are finally pushing through and we can see the ones on the left. Thank goodness because I was beginning to wonder if she'd ever have top teeth or would be forced to eat without them. It hasn't slowed down her eating so far, but I have a feeling her speech will improve once she has top teeth.
• Loves to listen to music and dance. The family dance party is probably one of Delia's favorite things. She loves Bon Jovi and Lady GaGa. She knows the Bon Jovi songs from the first bar of music and immediately smiles and starts dancing. She likes to throw in some yoga poses (standing on her head) and some gymnastics (forward rolls) too. And now that she can jump, Delia loves to bounce on the couch and on the floor.
  
• Still has some separation issues, but we're working on them. We go to the gym at least 4 days a week---so I can work out and so Delia can have some practice being away from me. There is one girl that Delia is particularly fond of, so if Miss Kathleen is there, then Delia is happy. If not, then there are tears. Luckily she calms down quickly and is fine for the rest of the time.
• Has a temper. Unlike John Grayson, who could easily be distracted with a different toy/book/activity, Delia gets MAD if you tell her no or take something away. And once she gets mad, she lets you know by stomping around the house and crying. She is definitely dramatic!

Delia is one of the happiest, silliest, sweetest little girls that you'll ever meet. I still have trouble believing that she's already 18 months old, but she is definitely becoming a little lady. She has a strut in her walk that always makes me smile and a mischievous grin that makes me nervous for the teenage years. There is so much personality crammed into that little body. I can't wait until she's really talking because it's apparent that she has LOTS to say!

Having a tea party with one of her stuffed animals

Our first attempt at pig tails! Delia loves her stuffed animals Going down the slide at the Children's Museum. And no, she did not want my help!

Monkey Girl

Delia has always been a girl on the go. She sat up early, crawled early, pulled up early, walked early. All probably because she was trying to keep up with John Grayson. Recently, her focus has been on climbing and jumping. She climbs in and out of chairs with ease, and she can even get on and off the bed by herself, safely. Thank goodness she hasn't tried to climb out of the crib yet :-)

The other day I was outside with Delia. I turned my back for a second (bad mommy move, I know), and this is what I saw. Yes, Delia climbed up the slide all by herself!


Delia has also discovered her jumping legs. She's watched JGray with longing over the past months, seeing him jump around doing somersaults. Well, we took the kids to an inflatable bouncy place, and Delia loved it. Best of all, she found her jumping legs! Now she can jump off the ground (with both feet at the same time). She loves jumping on the couch now, ugh, but so far she seems pretty nimble.

Shot of Delia in action

JGray teaching Delia useful skills, like tackling

Random iPhone Pictures

I've had the iPhone for just under a year now and take pictures here and there, but I rarely, if ever post them outside of the occasional Facebook posting. Having a little time this evening I figured I share a few of the highlights from the past few months....

John Grayson got to experience his first White Sox game this year at Nationals Park on Father's Day. I'm happy to say that our White Sox won that day (although we did not see then end as JGray announced the game over in the 7th inning). While I found the time with my boy and the baseball the fondest part of my memory, I'm sure that John Grayson will most appreciate eating a little bit of everything and getting some random souvenirs. Either way, a great time was had by all.
John Grayson has been getting more creative during the evening dance parties. I think he is going through a P-Funk phase, bringing some eccentric eyewear and different instruments to our evenings. Believe it or not, he was belting out "You Give Love a Bad Name" in the picture above.
While in Chicago I caught Delia thoroughly enjoying the Children's Museum. She is going to have to take some lessons from her brother on how to do the big chair pose.

I really wish this picture could have come out better. This is Delia with her Great Grandma Schmitt. Great Grandma loved spending time talking to Delia while we were there. Delia talked back but we're still working on understanding.


The pictures above were from John Grayson's last day of pre-school this past year. Miss Staci and Miss Bridgette were great teachers! The funny thing is I didn't even have to ask for the pictures, he actually asked if he get pictures with his teachers on the last day because he was going to miss them.

To finish off I figured I'd share what happens when you take a preschooler to the Cracker Barrel and let him order breakfast on his own. He ended up with strawberry pancakes with whipped cream, a biscuit, some eggs, two orders of bacon and some sausage. Now I know why Allison orders for him when we go out to eat.

Celebrating the 4th of July

We had a very busy weekend celebrating the 4th of July! On Friday night, John and I took John Grayson to see his very first fireworks display. Genworth has a concert and fireworks a few days before the 4th. It's a much more low-key affair than most, and it's close to home, so it was perfect for JGray's first late night show. We saw several friends and JGray had a blast running around waving his flag before the fireworks. I think the fireworks exceeded his expectations---he yelled a lot of "wows" and "yay, fireworks!"

Having ice cream with Daddy

So excited for the fireworks!

JGray loved the fireworks!

This afternoon, we went to a friend's house for a 4th of July cook-out. JGray was thrilled to spend some time with his favorite girl, Macey. Delia was also excited to have some playtime with someone her own age (okay, Delia might not have cared, but I was eager for her to have an age-appropriate playmate). Macey's younger sister, Taegan, is 4 days older than Delia. The kids played outside and enjoyed some sparklers and other mini fireworks. No one was injured or scared by the fireworks (including the dads), so all in all, it was quite a successful evening.

JGray had fun playing with the sparklers

Delia watched the festivities from the safety of the Cozy Coupe

JGray and Macey spent some time checking things out from a safe distance

Hugs!