Andi's 18 Month Update

True to form, I'm a few months behind on this post.  But there's much bigger news to come that accounts for this delay, and so I make no apologies.  Life is busy!

Sensory play with toy animals in jello!

Andi "reading" a new book about numbers

Bath time fun with giant foam letters

Snuggles at the end of the day with mommy, this is the only time she ever slows down!

Learning how to build with blocks, followed by the fun part, knocking them down

Andromeda is growing into a smart, determined, independent, funny, and opinionated little girl!  Her vocabulary is ridiculous.  The doctor asked us how many words she knows when we went in for her 18 month appointment and I couldn't even answer because she knows more than I can count/keep track of.  She never ceases to amaze us not only with her near perfect pronunciation of many difficult words but with the fact that she understands what they mean and uses them in the correct context.  We've been trying to use this to our advantage when she has her toddler meltdowns, and those have definitely been happening with greater frequency, and try to get her to explain to us why she is upset. It's not a slam dunk approach, but it helps us stem the tears a little faster in most cases.

Cars and cones - daddy is so proud!

Andi is "helping" to walk the dogs

Andi's favorite animal at the zoo so far has been the elephants

Helping daddy fix the dryer!

Girl is learning her way around power tools and how to change a tire

She will happily spend an hour (which is a LOT in toddler time) playing daddy's car

Video games with daddy

Andi's greatest interests these days are vehicles and animals.  Oh does that girl love her animals.  Whenever she thinks an animal in one of her books might be sad she hugs that page on the book.  It is adorable.  So we signed up for a zoo membership and went a number of times before the weather got too hot an unbearable.  And she loves airplanes, playing in daddy's cars, books about cars, trucks, airplanes, etc.  She also loves playing with tools and helping daddy fix things, playing with her baby dolls, and helping mommy in the kitchen.  In fact, she loves helping in general.  The surest way to get her to do something that she doesn't want to do is to re-phrase your request as needing her help. 

Andi's first trip to the Menil Art Collection

Andromeda loves going to the park!

Strawberry picking/eating

A fun afternoon outing with Grandma and Papa in Florida

Another trip to the Houston Zoo, this time Andi got to pet some goats!

Andi experimenting with balance and height during her swim class

We've also been on a number of fun trips over the past 6 months.  In addition to the afore mentioned zoo trips, we also went to Florida for the holidays where Andi got to bond even more with her cousin G, took Andi to her first art museum (where we almost got kicked out because she wanted to climb the sculptures...), strawberry picking/eating a Froberg Farms, we flew to Florida again and to see family and attend a bat mitzvah in March, we flew to Pittsburgh at the end of May for my brother D's wedding followed by a drive to a little town on Lake Erie and then a visit to my best friend K from college and her family up in the Cleveland area.  We have also been taking frequent trips to the library, our local park where we encourage Andi to work out her excessive toddler energy, and our weekly visits to the pool for swim lessons where Andromeda has shown a TON of progress.  She's turned into a little fishy who loves the water!

Here are some of the pictures from our trips.  First our holiday vacation in Florida:

Making chocolate chip cookies with Grandma

Toy time with Grandma, daddy, Uncle D and soon-to-be-aunt E

The splash pad at Grandma and Papa's pool

Two sweet little water babies digging the splash pad

Family photo with my early baby bump

Andi loved sharing books with her cousin G

And playing together on the playground

And back at Grandma and Papa's house in the garage

And figuring out their new toys together

Twinning while reading books with uncles D and J

This was the sweetest, they loved to hold hands while going for walks in their strollers!

Night time fun at the Sand Sculpture Festival

The whole family

And then our trip to Pittsburgh for Uncle D and Aunt E's wedding, followed by a road trip to Ashtabula, Ohio and then the Cleveland area to see friends:

Andi and G reunited in Pittsburgh

Just getting ready to chill in the hotel pool

Swimming with the daddies

We managed to cram in about 20 minutes of playground time just before a giant storm hit

Getting ready for the wedding with mommy!

Uncle D with his two sweet little nieces

Playing in the sand on the Lake Erie beach in Ashtabula, Ohio

Daddy is teaching Andi the art of making sand castles

Playing on bikes and scooters with our friends in Ohio

Andi absolutely loved her first indoor play gym experience on a rainy day

Evenings were for board/card games

The toddlers on the playground

And we all had a blast swimming in the pool

We also spent a lot of time preparing Andi for her new upcoming roll in life as a big sister.  She was very fascinated with my belly and liked to rub it and talk about the baby in there.  We bought her a few books too about being a big sister, her favorite being Little Miss Big Sis.  We read it ALL THE TIME.  That's all we have to report for now.  Come back soon for the introduction of Andi's new sibling!