18 month baby update
Eeek! It's my last baby update for a while! I think I'll do another one when Daphne turns two - it'll be amazing to look back and compare how much she changes in six months, rather than one. But first up, my little madam is finally a year and a half old, and I know I keep saying this, but this really is the BEST age so far. She's so bloody cute at the moment. She definitely went through a weird mental leap thing (her last ever Wonder Week - wow!) and changed a lot afterwards. The main thing I noticed is that she now doesn't do things just because you ask her to. Ha! Before, if I said 'Daph, go and get your shoes' or something similar, she'd trot off like an obedient dog and bring them back to me. But now, she looks at me, thinks about my request and (usually) decides that she'd rather do something else instead. It's actually amazing, and it fits right in with what they're supposed to have learnt in the last leap - that they have free will, basically, and don't have to do what they're told. Of course, this means a LOT more frustration on both our parts, but it's also amazing to think of her as this sentient little being with her own thoughts about things.
Another change - and the loveliest by far - is that she's suddenly got super cuddly. She's always giving me cuddles now - coming up to me and when I pick her up she throws her arms around me and buries her head against my shoulder and it's soooo sweet, because she was never a cuddly baby at all. She's also finally started sitting still a bit with me to watch television (yes I know this is terrible, but she's always on the go and sometimes I wish she'd just have some quiet time and chill out because she wears herself out). The only thing she'll watch at the moment is Little Baby Bum, the most random nursery rhyme cartoon thing on Netflix, but even so, it's been lovely to have her snuggle up against me and watch it - we even ate some popcorn in front of the telly together yesterday and finally, I was living the parenthood dream. Ha.
Other developments - she is finally walking, but only with her push along walker dog. I know this isn't a big deal for people with babies who've been walking from 10 months, but for us, this has been a bit mindblowing, and she looks so pleased with herself as she trots along behind him. She's also taken a few steps towards me if there's a gap between me and whatever she's standing against - it's almost as though she CAN walk, but she's just too scared to do it, in case she falls over. Because she does it without thinking sometimes (admittedly only a few steps, like I say) which proves she IS capable. She just overthinks things. She's got until the end of the month if she wants to beat me as I walked at 18 months, and I'm not sure if she'll get there, but we'll see... She's standing really well now, too, finally!
Sleep has been another big big change this month. We've finally transitioned to one nap. Which has been SO brilliant, as usually it's at least an hour, so we get a decent ish amount of time to get stuff done during the day finally. I know some babies sleep for two or even three hours a day, but that's just not going to be Daph, I don't think. She much prefers a shorter nap and an early bedtime, and is still going to bed around 6.30pm (but it has been 5.30 when her nap has been too short). Wake up times have been all over the shop, but that's because she's been ill the last week or two, so she seems to be waking in the night with a sore throat about 3am, and then going back to sleep quickly (a miracle in itself) until past six. This morning was 6.40am, which is the latest we've had in absolutely ages, but then I was awake at 1.30am myself coughing, as well as going in to her at 3 with milk, so we didn't really feel much benefit! Typical! I'm hoping once the sickness subsides, we'll get some kind of firm routine in place that we can stick to for the next year or so. That would just be amazing. Currently she's sleeping from 11.30am to around 1pm, which is quite good as it means we have a decent length of time in the afternoon to do things - in fact today, we had a Sunday roast at my parents, which we haven't been able to do for months.
Another big thing that's happened this month is that Daphne started at the childminder. The childminder is like an angel sent from heaven - she's absolutely wonderful, and Daphne has settled in really well. It's changed my thoughts about childcare so much, actually - I thought it was all about the parents having time to work, but in fact, it's Daph who seems to be benefiting the most, as she's getting to interact with other kids, play with different toys, and generally have a whole day focused on her development and needs, rather than fitting in at home with whatever (not) exciting things we're doing that day. We're actually going to go up to two days at the childminder's in March, and it makes me so happy to see how happy she is when I pick her up on Thursday evenings - she's always really chatty and excited, almost a different child. Also, the childminder has taught her to drink out of a beaker on her own. FINALLY.
Speech wise, there haven't been any noticeable changes this month. I think Daph has added to her repertoire of 'b' words - she can pretty much say anything beginning with B if you say it first. But other than that, not much to note. Still obsessed with the cat (is this normal?!) and still can't say Mummy. The cutest thing in the world though is every morning when Oli goes in to get her hearing her excitedly squeak 'Daddy' when she sees him.
The best thing about this age is seeing the development of Daph's personality. She's really becoming a little person. Loves the cat, loves giving things to people (will crawl over to any grown up and hand them a piece of Duplo within minutes of meeting them), loves Duplo, is very cuddly and affectionate, will wave at anyone, loves other kids - especially bigger kids... Doesn't have any patience for Peppa Pig, is SO OVER the Teletubbies now, likes to dance to music (shake her head and wave her arms around), can't go to sleep without clutching one or more muslin cloths, is still obsessed with milk and only drinks milk from bottles, loves her baths, hates being in the pushchair, thinks soft play is a load of crap, only likes pop up books... I could go on and on forever. I'm so proud of her.