We have an 18 Month Old Baby!

Yesterday was Roxanne's 18 month birthday! Can you believe it? It's one of the scary ones for me. Like, I could start saying "She's a year and a half old" now. That's just too much. Yesterday morning, I took her and Ben to Monkey Joe's over in Tucker. They ran themselves ragged, and had a great time, but only lasted a little over an hour. By then, they were asking to eat and getting grumpy. Ben went and sat in a chair and Roxanne just laid down in one of the jumpy things. One of the highlights for her was the Spongebob jumpy thing. She ran right to it, and I ended up climbing in it with her and Ben and taking them down the slide. I tried to take some photos while we were there, but I didn't get many since I was chasing them constantly. They were totally overstimulated, and wanted to get in and out of each jumpy thing with rapid speed. It was pretty tough trying to keep up with both of them, especially since they need help getting in and out of the jumpy things. But it was definitely worth the trip. Hopefully we can go fairly often this summer. It's been too hot to get outside much, so the kids (and me) get a little stir crazy.

I'm trying to think of some new Roxanne things for her special 18 month post, but I think I've been fairly good at recording things as we go along. She hasn't had her check-up yet either, so no fun information about that either... Just for posterity, I will say that she is still not sleeping through the night, but she is going until about 3:00am some nights. She is still not weaned, although she usually only nurses during her daily nap and in the evenings (and a few time through the night). I have been able to distract her from nursing during the day most of the time, but if she's really overtired or fussy, I just nurse her if she asks. I know, I know, I was one of those moms who said "If they can come over and ask to nurse, they are too old" but my comfort zone has changed. I am working in the general direction of weaning though. I'm just not in a hurry, and she HATES cow's milk. She dribbles it down her chin every time I give it to her. I still offer it to her once or twice a week, but it's just a waste.

She is getting very good at feeding herself these days. She can use a fork quite nicely, and she is getting good at drinking out of a regular cup. I never put much in the cup, so if she does spill, it's not a huge deal, but she's really starting to spill less and less. Her favorite foods are lasagna and spaghetti (a la Dada) and yogurt. She has started eating whole grapes, but ONLY if I am sitting directly next to her, ready to swipe the grape out if she doesn't start chewing it as soon as it gets in her mouth. When she's just in her high chair, I still cut them in half, but she doesn't eat them as well. She has been teaching us that toddlers eat for novelty as much as for taste. I recently discovered that she likes Boca Chik-patties, too, which is nice, since she already likes the Morningstar Farms black bean burgers and Asian veggie patties. Boca is cheaper... :) She still eats meat, too, but for lunch, the veggie stuff is easiest. Please remember that I have to prepare 4 lunches simultaneously every day, including the one that I eat standing up over the course of an hour or two. Convenience is always key...

I'll post some photos later this evening. Some are from yesterday at Monkey Joes, and others are from our pool trip last Sunday. Roxanne really like the pool. We took her to Indian Creek, which is a big facility owned by Georgia State University and only accessible to GSU employees and students. It's really a nice place to go and it's only $2 for the three of us to get in. We let Roxanne float in a little life jacket (they have a bunch that you can borrow) while we took turns floating her around the pool. She would just cling on to whoever was holding her and occasionally splash, but she was happy as a clam.

Today we went to our friends' house for a visit, and Roxanne had lots of fun playing with Evie, their daughter. She also kissed their new baby, Owen, and patted him very gently. She only paid attention to him for about a five minute span, but I think it's because he is such a quiet and peaceful little guy. And she was totally absorbed in playing with Evie and her toys.

No house news. We are still stuck in the same rut, where the bank (the seller) won't sign the form, and no one has been able to actually get them on the phone to try and smooth it over. We have until June 27th, and then we will have to back out if we have any hope at all of getting our earnest money back. Our agent has hired an attorney to try and talk to the bank and explain that there is no reason at all for them to refuse to sign the form. Unfortunately, they aren't calling him back either. We are pretty gutted about all of it, and just really are hoping against hope that this gets worked out. But it's been tough. Especially frustrating because it's just not that big of a deal. We'll see.