Lauren at 18 months

Lauren loves standing on chairs these days. Depending on how chaotic things are at a given moment, I sometimes let her eat her breakfast like this or color a picture.



She's ever independent these days. Trips to the grocery store or mall are a tad more challenging as her tolerance for sitting the shopping car or stroller is increasingly short-lived. I get this. I mean she has two big brothers to keep up with and she loves to run.



I let her explore when I can but since she doesn't really like to hold our hands when walking, sometimes I have to just let her protest her stroller confinement, which usually passes quickly enough ending with her sulking and adorably sucking her thumb. She is prone to tantrums these days when she doesn't get what she wants--whether it's playing with my cell phone or staying outside on the porch to throw the rocks in Tobin's "collection" or staying up instead of going to bed. While frustrating for both of us, there are amusing aspects to these mini dramas. When she's still at the point of resisting comfort, she'll sometimes assume the yoga position of downward dog and yell/cry. (She also will fling herself backwards onto the floor, which is less charming.) When she cries and is finally willing to be comforted, she'll point and say "eyes" and then press her eyes toward my face so I can kiss away her tears.



So Lauren's world is so very exciting--sometimes not in the best ways--lately. But for the most part, she's handling growing up well. She's gone down to one nap this past month. I made the change after several weeks of afternoon nap resistance coupled with more night waking. While I usually dread changes in routine, this one's gone really well for all of us. We're less rushed during the day since we only have to plan around the one nap and I don't have to shorten the afternoon nap on days I have to pick Tobin up from school. Her night wakings remain a little iffy but she does a good job staying awake in the morning until her midday nap and most days sleeps two to three hours. Then she's just fine until bedtime, which I've tried to push a little earlier but ends up being close to 8pm. One of her favorite afternoon/evening activities is reading with Dad.



As she talks more and more, she particularly identifying animals in books. Sometimes she says the name of the animal but more often, she prefers to bark like a dog, quack like a duck or howl like a wolf.