Bonnie is 18 months old!

Our sweet girl is 18 months old! Bonnie weighs 22.2 pounds (44th percentile) and is 33 inches tall (84th percentile). She has popped two of her upper molars which now make 10 total teeth. Her hair gets curlier by the day, with tight ringlets in the back.

She is really into playing with Fisher Price Little People right now. We have Noah's Ark full of animals and a bus that she plays with all the time. She also still loves pens. She will go into Eric's office and hold as many pens as she can find. 

At the recommendation of her pediatrician, we had her evaluated around 15 months which lead to her starting speech therapy twice a month. She has progressed so quickly her therapist has suggested we drop a session and only meet once a month. Bonnie can now repeat many words including dada, mama, dog (gog), cat, food (foo), more (muh), please (cleee), cracker (caca), bubbles, love you (wubbu), hi, out, go, ice (aye). 

She has learned to kiss (my absolute favorite thing), blow kisses, and give hugs. She can climb up and down stairs (supervised). She has been using a sippy cup since she was a year old, and gets the general idea of a spoon but is unable to effectively use it. She still sleeps with a pacifier during naps and nighttime. At 15 months we stopped using a sleep sack as the weather was warming up, and she transitioned to one nap for 2-3 hours every afternoon. 

Her personality is really coming out. She is silly and loves to joke around. For instance she will smile and point to herself calling herself dada, then Eric will say "No, I'm dada!" and they go back and forth doing that for a while. Or when I change her diaper she tries to tickle my feet to make me laugh. She is very sweet and will say 'love you' (wubbu) or give me a hug spontaneously. She is still tough and brave. She got her first bee sting and a tick within days of each other. She has skinned up her knees and fallen countless times, but she wipes off her hands and gets up like nothing happened. Or if she does cry it usually doesn't last long. All that said, she is definitely entering the stage where tantrums are starting to become a thing when she is mad about something.

May Mash Up

This is going to be another hodge-podge post about random things we've been up to the last few weeks. As the weather has really heated up, we broke out the baby pool.

On really nice afternoons we try to eat on the deck, but sometimes the mosquitos win the war.

Tacos for Cinco de Mayo. 

We have found lots of little turtles, frogs, and lizards that Bonnie loves to see.

(A lizard is behind her in the picture below.)

Birdy's curls are loud and proud.

We have been doing lots of yardwork, as everyone else has. B enjoyed mulching the most (lots of trips in the wheelbarrow). 

We repainted our shutters black (originally green). 

We tore out one bush from the front (2 more to go). 

We visited some friends while they went camping.

We got a fence installed along the waterline in our backyard! We were dragging our feet on this one but we are SO glad we did it.

Bonnie has been enjoying her new freedom in the backyard and we are loving the peace of mind, not having to keep constant eyes on her when we are outside.

We also got our boat in the water finally! That will be another post.

B likes to spend time tinkering in the garage with Benny.

And unfortunately our community cat has not been coming around as frequently these days. Which means B now asks to see the cat on the catfood bag instead (it sits on top of the fridge and every day she points asking for us to take it down so she can cuddle or kiss it). She seems happy with the catfood bag but it looks a little sad from our end. Hopefully our cat starts coming around again soon.

I know May isn't over yet but that's all I have for now. Bonnie is officially 18 months old and has her check-up in a couple days, so I will give an update on her very soon. 

Busch Gardens

This past weekend we took Bonnie to Busch Gardens for the first time. We had such a great day! And the weather couldn't of been more perfect.

Eric told me to go jump on one of the roller coasters while the lines were still short (I haven't been on one since before I was pregnant with B). I had a blast and these two had fun while they waited.

Then we took Bonnie on her first ride, Le Catapult. True to form, her face remained stoic through the whole thing. We honestly couldn't tell if she liked it or not, but I'm pretty sure she did.

She tried not to smile on the carousel but failed. 

After a picnic and a short nap in the stroller, Eric took B on a little dragon ride which she loved.

We saw the lorikeets, which was probably her favorite part (hello, animals). She squealed in excitement the whole way through.

Eric got to jump on the swings and had everyone laughing - a different pose every time around.

Then we went to the Sesame Street section where Bonnie got to go on a couple more rides before we finished out the day. She never seemed to be scared, nor overly enthusiastic about any of the rides which wasn't too surprising to us. She tends to be a bit serious and straight-faced in new situations, until we can break her out of her shell. But she is also very brave and doesn't scare easily. It's always so fun for us to watch her try new things!

We had such a fun time and can't wait to go back!

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend getting some quality time with Eric and Bonnie. Eric made a steak dinner for us Saturday night. On Sunday after church we took the ferry across the river and got ice cream in a nearby town. 

Last time I was on the ferry I was pregnant with this girl! She loved watching all the birds.

The weather was beautiful, the town was charming, and Bonnie obviously loved the ice cream experience.

Words will never describe how thankful I am to be this girl's mom. It was a long process getting her, and having her has been far beyond what we ever envisioned. She brings us so much joy every single day, my heart overflows with love for her. I am so thankful she is in our lives and we get a front seat in watching her grow. 

A very special Mother's Day to our own Moms (certainly missed you this day!) and our grandmothers, as well as our sisters. You have all shaped me and have been excellent role models as I figure out this whole motherhood thing myself. Happy Mother's Day!