Holy moly, Claire is a year and a half old!!! Crazy! It seems like just yesterday that we celebrated her 1st birthday and now we’re halfway to her 2nd.

This month had a bunch of big changes: we stopped nursing, got rid of the pacifier, are down to 1 nap a day, and no more baby monitor! She really is growing up so fast!!

Here’s an update on our 18-month-old:

• Weight: We will find out this week at her 18 month doctor’s appointment! She’s growing so much! She’s wearing 18 month clothing and size 4 shoes (but they are big on her).

• Loves:
  • To make animal noises including elephant, cat, dog, lion, tiger, horse, snake, and cow.
  • To read. She’s more willing to sit down and read through a book with CJ and I and loves to sit and flip through books on her own.
  • To talk! She says a ton of words now and still has her own little languages when she’s saying what sounds like sentences.
  • Elmo! The first time she said Elmo’s name, she said “Melmo.” She can now say Elmo perfectly.
  • Trucks and buses! She gets so excited when we drive past them.
  • Bananas. When she sees them she yells “NANA!” until she gets one to eat.
  • To empty her cabinet in the kitchen that’s filled with sippy cups.
  • To play catch with Zoe.
  • Mickey and Minnie Mouse! She was Minnie Mouse for Halloween.

• Hates:
  • Diaper changes, big surprise there (I’m being sarcastic).
  • Not really a fan of PDA coming from CJ and I. If we hold hands or hug, she yells “Mama! Daddy!” until we stop.
• Talents:
  • To feed herself. She prefers big kid spoons and forks and, if the opportunity present itself, she will take our utensils. She’s been able to do this for a while I’ve just been forgetting to add it to an update!
  • To drink from cups.

• Sleeping:
  • We have not been doing so well in the sleep department this last month. We’ve been putting her down around 8 and, after 3 or so hours of sleeping, she wakes up with a vengeance. She just keeps saying “mama! mama! mama! daddy!” until we come in. We’ve resorted to bringing her into bed with us because it’s the only way she’ll calm down and sleep after that first mini-nap. We can’t figure out what the problem is. We thought she might be afraid of the dark so we turned on her nightlight but it didn’t help. We’re hoping this is just a phase. UPDATE: She woke up once last night but after a little bit of fussing, put herself back to sleep. HURRAY! I don’t want to jinx it but I’m hoping it happens again tonight.
  • She’s now down to 1 nap a day as of last Friday!

Claire wasn’t super interested in taking her 18-month photo so Zoe gladly walked over and sat in for her

• Other Random Facts:
  • I stopped nursing two weeks ago. My milk production has been slowly decreasing over the past few months and, two weeks ago, it pretty much stopped. There really was nothing there for me to give her anymore. The first night I didn’t nurse, we could tell she was thirsty so gave her water in a sippy cup and then she just cuddled with me for a few minutes before I laid her down. I, of course, silently cried with tears streaming down my face. I was ready to stop but, at the same time, I’ll never be ready to stop. It’s just a sign that she’s growing up which is difficult for me to swallow. I think that’s the most heartbreaking thing about motherhood… no matter what I do, she can’t stay little forever. These moments are all fleeting and I need to soak up every moment. I try to soak up every moment but it’s still not enough for me. I can’t get enough of her.
  • A week after stopping nursing, we stopped giving her a pacifier. She was so dependent on that and, while we tried to only give it to her during nap times and bedtimes, she would ask for it when she started to get upset as a coping mechanism. She also started to break out a bit around her mouth from having it so much so we just decided one day to not give it to her anymore. She fought it for the first couple nap times and the first night without it but, after that, has been amazing!
  • She likes milk now!! A huge relief now that nursing is over. She chugs it at mealtime.
  • After Claire treated our baby monitor like a hammer, it broke, so instead of getting a new one, we decided to stop using it. Since our house is older, we can easily hear her so there really was no need for it.

Isn’t it amazing how much our little ones can change in just a month’s time!?!? It absolutely baffles me.

I’m so excited for Thanksgiving this year and can’t wait to see if Claire loves it as much as I do! Last year, she was just starting to eat solid foods so this year is going to be so different and so fun.

Claire was focused on trying to pick up that pumpkin haha