Meilani's Milestones: Groovin' up to 18 months

Today we took Meilani to the doctor for her official 18-month check-up. She's officially 18 1/2 months now, but who's counting? She's 33 1/2 inches tall and 24 pounds. Since some of you might be logging onto our blog for the first time, we wanted to take a few minutes to share some of Meilani's milestones this month. Our little "baby" is now a talking, climbing, dancing personality. What a difference from last Christmas when she was such a wee one!
Meilani loves her sticker books (pictured here). She's a girl of details. She enjoys taking all the stickers out of the book, arranging them on the pages, creating little dramas with the "Anmals" and then returning them to their original homes. We are very grateful to have found something to occupy her in the car and while sitting on the potty. Yes, we have ventured into the wonderful world of potty training. She's doing pretty well for 18 months - pooping and peeing on the toilet three to four times a day. We need to graduate from the pull ups but a mishap today with the big-girl panties means we might need to wait a bit longer. No rush.
One milestone is Meilani has moved into her toddler bed. She's been sleeping with us since she learned how to crawl out of her crib (at 5 months). We finally got a little wiser and converted the crib to a bed and she at least falls asleep there and stays for half of the night now. A little progress and alone time for Mama and Daddy. Since we're still breastfeeding we don't mind her joining us "up" in our bed later in the night. A new favorite word is "NighNigh" when she's sleepy or trying to put her stuffed animals to bed. (We are really into the "babies" now - her word for all her dolls and animals. She likes to feed, diaper and put them to sleep.)
Meilani's favorite room of our house is the kitchen. We wonder how that happened! She loves "HelpHelp"ing Mama with the cooking and Daddy with the dishes. If we are anywhere near the counter or sink she pulls up a chair and rolls up her sleeves. An eager beaver. She likes to roll out pizza dough (pictured here). She also helps make the weekly granola cereal on Sundays. She's a big fan of the measuring spoons, salad spinner and our fancy VitaMix for making smoothies. This Christmas season has been lots of fun as Meilani has helped with lots of traditional (and healthy) recipes. She's a great eater too; she's had her share of exotic foods like Italian manicotti, Indian masala, Filipino adobo, South African babootie and Armenian pilaf. She loves "sooop" and she's already a vegetable lover.
This morning we received this cool AquaDoodle toy in the mail from Aunt Jan and Uncle Russ in Texas. This is a perfect gift for our little artist. It's no-mess and Meilani can doodle to her heart's content. Usually she's at Mama's desk "typing" on the computer or scribbling on any scrap of paper (including Mama's students papers and Daddy's Bible). She's also a big fan of post-it notes. (Hide yours or else!)
Meilani's comprehension and vocabulary is growing at leaps and bounds. She is drinking up this stage of exploration in life and each day comes up with new words. We started her off with sign language and now she's trading in her signs for the real words. Of course, there's the usual toddler "more," "mine" and "no." (We discourage those words.) She's also good at "Nani" (what she calls herself now), "bite" (when she's feeding herself with her "poon" or fork, "bubbles" (anytime we're in the bathroom) and "jump" (much to Daddy's delight). That one was really cool until this afternoon when she jumped off Daddy's desk chair and landed on her head. (Owwww!) Thank goodness this was in our one carpeted room in the house. Grandma Chris bought her this nativity scene to play with for Christmas and she loves to create the animal noises and make the angel and shepherds "fly." We are so blessed by our sweet girl - so full of energy and life - and making each day full of wonder and surprises.