18 months

Pancake has found her screaming voice and has opinions about everything. She's become a picky eater (though not every day). She eats cereal and milk every morning and sometimes again for lunch or a snack. She uses the spoon herself and though she still spills milk onto her chest she's getting better at using it. She started referring to herself by her name and identifying things that are hers or her brothers. "That's Pancake's water. That's Doodle's water. That's Daddy's beer."

Her temper has reared its ugly head. If she wants something that I won't let her have or if Doodle takes something from her she screams, "NO NO NO NO!" If you recall Doodle at this age he didn't have tantrums like that. If I, or one of his peers, took something away from him he would just play with something else. I used to bother me that he didn't stick up for himself, but I think I would rather have that mellow attitude than Pancake's screaming fits. At least I know she won't be a push over.

She gets into everything. We went to the fabric store to buy materials for Doodle's Halloween costume (he's going to be the Phillie Phanatic) and she found the low-to-the-ground candy, opened the Rolos and was eating one of them when I found her. Why was she not securely in the cart or a stroller? Because she refused to sit. She knows what she wants and she knows how to get what she wants. That's not to say that I let her do whatever she wants.

Her language skills are unbelievable. She speaks in phrases and sentences. She has learned the art that Doodle learned early on, how to use other words to explain herself if I can't make out what she's trying to say.

She loves to be read to and often flips through her books by herself, talking as if she's reading them. She knows the names (or has her own names) for her favorite books. She can follow directions well. She doesn't always say every number, but she can count to ten. She's getting better with her colors. She sometimes says green for blue, but usually she gets them right. The other day when she and Doodle were coloring she wanted me to get her the brown crayon. Only brown would do. I was having trouble finding any brown crayon, but she kept insisting on it until I finally came up with a broken light brown crayon -- like I said, she knows what she wants.

Despite her tantrums, she's a delightful toddler. It's hard to believe that she's not a baby any more. Her cute voice is so adorable I find myself smiling and kissing her countless times during our days together. With Doodle in school five mornings a week, we're spending more quality time just the two of us, which is great. Needless-to-say, she will always be our baby girl.

Both of these were taken on Sunday, Sept. 26th in Center City.

Pancake quote

Pancake scribbled on a piece of paper and handed to me, "here Mommy."
"Oh, Pancake, that's beautiful."
"It's cake."
"It's cake?"
"Yes, please.

First day of Pre-K

Doodle started Pre-K today. Drop-off went well this morning. He didn't show any signs of anxiety or unusual shyness -- just the normal amount of shyness that he has all the time.

17 months

Pancake is at that wonderful age where her voice is incredibly sweet and she’s using it all the time. Her vocabulary is out of control. She expresses herself in complete sentences sometimes and articulate phrases the rest of the time. We stayed at my brother’s house for two nights and he and his wife have a dog named Cooper. Pancake didn’t fear Cooper, in fact they touched tongues once. When Cooper got a little too close to her without her permission she would tap her chest and say, “No eat Cooper,” or “No dinner Cooper,” meaning that he was not to make her his dinner. It was adorable.

She prefers to walk than to be carried. She’s still a little unsteady on her feet but she recovers well and is even starting to conquer uneven terrain and thresholds between rooms. Her hair in pigtails is the cutest thing I’ve seen.
She has been more obedient than her brother lately. When I tell her to put something down or not to touch something she will do as I ask. She plays baseball in the yard with Doodle and Mr. D. She loves it. She holds the too-big-for-her yellow plastic waffle ball bat and slightly moves her entire body to attempt to hit the ball. Then she’ll say either OUT or STRIKE. She yells out PHILLIES when there is any sport on a field (football, baseball, soccer). She likes to sport her pink Phillies hat. She’s still very interested in wearing her shoes or anyone else’s shoes.

She’s learning her colors. She knows green, yellow, white, pink and sometimes blue. She’ll repeat absolutely anything you say even if it’s a multi-syllable word. She’s very polite. One of her favorite things to say is “tank ooo, Mom.” She also says, “sorry” when she’s trying to get by or stepping over something instead of excuse me. When I sneeze she says, “besh ooo.”

Of course, she still adores her big brother. He makes her laugh just by running or hopping around. When she’s upset we can count on Doodle to cheer her up. Doodle can also be rough with her when she’s messing up his train tracks or standing in the middle of the baseball game he’s trying to play with Mr. D. But for the most part he is very good to her and she is good to him too. Watching them play together is incredibly gratifying.

We’re in the car driving home from Vermont as I type this so I will post a picture of Pancake when we get home.