Raleigh is 18 months old!

Hooray! Raleigh has reached the 18-month milestone. Her check-up is scheduled for the end of next week so I will have physical stats after then. For now, you will have to make do with other updates. 

• Likes: singing, beans of all kinds, cleaning up, shoes, taking off her diaper (yar!), playing with Rowan - when he's in the mood
• Dislikes: being told no, diaper changes, putting on a new diaper, brushing teeth
• Communication: She is starting to say 2-3 word phrases and sentences. Examples: "I ate it." "Thank you, Raleigh." "No, mommy!" "All done!" "Go outside?" Her favorite word right now is G-Daddy. She says it all the time. She can also say G-Ma (sounds like Nina) but prefers the sound of G-Daddy. It is a fun word I suppose. 
• Skills: She's got some pretty good dance moves. She really likes to walk in a tight circle as fast as she can go. She's still working on a hop. She can drink from a regular cup when she feels like it. Sometimes she gets cheeky and lets the milk fall back out of her mouth instead of swallowing but I don't think that's really a cup issue. She feeds herself 95% of the time and will accept food from others only if she wants to or if you are offering something irresistible. She can point to just about anything you ask her to and her vocabulary expands weekly.
• So big! Shirts and pants: 18 mos. Shoes: 5 or 6 depending on the brand and style. 

We went up to north Georgia today to visit the pumpkin and apple farms. At the apple farm they had a small petting zoo with goats, sheep, kittens, chickens, a calf, a pig, and bunnies. Raleigh was beside herself with glee. She loved the goats, especially the babies. She would reach out to pet one and then get so excited she would totally miss them. Then she would put both hands up to her face and squeal with delight. When she finally made contact with this one baby goat she started ooh-ing and aah-ing. There was an older girl there, around 10, who was holding one of the babies. The girl bent down so Raleigh could pet the goat and Raleigh thought she was going to get to hold it. She reached right for it and started to pull him on to her lap! She did the same thing with one of the kittens. She truly likes animals, even ones on TV. 

Jeremy has called her our Elly May. I guess we should see how her wrastlin' skills develop as she gets older before we let that nickname stick.