18 Months & Changes Galore!

Whew, what a milestone! 18 months has been a crazy one. This kid is definitely turning into a toddler, in some cases overnight, and all these changes are making quite an adventure for Mollie's Daddy and I. Here's what happening:

1. By far the most substantial change in our house; we've gone DIAPER FREE!!! That's right, Mollie is potty trained. I never thought my 18-month-old would be potty trained, but it seriously just happened. She was telling us she needed to go potty several times a day anyway (it was to the point I was only changing her diaper once or twice a day because she was using the potty), so we thought why not go all the way! So last week, Mollie put her big girl panties on and hasn't looked back. She's had plenty of accidents the first day, did NOT like being wet, and got it down from there. With the help of M&M's, silly made up cheers, and an exhausting amount of positive reinforcement, we made it. I'm so impressed with this kid and her willingness to try something new and stick with it!
Now we are still having some accidents at night, but she almost always wakes up when she needs to go (just sometimes a little too late). So, she's very close to having the overnight part down, but we'll still need some work. I wake her up a few hours after she goes to sleep, then an hour or so before wake time to take her, and that seems to help. Naps are usually not a problem.

Notice the sagging? Yeah, they don't make panties in size 18m! 2T/3T is as close as we can get!

Sporting her Fancy Nancy panties! We also have Dora...

2. Another big change is that we're having some tantrum/fit/nightmare/separation anxiety/growing pain/teething issues going on. I'm not really sure what it is, perhaps a combination of all of the above, but it has rocked our world. She has been screaming/crying/melting down with no explanation, and is just in a funk most of the day. There was only one day she ran a fever, but had no other obvious symptoms. We had just left her pedi's office for her well-check and they ruled out any ear infections or anything like that. I've been doing some online research and found that lots of kids go through something like this around this age, so it must be something developmental happening. Who knows. But whatever monster has invaded our happy, easy going child, GO AWAY ALREADY!!! I see glimpses of the "real" Mollie throughout the day, so I know she's still there. This too shall pass!!!

3. On a more positive note, she does lots o' talkin! She says lots and lots of words (a considerable amount more than the 6 they suggest they know at this age!!) and still signs some, too. We REALLY encourage her to "USE YOUR WORDS" because the alternative is whining, which is absolutely irritating. She does a good job with this usually, but needs some reminding, especially when she's in her funk.

Some of the funny things she says right now is "uuummmm...." when you ask her a question; "A B! A B!" when she sees letters; points to everything and says "Daddy's"; "Help me" when she wants to help you; and "Woooock" when she wants to rock a little longer before bed. She also repeats everything!! We have to watch our mouth now :o)

4. Paci Free! This wasn't as big of a deal because she only used it at night anyway, but it went "bye bye" a few weeks ago. Mollie cried for it for two days at bedtime, but then just got over it! It was an easy transition.

5. Growing! At her well-check the other day, Mollie now weighs 24 lbs! She's now in the 50% for height and weight (which is an increase), and her sweet little head continues to grow off the charts! It's past the 100th percentile now. Yikes. She'll grow into it one day :o) She is also slowly growing more hair, which makes some way cute piggy tails to decorate that precious noggin of hers.

Cute piggies!

Those are the major changes we've gone through lately. Wears me out just thinking about it! We've got some other major changes coming Monday. I'll save that for another blog post. In the meantime, Happy 18 Months Mollie Moo!!