Emilia Caroline: 18 months

Coming two months late, we can't forget to document our beautiful, silly, spunky, little girl's half birthday! She's seemed like she's been with the family a lot longer than 18 months - it's hard to picture life without her!

Emilia Caroline 18 Months.

It's been the biggest joy in the world watching the sibling relationship develop between Nolan and Emilia. I couldn't have asked for a better pair - they are so beautiful together. Nolan has absolutely blown our expectations out of the water and is the most amazing big brother. Now that Emmy is walking  RUNNING, the two have really grown as great play mates. There have been several times where I had a sudden realization that they have been playing, laughing, and entertaining themselves - without parental involvement - for long periods of time. I keep trying to forever store away the memories that are unfolding in front of me of them chasing each other, squealing with delight, rolling around on the ground, and belly laughing. My heart has grown and healed so much with these experiences.

Emilia's personality is definitely not lacking. I've loved sitting back and watching the personalities of my kids emerge with age - and each has been so different and special. Nolan is our sensitive soul - nurturing, curious, analytical - noticing every detail. He's sharp and his memory keeps surprising us in how detailed it is! He balances all this with a never-ending supply of energy - his legs never ever stop moving and he is so fast! We have to constantly remind him to slow down...



It's still early for Emilia, but she seems to be our silly, fun-loving girl. She most definitely has a sense of humor and a loud belly laugh. She is tough as nails and doesn't hesitate for a second to jump in with the big kids or take on her big brother in a wrestling match. When she falls and I gasp, she gets up and keeps going! She is LOUD and determined. She knows what she wants and will push anyone out of the way that is in front of her to get it. She is strong and has some impressive maneuvers to position her body to push you around and get your attention. While it takes big brother some time to warm up to new situations, she jumps right in the mix to explore. Her favorite things are books and coloring, which is also very different than big brother. She balances all this by being the biggest snuggle bug (both my kids are!) and very attached to Mommy. When mommy's around - she wants to be held. She fills a special part of my heart and I happily hold and cuddle her every day.















Things to remember at this age:
Favorite foods: Mac and Cheese (like her big brother!), black beans, berries, corn, yogurt







Favorite toys: Anything that Nolan is playing with, Car driving toy (she loves that it sings ABCs and Nolan also loved this at this age), books, buckles, play kitchen, toys that play music
Favorite books: "Pout Pout Fish" is for sure #1! She also loves "Goodnight Owl" (we even use the CD to play lullabies at night for her to sleep to), the Mickey book set we have, Elmer the elephant books, and any books that have a bunch of animals for her to name out and make the appropriate noises (Peekaboo Zoo comes to mind).




Favorite TV shows: Definitely Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! She loves it! She also likes Thomas, Caillou, Doc McStuffins, Sesame Street, and Dora. Unfortunately for her, she usually doesn't get to pick and watches whatever Nolan wants, but is more animated when it's a show she also likes!
Sleep: Still very hit or miss. In 18 months, we've never had a string of more than a few days at a time of her sleeping through the night. Recently, we've started sleep training which has helped a bunch. First was no milk at night, then putting her down more awake. Now we attempt to soothe her through the monitor and not go in her room at all. We've been seeing improvement with this - so much for her growing out of this phase like Nolan did!



Tantrums: Here come the terrible twos!! We've had our first taste of some full blown tantrums and with Emmy being so LOUD, it isn't pretty. The best thing about this age though (as compared to 3yo) is that you can easily distract them into something else and they will transition from crying to laughing in 1 second. There were definitely times when we couldn't tell if she was laughing, crying, or both, but we do know it was loud ;)
Vocabulary: Emmy is definitely in the language explosion phase right now. Every day is a new word and better pronunciations. Some of my favorites below:

• "Legggooo!" Let go
• "Da Da Doo!!" Cockadoodle doo
• "No" or "No-nee" Nolan
• "Bop Bop" Pop Pop
• "Gang-ga" Mickey
• "Goo-gee" Goofy
• "Out-dide" Outside
• "Dee Dee" Dean
• "Oh Oh Oh" Doc McStuffins (from the theme song - she LOVES singing this)
• "Ca" Car
• "Ahpane" Airplane
• "Pah" Paci/Pacifier
• "Boom Boom" - yup she's adopted the same poop terminology as Nolan and I love it. The major difference is she TELLS us when she has a poopy diaper and then runs into the room we change her in and lays on the floor ready to get changed! Hopefully this means potty training will be easier!
• "Na Na" Banana
• "Cado" Avocado

Playtime: Emmy is always right in the mix with Nolan and his friends. She loves chasing him around the house, wrestling, and even playing avengers and will hold up her hand like iron man and make the "bum bum bum!!!!" sounds like Nolan does to symbolize the light coming out :) She also loves balls and throwing/chasing bouncy balls around the house with Nolan. Dancing is also a big favorite - she's even great at bobbing her head while we listen to music during dinner. 

While she can be a handful and we're still adjusting to life with 2 and all the effort it demands, we couldn't love her anymore. We're so thankful for this chaotic and love-filled life that we've been lucky enough to make together.