Evelyn at 18 Months

Our little miss Evelyn is 18 months old already!

I meant to post this update weeks ago (on her actual 18 month birthday). But we haven’t taken any trips recently so I didn’t have any current photos of her! And every time I tried to take some at home, something would come up…like when we both got terribly ill for an entire week, or (once we were finally feeling better), Evelyn refused to cooperate.

So this morning I said, “Hey Evelyn, why don’t you go sit by that tree and I’ll take your picture?” And what do you know? She hopped off the couch and went right over! Finally I had my chance…even if the lighting was terrible and she was still in pj’s with her hair all frazzled. You don’t deny these kinds of opportunities.

It’s hard to believe we officially have a toddler running around the house. We have a spunky little girl who knows what she wants when she wants it. The new word around here is “NO NO NO NO NO”, and she’s mastered her scowl face. You know, the one that says, “you’ve been trying to trick me into eating these peas for over a year now, and I’m not falling for it anymore!”

But when she’s not feeling so defiant and crabby, our little girl is pretty sweet. She has an infectious giggle, which comes out in full force when she’s hiding in the corner of the dining room, or getting tickled under the arms, or watching her cousin Harper do something that she finds absolutely hilarious.

It’s strange how much of a little person she’s become so quickly. She insists on throwing away her trash (by herself, no help!) in the garbage. She has to pick out which shoes she wants to wear each morning. And she loves to stack her blocks, nervously laughing to herself as she tries to stack one more on top without knocking the whole thing over!

I’m also probably biased, but Evelyn seems wildly smart these days. She loves to recite what sound each animal makes (the best is “doodle-doodle-doo!” for the rooster), or trying to count to five on her fingers. (Though it usually sounds something like “wunnnn, tooooo, fyyyyy, ayyyyy”).

And oh goodness, does this girl love to explore. Putting her in a carseat or shopping cart is pure torture. She must be free! Airport terminals are infinitely worse than the airplanes themselves, as she insists on running from gate to gate as fast as she can. Which usually also means her legs can’t keep up with her body and she’ll inevitably fly forward, faceplanting on the ground. It’s cool though, (most of the time) she’ll get back up, brush herself off, and keep on going again. It doesn’t seem to wear her out, despite how terribly exhausting it is for us to chase her!

It’s the ever-evolving mood swings that drive me the craziest, but we’ve learned to take it in stride. She’s just so good at being a toddler! I can’t wait to see how our travels will go as she gets a bit older. 🙂