Trixie: Eighteen Months

Things I want to remember about Trixie at this age:

• She has a lot of teeth, especially compared to what Felix was like at this age.
• She loves to give cuddles. But she also loves to pull hair, pinch, and tackle (if she can).
• She loves to give kisses.
• She started walking at about 15 months old, our latest so far.
• She comes running when she hears somebody filling the tub.
• She's obsessed with oral hygiene and would happily stand at the sink "brushing" her teeth for upwards of 15 minutes. (Her version of brushing her teeth is putting her toothbrush under the running water, then sucking the water out.)
• She likes to get cloths out from under the kitchen sink and wipe up non-existent messes from the kitchen floor.
• She is still allergic to dairy. (So much sadness about this. Please outgrow it, Trixie!)
• She loves to go outside. She gets really upset when people go outside without her. And she gets upset when people come in from being outside because she wanted to be outside too.
• She puts on any clothes she can find, often in ways they are not meant to be worn.
• She loves nursery and the babysitter's house.
• She is a wonderful eater and is rarely picky. Sometimes she eats as much as or more than her brothers in a meal.
• She signs: "more," "eat," "thank you," "all done," and "milk."
• She adores anything with fur.
• She lost all her words when we were dealing with chronic ear infections a few months ago. She still has a bit of a speech delay, but she's coming along. She says:
• go
• hi
• krrrr (a sound effect for an airplane)
• zzzzz (a sound effect when she is zipping or unzipping something, or when she wants you to do those things)
• Ma
• Da
• more
• milk
• uh-oh
• ow
• dog
• up
• As we dealt with the ear infections she's had after getting tubes, she loved getting drops in her ears. Thankfully, we haven't had to do drops for at least a month, but it was so cute how she would willingly lie down and giggle as the drops went in.
• Her eyes are very light blue, and I believe they will stay that way.
• I frequently say she is my favorite kid right now because, "She sleeps the most and argues the least."
• She loves to bring us books to read to her, but she only sticks around for about one page before she leaves to do something else.
• She is my least independent child (so far) and is generally not interested in playing by herself. She frequently wants to sit in my lap.
• When we tell her we are going to go somewhere she hurries to sit on the stairs and sticks one foot in the air waiting for somebody to put her shoes and socks on.
• When we want her to come join our family, we can usually all sing a song together, and she will come running to join us. Sometimes she is eager to participate in the fun; other times she is just curious.
• She loves to wave her arms around "conducting" music when people are singing. I believe this is because I am the ward choir director and Eric leads the music in sacrament meeting. "People are singing? Well, I believe somebody ought to be flailing their arms about!"
• If anyone is playing the piano, she must join in, preferably by sitting on the player's lap, not merely pushing on the keys she can reach while standing on the floor.

Last week Eric told her it was time for bed, and she took off running to hide from him in our closet. She even shut the door behind herself.

Also last week near the bus stop one day while we were waiting for Ike's bus to arrive, I recruited Felix to help me put back rocks that children had kicked out of the neighbors' side-yard. It's clear the bus-waiters frequently kick the rocks out of the side yard. The next time we went on a walk, Trixie spent a solid 10-15 minutes putting rocks back.

Trixie really has no understanding that another baby is coming to join our family soon. She is generally not that interested in babies, but I've been trying to encourage her to play with her dolls a bit more, or at least cuddle her dolls occasionally. It will certainly be an adjustment when the new baby arrives, but Trixie is so sweet that I'm sure she'll love her new sibling, even if that love isn't necessarily instantaneous.