Saige is 18 months

It's been a year and a half since Saige came into ours lives and I feel so incredibly blessed to have her.  I was watching her today run after Colby and Mark and I was just overcome with love for her.  For this precious little girl who would probably not be a part of our family if things would have been left entirely up to me.  But Someone else really knew what was best for me and for our family.  I am so grateful for my surprise pregnancy with her.  I can't imagine my life without her.  She makes me laugh, she makes me cry, she makes me love.  I really hope that someday when she can understand everything that she will know that despite how unplanned she was in my mind, that she was very much planned in my heart.  She is amazing!  Even though there are times when she drives me nuts and times when I get frustrated, it all melts away when she lays her head against my shoulder before bed or when she runs up to me and grabs my legs and looks up at me with a big smile or when I catch a glimpse of her and Colby loving each other.  Love her!

She is growing and changing every day.  I'm always amazed by the things she does or says each day.  It's crazy to think that just 6 months ago she was barely learning to walk and only had a few words.  Now she runs all over the place and talks all the time (sometimes words we understand other times she sounds like she's just saying a full sentence of something important but it sounds like gibberish).  Where does the time go.

Words she says: mama, dada, nigh nigh (night), Col (Colby), dog, kitty, toe, shoe, coat, diaper, poop, eye, nose, knee, cereal, yog (yogurt), wa wa(water), fow(flower), car, cookie, milk, cracker, nana (banana), elwo (hello) when putting phones up to her ear or anything that resembles a phone.
This list could go on and I will probably come back and add more.  But these are ones she says by herself and pretty regularly.  I constantly hear "car" because she likes to point out every car we see.  And she likes to wave to them all.  She will pretty much try to say any word I ask her to (it's usually just the first sound/syllable that she will say).  She has also just started putting two words together, like she says "nigh nigh Col" or tonight at dinner she said "my pizza".  It's crazy for me to realize how much Colby should have been saying when he was this age.  When he was 18 months he wasn't saying anything and we started speech therapy.

When she says anything it's always very high pitched and her words end with a higher pitch.

She loves the cats so much, she gets so excited whenever she sees them and will try to lay on them or pet them.  She really loves dogs too and points out every dog she sees even ones on books when we are in the store, but she kinda gets annoyed by Akira.  She's always pushing Akira away.

She loves to put on shoes, anyone's shoes.  If she can't get them on her feet she will put them on her hands and walk around like that or crawl.  She also loves putting on clothes, jackets, necklaces

She likes to tell me when she's pooped, usually the first thing she says when she wakes up from her nap.

She always asks to eat cereal or bananas.  She will ask for a banana at least three times a day or every time she sees them.

She knows some animal sounds.  She used to roar for every animal, but she now will bawk bawk (for chicken) woof (sounds like oof and is so high pitched), she will also baa or moo if I ask her.

She laughs and squeals when she gets something she really wants (like ice cream, popsicle or another treat)

She has to have everything Colby has and do everything he does.  She gets mad when he sits too close to her or touches her most of the time (sometimes she's ok with him touching her).  She screams when he takes a toy from her and has learned that he tries to trick her by trading her for another toy.  She doesn't give into the trade toys anymore.  Except when he actually wants her to play something with him then she usually refuses to play with the toy.  Crazy girl, has to be her way or no way.

She loves to be held all the time or just sit on my lap.  She cries a lot when I wont pick her up and hold her all day.

She always takes out her hair clip or tie that I have holding her hair back.  So she always has hair in her face since she wont leave it in.  I am trying to grow it out and avoid cutting bangs.

She's more into Colby's toys than anything "girly".  She loves cars, blocks, balls, bikes, dirt, rocks, chalk.  I try to get her to like her baby doll, so she will hug it or kiss it then throw it on the floor.  Likes to watch computer games, ect.  Loves to read books.  Has three favorite books we read at bed time.  "Snuggle up sleepy ones", "Where's baby's belly button", & "Dream baby dream".  That last one was a hand me down from a friend and for some reason Saige loves it.  It has the worst photo shopped pictures I have ever seen.  But she loves it.  She like to kiss the babies in it and the dog and cat.

She's really good with blocks, she can stack them up (the wooden ones) and she even puts together the mega block ones into towers with 4 or 5 blocks.

Sleeping...when Mark and I went on our trip Saige decided to become a perfect sleeper and sleep all through the night.  So since then she sleeps great at night.  Prior to that I was still getting up with her at least once or twice a week and nursing her before she would go back to sleep.  There was a few weeks back in July where she would go to bed and seem like she wanted to, but then start crying 15 min later and so I would go get her and keep her up a little longer and then she would go to bed.  After a little while of this I decided to make a more formal bed time routine with her and then just let her cry.  So we picked three books read them, she turns off the light, I hold her and sing to her for a bit and then lay her down with her binkies and blanket.  It took a few nights of crying but I think the routine helped her.  She's been great ever since.  She loves going down for her nap and never cries for it.

She likes to do little songs/finger plays.  She actually does a lot of the hand movements that go with the ones that we do.  Loves music and she dances to it.

She has mastered going up and down steps (walking, not crawling or scooting).  When she started doing this Colby was so excited for her, he kept saying "baby's walking, look!"  When Colby makes Saige laugh he says "I make baby funny"  He loves making her laugh and she does think he's pretty funny.

She likes to point out body parts and knows a lot of them, but she particularly enjoys finding hers or anyone's belly button.

She loves to play outside (riding bikes ie being pushed on one, playing with chalk, having Colby drive her around in the power wheels, playing in the dirt, just playing in the grass and being outside).  Loves the park and climbs up the stairs and slides down the slide.  She picks every flower she sees.  She thinks that all flowers are like dandelions and tries to blow on them.

She liked the water and being at the lake this summer but she hated the sand on her feet.  She now will only stay in the bath for 5 or 10 min and then has to get out.  

(Look!!  They are holding hands, how cute is that!?!  Even if I did tell Colby to do it, but he actually wanted to and she actually let him!)

We started ECFE (early childhood & family education) where we go to a little preschool kind of class once a week.  Colby started one when he was her age and is still in one now.  So I wanted Saige to have a class to go to and some time to spend with just me and to interact with the other kids.

She hates being told no and will just burst into tears and scream when I tell her no.  She cries and whines a lot when she doesn't get her way.  Sometimes she will just cry when I walk two steps away from her or wont pick her up.

She can still wear a lot of her 12 month clothes, and I even pulled out dresses and skirts from last summer that fit her this summer (the dresses are more like long shirts but they are still cute).  Even though she wears some smaller clothes, anything new I have bought her is 2T, I figure it was a little big this summer but she'll wear it all winter and probably next summer as well.  Oh and I just tried on her winter jacket from last year (6-12month size) and it still fits, haha!

I know there is so much about her at this age that I want to write down and remember but of course I can't think of it when I sit down to write.  So this list will have to do for now.  She's a sweetie and a little bit feisty, but we sure love her!

Happy 18 months sweet baby girl!

(Pictures were taken 9/27/2011.  We were at the park and took a little walk in the trees behind it and found this spot that I loved.  I was looking for better fall colors to take pictures, but I really love how these turned out.  Most of this post was written on 9/30/2011 the day she turned 18 months.)