Dagny at 18 Months

Just before the blizzard of 2014 arrived, Dagny and I made it to the doctor for her 18 month check up.  Originally, Dan was going to take her and go in late to work but since we were all home for a snow day.  I was happy for him to take her so I wouldn't miss work and I wouldn't have to hold her as she got shots, but I was mildly disappointed that I'd miss this milestone check up so I volunteered to take her on my own.  At her 15 month check up, she cried from the moment the nurse weighed and measured her to the moment the doctor said "she you at 18 months" but this time she was completely relaxed. Can you tell?

She snacked on a cracker after weighing in at 25 lbs 5 oz and 34 inches tall (2 in in 3 months!!).  Her height puts her in the 99th percentile which is amazing and quite interesting since Finley was also exactly 34 inches at this age but was only in the 91st percentile (they rank boys and girls separately).

 She then read some books while we continued to wait.  She likes to say "I do it" about lots of things and books are no exception.

 She pointed out all sorts of animals in the books and I was secretly wishing there was a video camera in the room so that the doctor could see all the talking she was doing just in case she clammed up in the doctor's presence.

Luckily, she continued to chat it up once Dr. Simon came in: telling me where to sit, asking for water, showing me books, and the funniest part was that when we were flipping through a book about a mouse chef, she was pointing things out saying "mouse cookin'" "stir in pot" "hot? hot?" and then blowing on the hot spoonful of soup in the picture.  The doctor was impressed to say the least. I shared my amazement that Dagny never talks in the third person like Finley did and many other toddlers typically do, she uses "I."  Finley used to say things like "Finley build tower" or "Finley water" but our little gal will say "I do it," "I want it, too," and "I have baby and milk."  The doctor agreed that she was above the language curve - which was lovely to hear since Dan asked me to find out from the doc if she was "gifted" or not (I figured this counted).

Dagny is truly "industrious" as her teachers have commented.  She loves cooking in our pretend kitchen, dribbling the soccer ball and jumping on the trampoline in the basement, carrying around her dog, bear and more recently a baby.  This baby gets lots of attention: she's fed milk, covered with a blanket, washed with a washcloth, and sung to sleep with "Rock a Bye Baby" that Dagny sings all by herself.   Dagny also tells us when the baby is "hungee" or "firsty."

 The magnatiles Finley got for Hanukkah have continued to be a HUGE hit and Dagny is finally doing some building herself instead of just telling us to make her a house or a tower.  She made this all by herself the other day.

 Then, she grabbed the mail truck and said "beep beep" and she drove it on her very own road!

She's proud to have her own backpack now (Thanks, Grammy and Granddad) and wears it out the car most afternoons right next to her big bro.

We went to a birthday party at a local kids' art place and she loved it!

 I could go on and go about Dagny-isms at 18 months, but here are just a few more tidbits:

1. She loves her loveys and gets excited for a diaper change since it means we have to go upstairs into her room where her loveys stay.  She's super interested in the potty and we are doing our best to encourage her without spending all day in the bathroom while she hangs out.  I did read "The Potty Train" five times just today...

2. She loves football.  She loves rolling the ball around in the basement and yelling "tackle me" before getting "pancaked" by one of us.  She tackles Finley (when he's already on the ground) and usually has to be forcibly removed from his back.  We also tend to watch football on TV on Sundays after dinner and she jumped into Dan's arms after a bath tonight when he asked if she wanted to watch.  She yelled, "YES, FOOTBALL!!"

3. She loves school and will wave bye to me before I'm even ready to leave in the mornings and all our friends who drop off their kids later remark how happy Dagny always is when they see her.

4. Her singing skills are awesome with "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Rock a Bye Baby" being her best. She'll sing along with you for the "ABCs"  and "Wheels on the Bus" and does hand motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Before bed, she makes song requests which is funny because she'll be totally relaxed and you might think she's nearly asleep and then "Spider? Spider now" Ha!

5. Her counting skills are AMAZING -- after hearing Finley and I count down the days until his birthday throughout November.  She can get to 10 going back and forth with you and sometimes nearly all the way there on her own.  

6.  She adores her big brother and they are closer to really playing together which is great.  She likes to do just what he does and, thankfully, is excellent at sharing and trading toys. Unfortunately, she learned the word "mine"a while back and that is a tough one...but Finley taught it to her so now he has to deal with it!

I cannot believe that this time last year, she was starting daycare and was learning to sit up!

Love you, Dagny!!