Riley at 18 months

Where to begin? Our little Riley's personality is growing by leaps and bounds every day. Her body is growing too! Here are her most recent stats:
Weight- 26 lbs. 14 oz. (75-90%ile)
Height- 33" (75-90%ile)
Head- 18 3/4" (75-90%ile)

So, apparently our little girl is well proportioned. :) Her hair is just as blonde as ever. It's getting long enough in the back for a little pony/pig tail. The sides, however, are still mostly bald. I think Luke's hair grew in the same way. Good thing the hair on top is long! I've trimmed the back of her hair once and the bangs twice. They look pretty rough, but she doesn't have the patience for a relaxing scalp massage, shampoo and cut. (Someday she'll realize that's the most fabulous way to spend an hour!) An area that she has shown improvement on is having her fingernails trimmed. There always has to be a gimmick, but she's more tolerant now than she used to be. Our latest trick is to sit Luke on my lap for "trims" first... it doesn't take long before she's screaming for her turn (or maybe she's screaming for Luke's turn to be over?). Luke is a great sport about it and feels good that he's helping with his sister (or maybe he's pleased to be learning manipulation tricks for the future?).

Personality-wise, we always knew we had a little flirt on our hands. She's continuing down that path. She's crazy about men... Daddy, II, our neighbor Dan... her smile is electric and knows how to make people work for it (but boy is it worth it!!). She's a tease, too. She loves to run away, look over her shoulder and shoot us a sly smile whenever we try to help her with her jacket. If we pretend we aren't going to play her game, she throws a fit... after all, how could we not want to play the most fun game in the world? :) When she's tired, she wants to go nite-nite. If she wants a diaper change, she'll lead you upstairs to do it. If she wants a bath, she'll try to take off her clothes by herself (she's getting close with her shirt). BUT, if she doesn't want to do any of those things, she'll say "Nooo" with the cutest inflection. Don't be fooled. She's cute, but she means business.

She eats and eats and eats. If she's hungry, she'll eat just about anything. Her favorites right now are blueberries, waffles and applesauce. It makes for a very yucckky diaper! She drinks from a sippy cup most of the time, but can also handle a real cup in some situations. She uses a fork and stabs at food, uses a spoon to pick up small veggies and sometimes uses sign language to ask for more (the alternative is her reaching for the food she wants and letting out short screams). She praises us when we guess right with a cute giggle or a sinister cackle. Both are funny!

Riley loves to climb. She can get up and down from the dining room chairs with ease. She has a crazy reach (maybe the doctor should measure wing span) and can find a way to get any forbidden objects she spots. Tackling a "sleeping" Mommy is fun (and quite effective in waking me up)! She runs, gives hugs, pets Sammy, helps Mommy and Daddy, steals the remote and phone, walks (yes, walks) up the stairs and reads, reads, reads her books. She's a busy, busy girl.

Words. Well, if looks could talk, Riley would be composing sonnets by now. Riley babbles and talks nonsense A LOT. Specific words she can say in context are: Daddy, Mommy, up, wow, ouch and noooo. She says da-dee for dirty, diaper and doggie. Da-der is brother (Luke). Luke was a "late" talker, so we're being patient. I think we're all eager to hear what she has to say. (I may eat those words when she's a teenager.)

Well, that's Riley. Riley Roo. Ry-Ry. Smiley Riley. Little Stinker. Tune in tomorrow, cause there are more changes on the horizon.