The Carstens: 7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 5

As Abby turned 18 months today this Quick Takes is all about her.

--- 1 ---

Nate has been out of town this week and I was very concerned about how Abby and I would be doing as the last time he'd been out of town (which was for two weeks) we had some difficulties. Basically I found that when Abby doesn't take a nap for a week straight I go a little crazy. :-) But this week if I was giving out gold stars for behavior Abby would be getting two gold stars every day. She's been fantastically awesome! It's been such a fun week with her. I'm still looking forward to Nate being home tomorrow, but I've also thoroughly enjoyed out Mother/Daughter time that we've had.

--- 2 ---

Abby's vocabulary has exploded in the last month. At her 15 month appointment her pediatrician was a little concerned as she was only saying Mama and Dada. His thought was that if she wasn't talking more by 18 months we may have to get concerned. (He was thinking she might have hearing issues but as she can hear the tiniest whisper and the loudest siren I wasn't too concerned. I figured she was just taking her time with talking as she did with everything else.) I'm positive that at her appointment next week he's going to be pleased with her speaking abilities now. She consistently says Mama, Dada, hot, truck (although is sounds like shut), side (outside), and pop. Yeah, she knows pop but in my defense it's because I say "That's mama's pop" when she points and grunts at it. :-)

--- 3 ---

Abby has learned to bite and it's taken me by surprise. She's had teeth for eight months now with the upper six exploding through her gums in the last two or so months, but she's never been a big biter. I never had to worry about biting or clamping while we were nursing so I figure I'd avoided this milestone. Alas, that's not the case. The other day she and I were goofing around on the floor when she went and gave me what I thought was going to be a raspberry on my stomach. Instead she bit me! Since then we've been working on not biting when she's upset as that seems to be the trigger (she bites my shoulder when I'm giving her loves).

--- 4 ---

It's crazy how much she's grown in just a short while. She's always been my laundry helper and loves to push the buttons on the dryer. I used to have to hold her in my lap so that she was tall enough, but yesterday she ran over and got up on her tippy toes and pushed the buttons herself. And my was she proud of herself.

--- 5 ---

We've been working on pointing to our eyes, nose, teeth, and tongue. She always gets her teeth correct, and is pretty consistent with getting her eyes and nose correct. However every time I ask her to point to her tongue she points to her tummy. Tongue sounds like tum which is close to tummy so I see where she's going with this. It's just cute that no matter how many times I say and then point to her tongue she still points to her tummy.

--- 6 ---

Abby's learned how to stick out her tongue and scrape her teeth together to make a sound. It's super cute as she tries to stick her tongue out as far as she possibly can with drool and spit flying everywhere and then gets the giggles.

--- 7 ---

And here she is...my 18th month old! Happy half-birthday my wonderful daughter. You make my life so happy and I'm so blessed to have you. I can't wait to see what these next months bring! I love you so much.

The Tickle Monster strikes!

If you look closely you can see two of her top teeth. The one front tooth came in before the other so it's more visible but the other one is there. It's funny that she currently has the opposite of my smile. When I smile you see all my upper teeth but not any of my bottom. When Abby smiles she's all bottom teeth with rare sightings of her upper ones.