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| Adorable and playful Alina at 18-months-old |
Little Alina turned 18-months-old on February 12th! She is becoming such a big girl, and while we still call her our "baby", as she is the youngest member of the family, she has truly reached toddler status. Every time I use the term toddler I second guess myself because last I remember she was my tiny newborn, cradled in my arms, and sleeping like a tiny porcelain doll. Oh how quickly these cute kids grow!
Alina's 18-month growth stats:
Height: 33.5 in (90th percentile)
Weight: 24 lbs 10oz (50th percentile)
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| Happy 18-months sweet girl! |
As for the headline, YES, you read that right, "Sweet little Alina at 18-months-old". She really is the sweetest little girl. She is right at the age where the pre-terrible twos usually happen, and while we keep waiting for those well expected epic tantrums (a la. big sissy Elise), she keeps her cool and rarely throws a tantrum. Her version of a tantrum is crying at a slightly higher decibel for about 2-3 minutes and as soon as we address her needs she immediately calms down. I've devised a little trick that always works with her. Whenever she gets upset or starts saying no, I immediately pretend to pout and sniffle, which is always met with a smile, hug and a kiss from her. She immediately forgets about why she was upset and wants to do everything possible to make mommy happy (especially since she knows how much I love hugs from her). This speak volumes about her personality, she is giver and a sweet little nurturer, and even at her very young age she puts the feelings of others above her own. She is so much like her daddy in this regard.
Aside from her sweet, even-tempered demeanor, her other big personality trait is being a curious little explorer. More specifically, she is CLIMBER! She climbs everything she possibly can. I have said before that she is a mini-daredevil, and it has become quite apparent now that she is going to be our little thrill-seeker. She laughs hysterically whenever she is turned upside-down, thrown up in the air, or riding a push car while precariously balancing on top with both her hands in the air. She loves pushing her limits, and that rush of excitement that comes with achieving a daring new feat. She is never afraid to get dirty. If you put her outside on the playground for 20 minutes, she comes back filthy and smiling. She will play in the dirt, sand, grass, mud, you name it. It is such a huge contrast from Elise as she did not like getting messy at all. At 18-months Alina's little personality is really starting to shine through. She has a very keen sense of humor, and the most adorable laugh. She loves to do silly things, and get laughs from all of us. We love watching her cute little personality develop.
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| Silly little Alina channeling Uncle Colin in potato head glasses! |
Alina talks up a storm now. She can sing her ABCs all the way through, as well as the words to countless other lullabies. Her favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Frere Jacques". She sounds so cute singing the words to these songs! She has also learned to count to 10. Alina has been building her vocabulary over the past few months, and can identify many different objects now. She knows most of her animals and all the sounds they make; her rendition of cat is my favorite because she does the perfect high pitched "mew". She strings together small sentences now like "I want some", "that one", etc. She is still more of a mover than a talker, but we have seen huge leaps in her speech in the past few weeks alone.
Alina has almost all her baby teeth now; 16 in total! She had eight teeth when she turned one-year-old. Her first four back molars started to crown at about 13-months-old, and her canines started to come through at 16-months-old. She did really well with teething, though the canines were the worst for her in terms of pain. She drooled and rubbed at her gums quite a bit when they came in, but as I've said before this girl is just amazing; she hardly ever cries, even through teething pain.
When it comes to her appetite, little Alina is a bit of a pickier eater than her big sister. She has turned her nose up to more than a few things I have offered her recently. She isn't particularly fond of tomatoes, which surprised me because Elise loves them. She still loves her broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, squash and avocado. She loves chicken, rice, pasta and other dinner foods, but is not a huge breakfast eater. She will usually only eat half her eggs, hashbrowns and toast. She loves cheese, but what kid doesn't? She often picks her cheese off the eggs, bread, etc and eats that first. I can already tell she is going to be my little snacker, as she won't eat everything on her plate right away, but will go back to the table and pick at it for the next half hour until it is gone. We are hoping to keep her appetite adventurous, and I know that when it comes to food preferences many toddlers go through phases. We have phased out bottles for sippy cups...well all except her nighttime bottle. I hate to admit that, but she loves her nighttime bottle and it has been hard to give up. Mark my words that it is on the agenda, but at the same time her night bottle is the last truly "baby-like" thing about her. I am struggling just as much as she is haha.
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| Cute toddler in the laundry basket |
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| Sisters playing together - love their smiles! |
Perhaps the biggest new development is that Elise and Alina are both starting to become best little buddies and actually play together. I say actually because it really did take a while for Elise to become fully interested in her. I think this is primarily due to how close in age they are, but also because Elise is very mature for her age and not being able to communicate with Alina meant she lost interest rather quickly. We have finally reached the point where Alina can communicate, play and keep up with her big sister, and Elise just loves it. When they get home from school, they often head straight into each other rooms, just playing and laughing, while I make dinner. I can't even put into words how great this is. 1. It is wonderful to see the sisterly bond they share and hear how much they make each other laugh 2. It is SO nice that they are starting to have a little bit of independence, instead of clinging to moms legs, waist, arms, face, etc - while she tries to navigate between placating their needs and making dinner all at the same time. They certainly still have plenty of the "mine" yelling matches and toy tug-of-war sessions, but overall they are learning to play happily and share. I look forward to watching them grow up together, and I can already see they will be the very best of friends.
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| Elise beautifying Alina's hair, with as many clippies as possible |
