18 months

Yesterday, sweet Mary Frances turned 18 months old!  How is it that we have come this far?!  I am so proud of my sweet little girl and the ways she has changed and grown lately.  She is a joy to be around and constantly keeps me on my toes!  I need it too.

An attempted Christmas card photo

This milestone is accompanied by a well visit with her doctor, so we got to see our favorite pediatrician today.  Dr. Roe said Mary Frances is right where she is supposed to be and looks great!  He also mentioned that she is talking very well.  We knew that already!  Anyways, she weighed in at 24 lb 5 oz, growing steady, and her head circumference was 19 1/4, which is still off the chart.  We didn't get a great height on her because she was so wiggly on the table.  Hopefully we'll get a good measure at her 2 year visit and see if she is still on target to be a tall little thing.

Our little chatterbox has become quite the shadow around the Cahill house.  She constantly repeats everything we say and has now even started to repeat what we do.  The phrase "monkey see, monkey do" is such a great representation of this stage we are in.  For example, the other day I saw Mary Frances place one of her lovies on the floor and hold out her hand saying, "stay."  I guess I tell her to "stay" a lot!  I died laughing and she did it over and over again.  She is also such a great help and loves to have things clean and orderly.  Love that about her!

Silly goose

She continues to blossom in her language skills.  Dr. Roe asked me if she had 10 to 15 words.  Even if I tried, I am sure I would not be able to count all of the words she knows and understands right now.  Like I said, she is a parrot and is constantly learning and applying new words every day.  She knows almost all of her body parts.  She is starting to sing.  She actually sang for us tonight while she was working on building a Lego tower.  She loves to read.  She is starting to learn to count and I am pretty sure she knows the numbers 1 through 5 in the correct order.  Mary Frances loves puzzles and I am amazed at how quickly she learned to do them by herself.  She is also really good at placing shapes and can put 4 different shapes in her picnic basket by herself.

Working on a tower with Paul

All wrapped up with a baby, one of her most favorite things ever!

Here are a few of my favorite words and phrases:
- iluvu {I love you}
- hold you {hold me}
- pease {please}
- hug
- kiss
- igotchyou {I got you}
- Maggee {Maggie}
- no no {usually in reference to Maggie}
- bey {obey}
- hepper {helper}
- hand {when she wants to hold my hand}
- cited! {excited}
- happee {happy}

As you can see our lives are full of laughter and love.  We are so thankful for this sweet girl and love watching her grow!

Love,
Katy