18 months and Bye Bye Pacifier

Today Kate is 18 months and I can't believe she is half way to age 2. She is quite the little "diva" as Aaron would say but she is so cute and she melts our hearts everyday. She also may be 18 months but she acts like she is 5, I guess she is trying to keep up with her big brother. I thought I would share some of the things that Kate is up to right now.

• Waving and saying hi and bye to everyone.
• She is very friendly and has an outgoing personality.
• Learning to walk up and down steps by herself.
• Enjoys pushing babies in her stoller.
• Finally starting to like books and like being read to.
• Starting to say more words such as dog, ball "bah", all gone "gah gah", momma, dadda, bubba, more "mo", ow, nose "no", cracker "cah cah", hello "hewo", here you go "haa go"
  
• Loves her Paw Paw Byron, it is like she forgets anyone else is in the roomwhen he is around. She prefers men over women which is fine now but not sure how I am going to feel about that when she is a teenager.
• As soon as she hears Bella barking in the afternoon she knows Daddy is home and runs to the garage door saying "oh,oh,oh,oh......."
• Loves to go outside to check the mail.
• When it is bedtime she goes to each person individually to give a kiss with huge puckered lips and says hmmmmm! So cute!
• Loves animals, especially dogs and birds. She likes to chase the birds and gets sad when they fly away as soon as she gets to them.
• If I ask her a question and the answer is no she will shake her head and make a pouting face which is one of the reasons that her daddy likes to call her "diva"!
  
• Is using a fork and spoon to eat and has graduated to using a plate and sitting at the table without her tray.

Kate has grown very attached to the pacifier and I keep putting off getting rid of it. She didn't even really care for it that much until around 8 months when she got sick and it was the only thing that got she and I through that week and ever since she has been hooked. I kept saying oh when she turns a year we will take it away, that came and went, then I said when she is 15 months, then when summer starts and now here we are at 18 months. I start back to work next month so I thought now was a good time to get rid of it so that her teachers do not have to deal with it in her class. I took it away at nap time this afternoon. She was so sad and very upset with me. It was not as bad as I thought it would be but she did cry no, she screamed for about 2o minutes and then fell asleep for about 30 minutes. She woke up crying and I resisted and did not go in there and now she is asleep again. So far so good, this is only the beginning so hopefully bedtime tonight will not be too dramatic. Poor girl!!