Lyla's 18 Month Update

It feels like an appropriate time to give an update on how Lyla has been doing over the past several months. Our little girl has been growing and developing so much! Ellen took her to the doctor to get her check-up and get a few vaccinations the other day. She weighs 23 lbs. 2 oz. and is 31 1/2 inches tall. She finds herself nicely hovering around the 50th percentile for both height and weight. The doctor also assured us that her vocabulary and speech are "quite advanced" for her age. She even brought in some of the nurses to hear Lyla talk. We know we are her parents so of course we think she's amazing so it's nice to hear a professional that thinks the same thing! She knows more words than we can count (well over 100), and she's getting quite good with phrases; some of her favorites are "I miss you", "I love you", "thank you much", "I'm precious", "rock a bye in tree top", "happy birthday", "I'm ready", and our current favorite, "jungle boogie" (accompanied with a hilarious dance).

She's becoming quite a food connoisseur - she loves trying new foods, but likes to have a nice variety (not a big fan of having the same food multiple times in a row). She loves peas, homemade English muffin pizza, shrimp, blackberries, pomegranate seeds, sweet potatoes, any Chinese food, any kind of noodles, anything with gravy on it, corn, cheerios with milk,eggs, and tacos. She loves getting quizzed, whether it's about animal sounds, family members' names, or body parts. She's such an independent free spirit. She has a hard time sitting still, but will pause in her tracks for a minute or two if she can watch anything Elmo-related or "The Backyardagains".

She's starting to have some serious opinions, the most amusing being when it's related to clothing options. Dustin will hold up outfits and she'll say "no" or "that's pretty". When she gets dressed she wants to see herself in the mirror and often will say "oh wow!" when taking herself in. She carries her purse everywhere she goes,almost always accompanied by one of her babies. The girl loves to shop. She also loves books and gets so excited to go to the library each week to check out more books. She gets most excited during the course of the day when Dustin comes home, running as fast as she can for the door with a grin on her face and saying "dad, dad, dad!". She loves talking on the phone and will take both real phone calls as well a pretend. We are so grateful and feel so blessed for all that Lyla is and for all exciting new things she does and discovers.