Gwen is EIGHTEEN months old!

Wow! She’s cute, she’s cuddly, and today Gwen is one and a half! There is a librarian who we often see when we’re checking out books. She always says hello to Gwen and mentions that Gwen is really cute. The other day she repeated her usual compliment, and I made the usual response, “Oh, I think she’s pretty cute too.” The librarian looked at me really seriously and said, “No, I mean she’s REALLY cute!” I had to agree again! Besides just growing cuter, she’s also doing and saying new things all the time.

-She’s very interested in talking and copies as many sounds as she can catch you saying. She’ll repeat all of the sounds of the letters in the alphabet. (The cutest are when her little mouth makes the “f” or the “t” sounds!) Her expanding vocabulary now includes hi, bye, fly, ball, boom (sound effect when she kicks a ball), bababa (banana), mo (more), shu (shoe), bow (hair bow or barrette), mao (mouth), mi (milk), ga (dog), pa (cup), and more daily. She makes lots of animal noises including woof woof, cack (quack), neow (meow), moo, and baa. Favorite animal sounds include her guinea pig sound (which is difficult to reproduce with letters) and a really throaty raaaar that Dad taught her for a tiger’s roar. Gwen will also say a few names including Dew (Drew) and RoRo (Rowyn). She is expert at calling Mom “mama” and Dad “dAAA.” Gwen will call for whoever is out of sight and go looking for the person if she doesn't get a response.

-Gwen continues to love to be read to, but she will also look at books and magazines by herself. She likes books with pictures of real animals and books about kids doing things she does (like brushing their hair, taking a bath, washing their hands, or eating). She’ll carry around a favorite book or magazine page. As you can see below, sometimes she gets creative with books…

-Gwen’s really into carrying her favorite things around. She has so many favorite things that sometimes this is difficult to manage, but she doesn’t want any help or a bag to put her things in. Some of her favorite items include her blankets (in case she needs a quick cuddle), little bottles or containers, a stop watch on a lanyard, necklaces, a little car, crayons or markers, her magnadoodle, and for awhile a baggie with birthday candles inside. In this photo you can see her with her “scriptures”, a little flag, a coloring page, and crayons.

-Gwen has started to pretend. When she pretends to read, pray, or talk on the phone she speaks in a voice that is quieter and higher than her normal voice. It’s pretty cute. She also pretends to yawn, which often leads to a real yawn, if you ask, “Are you tired?” If she has a spoon, she’ll pretend to stir something in an empty container and then she’ll take a bite or let you have a taste (she learned this from a friend). Gwen likes to play with her dolls and she’ll put them in their cradle, cover them up, and rock them, only to take them out and do it all again. A few weeks ago she learned how to “feed” her doll with a little empty bottle of children’s medicine as a bottle. She thought it was so neat and now “feeds” her dolls and stuffed animals with care. She even makes little drinking sounds.-Gwen is looking older with a mouth full of teeth. For awhile she had four teeth on the top and four teeth on the bottom. Over the past month or so she’s gotten four more on the top and four more on the bottom, including some molars. She’s better at taking bites and managing with larger pieces of food. She loves fruit, cheese, cucumbers, and black beans. Recently she has also tried and liked tuna fish and beets.

-Gwen has been all about walking for awhile, but she is still prone to trip over things and fall forwards or backwards for no apparent reason. She doesn't seem to mind and gets right back up. She has tried, with some success, to step down very small steps, but can't seem to manage stepping up without a helping hand. She likes to walk up and down slight inclines, like the ramp going into the shed or the little hill on the side of the driveway. She thinks it is funny to walk backwards and turn in circles until she is dizzy.