A YEAR AND A HALF! Just for fun, here's what Rooney looked like one year ago:

And I thought she had such a great head of hair! Ha ha.

Rooney, 18 Months (AKA Best Age Ever)

Graduated to the "Busy Bee" room at day care
Spent three nights at her aunt and uncle's while we were in Texas
Occasionally strings multiple words/syllables together
Shows no fear when she meets a puppy
Has thrown multiple tantrums in public (four at last count)
Loves to "clean" with rags or wipes
Can point to many body parts: head, hair, ears, nose, eyes, teeth, arm, belly, belly button, leg, toes
Often walks on her tiptoes
Tries to jump but never leaves the ground
Doesn't like to leave the playground
Is starting to realize that it is her in the mirror and not a random baby
Uses her left hand most often while eating

Growth

Weight: 26 pounds, 3 ounces
Height: 33 inches
Clothing size: 18M – 3T
Diaper size:4
Shoe size:6 or 7
Teeth:12

I try to not make these brag-posts each month - I just like to document what Rooney is doing different from the previous month for my own sake. Sorry if it comes off that way, but I am a proud mama. :)

Favorite Games

Holding daddy's hands and climbing up his legs
Sitting on my lap and then I open my legs and she falls out
Touching our fingers to each other's noses to see what they sound like (daddy's makes a low booooonk noise that is really funny)
We build towers with her new wooden blocks and she knocks it over
Dressing up
"Ring Around the Rosie" (she sings "Ashes, ashes!")

Favorite Toys

Board books
Wooden blocks
Dolls/stuffed animals
Shopping cart (thanks, Nana!)

Eating

Rooney is a really great eater. She tries a lot of foods and sometimes eats more than I do. One thing is for sure: She needs to eat supper by 5:30 pm or she gets cranky.

She can (finally) eat out of the Munchkin Snack Catchers and also loves her Gyro Bowl.

New foods this month:

Salisbury steak
Onion and herb dip
BBQ sauce
Lima beans
Popsicle
Marshmallow
S'mores
Grapes

Sometimes the biggest challenge is keeping her in her high chair. She gets bored at restaurants and wants to run, or wants to sit on our laps. Is she ready for a booster seat? Or is this just a phase?

Talking

Rooney amazes us almost every day with the new things she says.

She says "Bless you" when I sneeze.
We had to wait quite a while for a school bus on our way to work/daycare, and after we started going again she said "YAY!!!"
She was whining and then stopped and used her words. She said, "MOM PLEASE UP." And then the heavens opened up and there was singing.

She repeats a lot of what we say and also responds appropriately to things like, "Do you want to go get another book?" It's really fun!

Here are a few more phrases she said this month that I wrote down:

There it is
Dada go
Ser-i-ous-ly
Mommy dress
Nigh-nigh baby nigh-nigh
Help please

Sleeping

Sleep has been amazing this month. We're not sure we deserved "the sleepy model," but we sure are thankful every single day! We watch Curious George most nights before she goes to bed and she hasn't fought bedtime for us this month (except for when she was hanging out with her cousins, so we let her stay up a little later).

Bedtime: 6:30-7:00 pm
Night sleep: 12-13.5 hours
Nap: 2-3.5 hours at home and 1-2 hours at day care

Day Care

Rooney moved to the "Busy Bee" room at day care a couple weeks ago. In this room they learn to sleep on cots instead of in cribs, scoop their own food at mealtime, brush their teeth, walk behind an adult in an orderly fashion, march like a dinosaur, paint with pudding, etc. I think she is definitely ready for it. She had been in the infant ("Rolli Polli") room since she started there at 7 months so this is a great step in challenging her more and getting her on a more structured routine with learning themes. She switched rooms with three of her little friends, and their teacher also moved with them, so it was a really easy transition.

Parenting

I feel extremely lucky to have a front-row seat to seeing Rooney learn to talk, shriek, squeal and run. To see her watch ducks swimming for the first time. To see her taste s'mores for the first time. To see her go down the slide by herself for the first time. To feel her bury her head in my shoulder every single night before I lay her in her crib. After 18 months of pouring into her, she is starting to physically show love back to us with big smiles, hugs and kisses. It gives me great joy to be her favorite person :) We have such a strong, special bond.

We have her 18-month appointment in a couple weeks. We're seeing a different doctor than usual because our pediatrician just had her second baby. I'm hoping she doesn't talk to us about potty training. I don't even want to think about it! I hear about a lot of parents starting this early and then one year later they are still working on it. I want to wait until Roo is completely ready, and she is not showing very many signs of being ready yet. I think I need another year at least :)

Rooney: You are such a joy to have in our house. Daddy and I often look at each other and wonder how it came to be that we have an 18 month old! I hoped that a trait you would get from me is individuality. Well, I think that prayer was answered. You like to do things your own way. You are strong. You have a remarkably high pain tolerance. You love to dance. You try to run but haven't quite figured it out yet. You love shoes. You tell me the most beautiful stories, and even though I can't understand them quite yet, I treasure the fact that you choose to share those stories with me. Possibly my most favorite thing right now is when you give us side eyes with the cutest smirk I have ever seen and I can't help but grab your face and kiss you all over. I love being your mama.

Rooney, 18 Months