Little things I love about my 18.5 month old!

I feel like I have been obsessed with putting pictures up for people to see - but, I have not been good about talking about little things Ali is doing lately! (which I want to be better at so I can look back later on and remember!) Here are a few thoughts on my mind of funny little things my little girl does:

Ali is turning into quite the little person every day! It is amazing to me (although probably quite normal - as her mother, I, of course, think she's a genious!) how many words she picks up on and knows. She repeats so much of what we say - so we have to be careful! :) She also is good about pointing at things and telling me what they are - things I don't even remember teaching her! She is still obsessed with her ABCs and E-I-E-I-O and this week she has been obsessed with Elmo (moved on from Mickey Mouse) and she loves to talk about him.

One of my favorite things she does - that she has been doing for over a month now - is saying (and sometimes screaming with excitement - my personal favorite!) "Love you!".(or LUH LOO!!! - as pronounced by Ali!) She says it when she goes to bed or says goodbye (if we're lucky, with a kiss - although she can be stingy with her kisses making the ones we do get all the more special!) and every time I hear it, it makes my heart melt. There is nothing in the world like it! She also is into telling EVERYTHING bye bye when I tell her it is time to go. I will be getting everything ready and tell her it's time to go and she will go in our living room and turn off the tv (if it's on), grab her purse (or ask for it if she doesn't see it!) and then go around telling everything "Bye, bye" - this includes the door, tv, baby doll, etc. Today, we were going to run errands and I told her we were leaving and she said and waved bye bye to her favorite "big ball" (beach ball) outside and then said "Luh loo!!" - I was dying laughing - it was too cute! She is quite the little comedian! (and she knows it!)

She also has a new fascination with babies. She has a couple "babies" around the house that she strolls around in her little stroller and gives the bottle too. After our little 3 month old friend, Harry McNeel, came over on Sunday (and cried very briefly - he is a very good baby!) - she now will hold the babies and start pretending to cry to them and give them a hug to cheer them up! It is precious! I am glad to see this new fascination with babies - since she will be getting a real one in a little over 4 months!

Tonight, Ali did something for the first time and I don't know if it was a fluke or what! I have been considering potty training but since she is only 18 months old, I have merely thought about it and not put it into any action - other than having a toddler potty in our bathroom. I think that if she is willing to do it, that would be great so I would just have one baby in diapers in October - but, then I think that may be unrealistic. Especially b/c I have also heard that sometimes toddlers who are potty trained revert back to diapers once they see the baby in diapers, getting attention. We shall see. Anyway, tonight, Ali came running into the room that I was sitting in yelling "Mommy! Mommy!" (She also now LOVES to say this or Mama these days - it's so cute to wake up in the morning to Ali on the monitor just saying "Mama!!" - it's so hard to resist but she is smart because it always gets my lazy body out of bed!). She came up to me and I said "Yes, Ali" and she looked up at me very distraught and started pulling on her diaper and said "I pooped!!" I couldn't believe it! Our conversation went on to say "You pooped??" "Uh huh" "Do you need a diaper change?" "Uh huh" - and sure enough she did! It was so crazy! We shall see where this goes (if anywhere) from here!

Ali is such a fun little girl and I love her more every day! I know I say this every time though! I can't believe that tomorrow we have our ultrasound for baby #2! I think it will make it so much more real and I can start decorating the nursery - which I am excited about! At this point, it is so hard for me to imagine life with Ali and her little sibling - but I know we have a lot to look forward to and I feel extremely blessed!