Josie Lynn - Eighteen Months Old

Josephine Lynn is 18 months old now!

She is growing up so fast. Josie is the happiest little girl & she loves to talk. She has so much to say! We don't understand a lot of her talking still, but she is learning new words every day. She loves saying "Momma", "Dada", "Sissy", & "Bubba". A lot of times she will say all four of our names when she starts with one. It's so cute how she thinks of her whole family.

Some of my favorite things that Josie says:

• For the longest time, the thing that Josie most often said was, "yeah". You could ask her anything & her answer was always "yeah"! :)
• I love hearing her say "nigh, nigh" to everyone at bedtime.
• One night Josie was sitting in her highchair when she let out the loudest toot. When she did it, she said, "ohhh" like it surprised her. When I asked her if she had tooted, she kept smiling & saying "toot! toot!"
• Now Josie will often peep around a corner or from behind a play structure, wave, & say "hiya!"
• JoJo has great manners & always says & signs "tank you!"
• Josie loves to play tickle & she says "tickle, tickle, tickle".
• Another favorite game is peekaboo! I love watching her cover her eyes & say "keek boo!"
• She often says "down" when you are carrying her because she loves to walk & climb the stairs on her own.
• One day Josie brought me Harris' goggles saying, "goggy". She wanted me to put them on her & then she wore them around the pool for a good half hour!
• She often asks for a couple of her favorite snacks - fig bars "ba bar" & cracker "cacker". She also loves chicken "chicky".
• She loves finding balls & yelling "ba!"
• JoJo likes to point to her boo boos & say "boo boo". Then she makes a little sad pouty face.
• I love her little wave when she says "bye bye". She holds her hand up & bends her whole wrist forward to wave. It's super cute!
• Josie loves climbing up & down the stairs. So now when you are carrying her, she often says "down" so you will put her down to do it by herself.
• She loves to throw toys down the steps & the say "uh oh".
• Josie loves taking her shoes on & off while repeating "shoe".
• A very favorite is when Josie chases Harris around poking him in the belly button yelling, "bey buh". She has a thing for belly buttons like her brother!

When Josie wakes up in the morning or after nap, she always looks for her big sister & brother first. She loves them so much! They just adore her as well...sometimes too much. :) As much as Josie loves her brother & sister, one of the funniest things she does is push them away when I'm holding her. She does not want to share her Momma! Sometimes she will hit too...I think she got that from her siblings. LOL. It's kind of cute when she does it because she is so little, but we are trying to discourage it!

When not pushing her brother or sister off of me, Josie is a little lover. She loves to give us all kisses & also blow us kisses. For a while Josie's kisses were open mouth, but she is an excellent puckerer now! She is also an expert at making the pecking sound. It's too cute! For a while she would wipe our mouths after giving us kisses. Often we would kiss her & then wipe her mouth because she was covered in slobber. So she thought that was just how you kiss! She can always tell when her brother or sister are sad & she will go to give them a kiss. It's very sweet. When I was still nursing JoJo to sleep, she would often stop nursing, look up at me & give me a kiss. It always melted my heart! Now she makes sure to give me a kiss before she sits/lays down in her crib.

The majority of the time, Josephine is such a happy baby. She is the most easy going baby we have had. But she is occasionally starting to have a toddler tantrum. They are super cute though! I often giggle at her when she slowly throws her self on the ground mad. 

To our surprise, Josephine is really picking up on some sign language. I haven't shown her the Baby Signing Time videos a lot because her big brother & sister often claim the TV when we have time, but Josie loves to watch when she can. She is doing several signs now: eat, drink, thank you, milk, more, cracker, hat, & all done.

Signing "more"

Josie loves to eat (when she's not teething). She eats pretty well & hasn't been too picky for the most part. One thing that she doesn't love yet is fruit! She eats it in the baby food packs, but won't eat just plain fruit much yet. Josie loves to feed herself & does pretty well with the spoon now. She shovels her food in as fast as she can! But when she is done, she still throws her food in the floor. I'm over that stage... When Josie was just twelve months old, we were at a restaurant eating one night. She had a sweet potato fry in each of her hands, but apparently wanted more, so she leaned down to grab one off the table with her mouth :)

I'm afraid to say it, but Josephine is such a great sleeper. When it's bed time & nap time, I just put her in the crib & she talks/plays herself to sleep! When I was nursing her, I would nurse her & then put her down awake. She loves to play with her stuffed animals & talk while she gets sleepy. When she wakes up, she loves to play for a while too. While it's super nice that she sleeps so well, I do wish she would let me hold her & cuddle more at night. She's growing up too fast!

She nursed up until a few weeks ago. She would have probably continued nursing at night, but it was time to wean. She wasn't super upset about it since we weaned slowly. I sure do miss that cuddle time!

JoJo has almost all of her teeth but the two year molars. She has 12 fully in & four others that are currently breaking through. I'll be happy when she doesn't have that pain anymore.

Josie is an active little one. She loves to be on the move! She climbs up on the couches now. The first time she did it, she climbed up & then said, "ta da!". I just cracked up. She's so funny. Josie officially started walking on February 10th & was full time walking at 14 months. Now you just can't stop the girl! She often fusses during diaper changes because she doesn't want to slow down. Before Josie started walking, she would stand on her own & then clap for herself. She loves to clap & celebrate everything.

We have introduced the potty to Josie. She likes to sit on it, but it will be a little while before we really attempt potty training.

Josephine absolutely loves the water. She walks around the neighborhood pool like she owns the place! It's loads of fun for me because she is constantly on the go, but I do love seeing her play. She has no fear right now! She also loves bath time. She gets so excited & starts saying "bah" when it's time for hers.

Josie loves playing outside. She loves to dig in the dirt & then walk over to me to show me her dirty hands & have me dust them off. She is often not happy when I pick her up to come inside!

Dancing is another favorite. Josie does the cutest little dances & she makes the cutest little faces while dancing! She has a funny little "stank face" (as Paul calls it) & I love when she makes her little scrunched up face.

Josie loves riding in her pink push car outside. If you mention going outside, she will run to the steps & is ready to go! She gets super excited & says "cah"(car). She also loves playing with the laundry basket & pushing it around the house. She could do it all day. For a while after her first birthday, she just loved climbing in her purple chair & sitting. You could often find her sitting quietly there. It was super sweet.

Another favorite place is the playground. She will climb the play structures with no fear & loves the slides & swings!

Big Girl Slide!

Books are also a bit hit with JoJo. She loves to read books with us & also big sissy. A favorite book is "Moo, Baa, La La La". Josie loves making the animal noises! Her first & favorite animal sound was dog "woof". When she isn't sure what animal it is when she sees it, she will always say "woof". We have deer that frequent our backyard & Josie always announces when the are hear with a "woof". Josie also likes to tweet like a bird now too.

Josephine is super helpful. She loves to take her dirty diapers & throw them away. She just loves opening the drawer for the trash & putting anything in there. I'm sure it won't be long before toys go missing. LOL. We will throw poopy diapers outside to the trash can, so since Josie can't open the door to do that, she throws poopy diapers down the stairs. It's funny. Josie also loves to help pick up toys & says "kee up".

Josie is such a little blessing to our family. She is going to be so rotten being the baby. Her big brother & sister just adore her & would do anything for her.