little lady.

 

this little lady is now 18 months old.

her life is going by so fast it's nuts. i want her to just sit down, slow down, and cuddle with me for just a second, but she doesn't have time for that kind of nonsense. she's too busy doing important things like keeping up with Ellie, eating strawberries, and growing up. though i did grab her for a second when she glanced at the camera while sucking her thumb and i did my annoying kissy face (it's my go-to camera face when i feel awkward while self-portraiting).

top ten Alice-isms at 18 months:

(1) she talks all day long. some words/phrases are very audible- like "noossee", "here you go," "you ok?," "need help," "i dunno," "thanks, Mama," "buh-bye, Dadda," "yaaaah!," "bubbbles!,".... and the list goes on, but those are my faves.

other things are definite chinese-Alice-baby-babble that only we can decipher, usually based on inflection and pointing: "ya ya ree" (strawberry), "miii miii" (Minnie), "mmmink" (drink), "mo mo" (Elmo), "yah yah" (Ellie) and "wuuuh" (lovie).
i love hearing her little voice.

 (2) Ellie is her hero. she is her little shadow-- sometimes to Ellie's dismay.  i love the way she lights up when we pick up "Yah Yah" from school and squeals, "hiii Yah Yah!!," and i love how no one can make her smile and laugh the way Ellie does. sure, no one can make her cry the way Ellie does, too- but that's another story for another day. she wants to be like Ellie in every ay possible and loves her better than everyone else. i'm kind of jealous, but mostly i think it's pretty adorable.

 
(3) she likes coloring. on every surface. in fact i'm pretty sure that her thought process is "ooo, a marker. i wonder if i can color on a chair. and tile. maybe the wall? Ariel's face looks perfect with some green scribbles." other thoughts that may go through her little brain: "ooo, this is a tube of glue. i wonder if i can color with it." "mama's lipstick looks nice. i bet it will not only look good on my face, but on my leg, my hands, and smushed all over mama's cabinets." i usually spend a good part of her naptime with clorox/lysol wipes in my hand attacking all the newly damaged surfaces. she's insane.

(4) she has crazy toddler energy. like she moves and climbs and jumps non-stop. she runs everywhere she goes. i don't know if she even knows how to walk anymore? bless the heavens for finally giving us lovely weather again so we can escape to the park as often as possible these days and run some of this crazy energy off.

 (5) she has no fear. her recent favorite thing is climbing onto the arm of our couch and stepping off of it onto our lovesac. it is so funny to watch her teeny body collapse into that big ole ball of fluff. she also didn't even cry when she got her vaccines at her 18 month check-up. yes, she wimpered when they poked her- but not a single tear... and ripped her bandaid off and handed it to me right after, while it was still bleeding. bandiads are for wusses, i guess. man, its such a change from Ellie, who cried the minute we walked through the waiting-room door at that age. annnndd, Alice had a nasty ear infection at that appt- and we didn't even know about it. high threshold for pain? i guess so. makes me feel bad that my kids have such crummy ears...but i'm glad she can brave the crumminess!

(6) she has the most unique, beautiful eyes. they aren't green. they aren't blue. they aren't brown...but maybe a mix of the three? when the light catches them just right, they twinkle. i love those bright eyes. ok, and i kind of love that whole bright lil face. such a cutie pie.

(7) she loves Minnie Mouse, Elmo, Winnie the Pooh, and Rapunzel. since we stopped watching tv so much, she literally squeals and stamps her feet in excitement seeing one of those characters on the tv. she also carries one of those plush characters around almost all day. so cute. she also loves playing with babies (pushing them in the stroller is her fave), playing in the bath, stacking blocks, and vacuuming. though her very favorite thing to do is to find the clorox wipes and clean every reachable surface in the house- from the windows to the floors. silly lil thing.

(8) the first thing she does when she gets in the car is take off her shoes. in fact, that's pretty much the first thing she does when i put them on her. she likes to set her piggies free. can't blame her. she's going to love summer time!

(9) when she gets mad, she throws stuff. it's quite scary, actually. she doesn't like to be fed- if you try and feed her, she'll throw the food. if you cut something that she doesn't want cut, she'll throw her plate. if she can't dress a baby, she'll chuck it across the room. if she's in the stroller and gets sick of being in there, she starts throwing anything she can out the side; shoes, cups, snacks, trash- everything. crazy chucker.

(10) but mostly she is such a happy little thing, who laughs every three seconds, hums everywhere she goes, and almost always runs or skips getting to where she's going. her happiness is contagious- making us smile and laugh all day.

 

 honorable mentions: she loves her daddy second best to Ellie, her happy place is anywhere with music, she is still ultra-attached to her lovie and her thumb, she loves strawberries and fruitsnacks better than anything else...though she does love a good king's donut like the rest of us, she is super social and flirtatious, on the first day of nursery...she ran to the nursery room door, opened it, and ran in (fearless), she thinks she's a big girl, her facial expressions kill me, she loves the library and books- especially the book "What's Wrong Little Pookie?", her squishy tummy is delicious, and most recently i love her fishy face kisses with lip smacks.

18 months of Alice = the best months ever.
i get butterflies thinking that we get to keep her forever and ever.

xoxo