A Year and a Half

(this picture was taken at 18 months - crazy hair and all)

Fiona is now more like 20 months, but I thought I would try to capture what her personality is like at the moment.  

-She is our spunky girl.  Wild hair.  Loud screams of delight and also frustration.  A total tornado who can pull everything out of drawers, bins, and cabinets in the time it takes me to help Finley wipe after potty.  

-She remains a good eater and there is not much she won't try.  This is refreshing and she is often finishing what is on her sister's plate.

-She loves to sleep.  Her nighttime ranges from 6:30-6:30 give or take and she is down to 1 afternoon nap of 1-3 hours.  She sometimes wakes up around 5am, but can be put back down or comes to snuggle with us and falls back asleep.  She is finally old enough to listen when we say "go back to sleep, it's night night time!"

-She is talking more and more.  She babbles in her made up language all the time, but more and more words are becoming intelligible.  Her favorites are No-no, yeah, baby, help me, up please, MORE, mama, papa, num num, bye bye, baby Tasha, and Chippy (our elf on the shelf).

-She is just learning how to climb up on the couch with her short little legs.  And after a nasty fall down the stairs a few months ago, she has finally gathered up the courage to climb the stairs again, still coming down with someone watching or helping.  

-She loves baby dolls and anything associated with them.  She will feed them, tote them around, and put them to sleep each with their own little blanky.  It's very sweet. 

-She doesn't sit still for too many TV programs, but loves the DVD in the car when she gets to watch it.  She often gets in her carseat, points at the screen, and says "MooMoo" for movie.

-Lift the flap books are very entertaining right now and she will read the same ones over and over. 

-Her hair, her hair, her hair.  It is in some sort of afro most of the time.  It looks the best after a bath, but the moment she sleeps on it, poof its and afro again.  We're trying to grow through this stage, even though Grandma would love to cut it! 

-She has just started to "wrestle" with her sister and I don't think it will be long until she can pin Finley.

-The girls get along about 25% of the time, mostly because Fiona can't always communicate what she wants and so just screams at Finley and takes Fin's toys away.  It drives me a little bit nuts, but I am seeing glimpses of them getting along better, so hopefully that is what the future holds.  

I'm not sure if it's just having 2 young kids or if Fiona really demands that much of my attention, but this past year has been by far the hardest of my life.  I love this little spitfire of mine, but she pushes me close to my breaking point much more frequently than I ever remember with Fin.  Fiona was home sick last week with me and despite being sick, we had the most enjoyable day together without her vying for my attention when Finley is around.  I had forgotten how easy having just 1 baby was!  

She is definitely teaching me patience and for that I am grateful.