18 months

Gracie is 18 months old.

She is passionate about what ever she does. She is opinionated. She is independent. She is very stubborn. She is vocal and quite chatty. She is our girl :)

She loves her brothers. Recently she has taken to running at Nathan and wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing him (where he pretends he doesn't care). Micah is her buddy, her playmate, her protector, her sometimes over protector.

She likes playing with N & M's cars and legos. She makes the sounds for the cars and likes to pick out legos and hand them to the boys as they build (and yes as sweet as that is...don't think she hasn't broken their creations or dumped every. single. lego. out of the box....). Recently we were at a friends house and their daughter had a baby doll stroller and Gracie really liked playing with it.... she doesn't have a lot of "girl" toys. Partly because we are now on our 3rd child and realize that they will play with whatever you place in front of them. She likes the boys toys, my pots and pans, the dog and his toys, all phones, rocks, pillows, books, etc. She does have a doll that Grammy & Grampa gave her for her 1st birthday and she sleeps with it every night.

She is an order person. When changing her diaper she likes you to throw it away immediately, if not she will get to it asap and dispose of it herself (yes!!).

She sleeps approximately 12 hrs. every night. No matter when she went to bed. However, our routine is that bedtime is around 7-8pm. She naps once a day now. She stopped her 2 naps a day when she was 17 months old. I'm okay with that because I was so surprised that she lasted that long. But that 1 nap is about 2 1/2 hrs. Those of you that are wanting to throw stones because of my kids great sleeping habits.... I'm sorry. I really am! I have no magic power... they have all slept so great since they were just a few weeks old. But then again... with the exception of Nathan, we're all pretty grumpy when low on sleep.... so I'm glad we sleep :)

She likes to feed herself. It's a messy world, but she's happier when she is left to her independence. When she is done eating she will hand you her plate, fork/spoon, and cup. You can't just leave it pushed away from her... she is done, please remove it completely.

She loves yogurt. Grace & Micah eat it faster than I can keep the fridge stocked. They both like having müsli/granola poured into it. I'm so proud of their healthy food choices :) She also loves all fruits (so far), steamed veges, cream cheese on bread (she licks it off), tuna, chicken, rice, popsicles, & chicken nuggets (also, if there is any dipping sauces she will expect her own and really likes sweet and sour).

She really enjoys taking baths and for that matter.... enjoys a swimming pool.

She has a thing for shoes and likes people to wear them. But takes hers off all the time. If it's time to go somewhere she grabs everyone's shoes that she can find and starts handing them out.

She is such a Daddy's girl. If she falls, trips or gets a boo-boo (even the small insignificant ones) tears and crying will begin if her Daddy is in sight. If he is not around I can usually get her to look past it all and carry on with life.... till he shows up and she acts like it just happened!

She does like to go places with Mommy. She is a good shopper and talks um, well, jibbers to me the most (well, maybe the boys, but I'd like to think more to me).

She likes music and will move her little body to any beat. It's. adorable.

She hates bows in her hair. My sil made me a bunch of them when we visited last summer and so I try to revist the idea of putting them in her {cringe} mullet every once in awhile. She doesn't mind the little snap clips (partly because she forgets they are there).

So I leave you with my latest attempt to help her look just a tad bit girly-er than usual....