Dear Peanut,

Just last week, you hit eighteen months, and I’m amazed at how different you are now from a few short months ago. But then, the six short (to me) months back to your birthday are a full third of your life so far, so it only figures!

As your personality reveals itself, I’m finding a little girl living with me (instead of a baby!) who has definite ideas about how the house should work, who’s considerate, who loves to kiss everybody (and everything) and who’s a nutcase. You make me laugh. You’re really funny, did you know that? Some days, you’re walking around with a dishtowel over your head, waiting for me to ask, “Where’s Maya?” Other times, you tease Clay with just a lick at your Cheetoh, then race away, hoping he’ll chase. When he (usually) does, you squeal and laugh with sounds that could make even the most cynical see hope.

You fixate on objects and tasks now, almost to the point of obsession. If you’re in a shopping cart or a restaurant highchair, you’re not satisfied until you figure out how the plastic buckle works. Um…oops…since you’ve yet to develop enough hand strength to buckle it yourself, that means you’re not satisfied!

You give love to the world, and lately, you kiss everything. Me (random toddle-by kissings of my legs), toys, animal cookies (right before you eat them)…you name it. You’re a happy girl most of the time, and when people make comments in a semi-negative tone like “wow, she must be a handful,” I want to clock them. What do they know?

You’re getting bigger and bigger…as of a week before your 18 month birthday, here were your stats:

Maya at 18 Months

height: 31.5 inches / 50th percentile

head: 17.25 inches / below the 5th

weight: 18 pounds, 12.8 ounces / below the 5th

Yup, you’re still a skinny-mini, but you’re gaining at a faster rate than most kids your age! As most toddlers’ growth curves level off somewhat around 12 months, yours is climbing — and getting steeper. In other words, you’re doing just fine!

Sometimes, you sleep all night in your own room. As much as I wake up feeling rested when you do this, invariably, I wake up in a panic around 5am. Is she breathing? Is she okay? Then other nights (most, actually), you wake in the middle of the night and cry as if your heart would break until I finally bring you to my bed. This isn’t so bad now — you’re still an awful bedhog (who knew a toddler could take up so much space?), but at least you don’t kick me all night anymore. When you wake up, you’re all smiles and giggles. You’re annoyingly happy in the early morning, but you’re also willing to play by yourself for a half hour or so before I get up, and for that, I thank you.

Maya and I had dinner out last night. As we left the restaurant, we encountered a family with a cute, blonde, curly-haired 20-month-old son. Maya told him “hi!” right away, then proceded to walk up to him (once I got the parents’ permission).

She gave him her best winning smile, said a few words in toddlerish, then leaned in and kissed him.

Uh oh.

All of this is added after the fact, for obvious reasns…

Tuesday the 7th, a friend of mine from college was scheduled to come down for dinner — he was attending a conference in Denver, and I hadn’t seen him in two years (I was pregnant!). Poor Andy. He didn’t know what was about to hit him.

Before Andy arrived, Maya threw up all over the carpet in the master bath. Oh well…I had time to get her bathed and clean before he showed.

Not so fast. Shortly after Andy’s arrival, I was giving him the tour of the house when we both heard a loud SPLAT! The sound was somewhat reminicent of this, so I had a feeling I knew what was coming. The kitchen floor was covered, and Maya was very unhappy. On the bright side, she missed her pjs, so I was able to get her off to bed, where she conked out right away.

Middle of dinner…crying. Yup, she’d gotten her bed. Then while I was holding her, she did it again, this time down my shirt and all over my jeans. Andy was gracious enough to clean up the kitchen mess so I could give US a bath. Poor baby.

The next day, Maya slept. And slept. Then slept some more. Her temperature hovered in the 101-102 range, but at least she wasn’t puking! By evening, she was begging bits of frozen fruit bar from me, and even ate some cream of wheat.

I figured she was on the mend.

Thursday would prove otherwise…(continued above)

So, Maya’s running early this morning. She had breakfast around 7:30 (norm is 8-8:30), then watched Blue’s Clues until just a few minutes ago — WITH a snack.

Just now, she started signing “more” to me and walked to the pantry door. I looked at her and said, “Maya, you just had a snack!” WIthout missing a beat, she turned on the sweetest smile ever, looked up at me and said “Pleeeeease.” If that weren’t enough, she then signed “please” too. Fine. I gave her some baby goldfish and said, “okay, say thank you.” “Dank uuuuu.”

It’s amazing watching these kids change. The funny thing is that once I gave her the goldfish, she didn’t care about them — maybe she just wanted to see if she could get them?

We experienced our first encounter with pinkeye…but fortunately, caught it early on and got some antibiotic eyedrops.

The second day of the infection, Maya looked like she’d been in a boxing match and lost.

This morning, I brought a mozarella stick upstairs along with Maya’s milk so I could actually *ahem* soak in the tub for a few minutes. As soon as she saw the cheese, Maya reached with a smile, then sat down and started to try to open the package. Being the good provider, I opened the cheese stick for her.

Did this garner thanks? Praise?

Heck, no. Maya burst into tears, and threw the now-edible cheese on the carpet. I picked it up, put it back in the package, did an approximation of a closed package (pushing the sides together), and returned it to Maya so SHE could open it. Then, and only then was the cheese worth her time.

Hooo boy…let the games begin. I can already hear my parents laughing at karma (although they wouldn’t call it that).

The solo bath didn’t last, by the way. Maya insisted that SHE needed to get into the tub with me.

Standing up. Not pulling up…standing up.

I’ve mentioned before that Maya tends to wait to do new skills until she’s already figured them out in her head. Here’s another example. Right now, Maya is walking in circles around the living room, and each time she stumbles/sits, she stands right back up IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM.

This kid continues to amaze me.

Maya just:
1. Turned on the television (nothing new there).
2. Changed the input settings from cable to DVD/VCR.
3. Turned on the DVD/VCR.
4. Switched the DVD/VCR to the DVD setting from VCR mode.
5. Turned to stare me down until I got the hint.
6. Said “yeah!” when I hit play for “Baby Monet: The Seasons.”

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

That entertainment armoire I was eyeing is starting to sound like a wise purchase. Doors are a *very* good thing. Well, until she learns to open them, anyway…

In the time it took for me to take this photo, d/l it from my camera, and upload it to the computer/flickr for posting here, Maya tired of BE (can you blame her?) and switched back on cable. I keep cable turned to the “Adult Alternative” music channel. She’s now cranked the volume to max, and dancing to Imogen Heap. Good girl.

Tooth number four (top center left) has FINALLY made its breakthrough today. As a result (no teething pain), Maya is bouncing off the walls today.

At the moment, she’s playing tug with a bleached prefold diaper (I don’t mind that — they’re not as soft as unbleached, so I doubt I’ll use them anyway) with Clay, and LAUGHING her head off. The dogs keep going back and forth between playing with her and each other. Either way, Maya is delighted.

I’m catching up on email and working at my desk when I realize that Maya’s suddenly become awfully quiet. Uh-oh.

When I turn around, I see her quietly sitting on the floor behind me with her copy of “Goodnight Moon,” — which she’s pulled out of her book basket. She turns the pages and points to the objects in the pictures just like we do when we read it before bedtime. Awwwwwwwwww!

By the way, we’re now up to four or five steps in a row, numerous times per day. The kid is walking!