18 months

Eliza is such a blast at 18 months old! She is getting chatty and is hilarious and smart!

The two things that she is the most obsessed with in the whole world is shoes and food. If there are shoes left out, she will inevitably get into them. She loves her own shoes so much, but really enjoys putting other others' shoes as well. When she sneaks upstairs I will usually find her either trying to get her binky in her crib or in my closet trying on some of my shoes. She still loves food and eats really fast. She is always down for a snack. If I offer her a snack such as crackers she'll then say, "bowl!" because she loves getting to hold her own bowl.

Eliza can say lots of words such as more, bowl, duck, uh-oh, ouch, yes, mama, dada, bro, sis, Josh, papa, grandma (am-ma), no, please, thank you, lollipop, (pop) up, shoes, cracker, water (wa-wa), pig noises, and ah-ah-ah, which is what she says for dog. (She's making a barking noise.) She will attempt to say lots of other words.

She is still a total mama's girl. If someone tries to take her from me, even Dad, she will totally flip out. (She does much better with other people if I'm nowhere in sight.)

If we raise our voice to Eliza to tell her to stop doing something or because she's just done something naughty, she will immediately look at us and say sweetly, "Hi!"

Eliza loves dogs. She will immediately point and start making her barking noise if she sees one. She also loves birds and calls every bird a "duck."

She loves her binky but is mostly only allowed to have it in her crib. She calls it a "boop" and will ask for it if she sees it. Sometimes she'll sneak upstairs and try to get it from her crib.

Eliza is still a dancer. She will start rocking out every time she hears music. She likes the bath if a sibling is in there with her, but gets bored pretty quickly if she's by herself. She likes books and sitting on my lap while reading. Her favorite books are "Row Your Boat," "Goodnight Beach," and Minnie Mouse books. She also likes books with animals. She loves bubbles.

Eliza is a nightmare at stores because she always wants to stand in the cart. Super dangerous! I strap her in but she can get out of that no problem. And since she's way too young to walk in stores, shopping is hard. I feel like I spend most of the time sitting her back down.

Eliza is easily spooked. It is so funny to sneak up behind her because she always screams SO loud. Unfortunately, she also has started screaming when she's mad. This is less funny. Ha!

If you ask Eliza where certain body parts are, she is able to show you most of them. She especially loves belly buttons and finding other people's belly button.

Eliza takes one nap a day around noon. Her naps are usually a little over an hour. She goes down around 6:30 and sleeps about 12 hours, which is amazing. She doesn't often wake up during the night anymore unless she's sick.

We love Eliza SO much and are so happy she's ours. She completes our family and makes life more fun.