18 Months

Little Mango turned 18 months this past week.  Holy smokes!  She's so tiny though, I don't really believe it.  We went to the doctor today for her checkup and she finally broke 20 pounds.  20 pounds 1 ounce to be exact.  She's still less than 3rd percentile for weight, but since she is following the curve, the doctor says it's okay.  She's  around 25th percentile for height.  She's such a little shrimpo!  She has been getting better at eating.  She ate a half a hamburger today at Wendy's. 

She has started talking a little bit too.  She understands a lot of what we say, but is more of the silent type.  She can say, "Yeah!" and "No!" really well, "Da-yee!" whenever Daddy gets home, "Mama" occasionally, "nana" (banana), "bee-bee" or "bee-zhee" (baby), and "shoes."  Shoes are definitely her favorite things in the world.  Followed closely by her little baby stroller.  She doesn't even care if there is a baby in it, she will spend hours pushing it around the house.  Her favorite toys are the ones that belong to her sisters.  Strawberry and Apple are very good at sharing.  Mango is definitely a spoiled little girl.  Strawberry loves to cuddle her and Mango will usually go to her if she is mad at mom.

She is getting to be a really good climber.  She finally figured out how to climb up into the trampoline.  She was stuck at the top of the ladder for a while, but after a few weeks, figured out that last step and how to get through the net and gets up in there any chance she gets.  She used to be really careful and timid once she was in, but now she runs all over the place.  My neighbor watches her twice a week so I can volunteer at the school with the older girls and is doing an awesome job of getting her accustomed to animals.  Mango has been terrified of dogs, and especially cats, but now she will go up to their cat and pet him.  It helps that he is a big, fluffy, super-mellow kitty.  Luke has been trying to talk me into getting on for ourselves.  Maybe someday.  She gets really excited when she sees dogs and waves, but if we get her close enough to pet it, she totally panics.
 

She started going to nursery at church.  That's not going so well.  All the other kids are a lot bigger than her and aren't as into sharing as her sisters.  Usually she sits next to me, sucking her little thumb, staring at everyone else playing.  She did venture out a little bit yesterday and started playing with a couple of things, but the bigger kids would immediately come over and snatch them away.  She bent over to pick up a ball and another little girl smacked her on the back of the head.  Sigh.  I would intervene, but she decided that it was just safer to hang out with mom.  It's funny because it seems like having siblings usually helps kids know how to deal with fighting over toys, but since Strawberry and Apple are so sweet to her, she doesn't know how to fight back.  Singing time was really funny.  She can barely talk, let alone sing.  She does sing along with Apple, but Apple likes to play "Phantom of the Opera" and just sings "aaaa" as high and loud as she can.  So Mango sings like that.  But at church, instead of trying to sing along to "I am a Child of God" or "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider", she just starts dancing.  It's so cute. 

Mango definitely wins the prize for the "Best at Bedtime."  She loves sleeping.  She really likes structure and routine and organization.  Her sisters weren't really like that.  Mango likes things to be where they belong and things to happen the way they are supposed to.  So when we say, "time for nap" or "time for bed" she will head right down the hall to her room.  She wears her little sleep sack, snuggles with her bedtime dolly, and gets tucked in with her special blanky.  She giggles and smiles the whole time and doesn't make a peep until it's time to get up.  I love it.

Anyway, so that's a snapshot of my little Mango.  She's an absolute joy.  I love getting to know her personality.  All my girls are so different from each other and all help to make our family super fun.  :)