Mariah is 18 months! My favorite thing right now is that she is learning to TALK! in ENGLISH! Her life can be summed up in some of her words (and phone pics from the last month):
"muhpee" (more please) or "mohhh, mohhh" while signing "please" across her chest
99% of the time she is asking for more food. Especially more "bayee" (berries) or "apa" (pineapple). She stands at the fridge with one arm on the handle pulling with all her weight whining "muhpeeee, muhpee" and if I don't open it she goes on her tippee toes to scrounge for food from the counter top.
"tuh! tuh! tuh!" (stuck. usually said with "MOMMY MOM MOM MOMMY")
She is a little monkey climber. She climbs halfway on to the kitchen island and with her legs dangling off says, "TUH!" or she crawls under a chair and tries to stand up and then realizes that once again she is "tuh! tuh!"
"APpeeee" (happy)
She says this while putting her fingers in imaginary dimples on her cheeks, or my cheeks. She says this over and over again. She says it when I smile at her, and she says it to remind me to smile at her. It makes ME happy to know that she feels happy. Sometimes I ask if she's happy and if she's not feeling it she frowns, "no!"
"ama" (amen)
Her prayers are just the sweetest. She is really in to folding her arms right now, and she always reminds us to pray before we eat. She sometimes prays multiple times during a meal, and if she hears the words "Heavenly Father" she immediately folds her arms and bows her head.
"huhpee" (help please)
I'm hearing this less often lately since she wants to do everything by herself. She tried to put on her boots by herself and threw a fit when I tried to help, so I patiently waited for almost 20 minutes until she looked up and asked "huhpee?" She rarely ever asks for help anymore when it comes to feeding herself. She's content making up her own concoctions of oatmeal and green beans and feeding herself.
"eyyuh" (I love you)
We might be kidding ourselves with this one but it makes us feel good.
"cheee" (Cheese- for both pictures and food)
If we hold a phone out while she's doing something, even if I'm just checking my e-mail or reading a text she does a camera-ready cheese face and says "cheeeeee!" She also asks for cheese a lot from the fridge.
"dahyee" (doggy)
Where do I begin with her doggy. She really takes care of this thing like it's her own baby. We sometimes have to change its diaper multiple times a day. She has tried to bathe it in the toilet. Her doggy is the ONLY thing she will ever share her food or sippy cup with. If she needs medicine, she makes sure that doggy gets some first. At bedtime, she insists that doggy wears pajamas and gets a binky, then wraps it in a blanket so she can rock it and puts it to sleep.
"eye" (eye) and
"eeuh" (ear)
Seems like she can only say "eye" with her finger inside one of our eyes. She loves to remind me where my eyes are first thing in the morning. When she looks at my ears she turns my head from side to side to make sure both of them are still there. Speaking of ears, she loves these little rabbit ears and wears them around the house pretty often.
"sahh" (soft)
This is a tough one lately. She has started hitting and then practices stroking whatever she hit saying "sahhh sahhh" There is a finer line than you'd think between stroking and hitting.
"ya. ya. ya." and
"no. no. no!"
A few weeks ago she was saying "yeah" to everything, but those have all turned in to nos. She has become quite contrary and if she even gets a whiff that you have an agenda for her she yells "no!!" and makes sure to do the opposite.
"daddy"
Mariah loooves daddy. She gets really excited when he comes home then wants to make sure he stays in her sight the rest of the evening.
She calls her friends "
Ayee" (Alice) "
Abby" (sounds a lot like happy) and "
Tysh." (Tyson)
Sometimes she looks for them around our house asking "ahyoo?" (where are you??) or "hi doh?!" (Where'd they go?) She sees all her friends every week in nursery on Sunday, and she sees friends almost every weekday also. We do a playgroup swap with Alice and Abby so I get to have the girls here one morning a week. They are just the cutest together.
My good friend Kat and her husband Derek stayed with us for a night on their way to Boston so we brought them along. SO FUN to see a familiar friend out here.
Mariah's friend Abbie with her mom Rachel. That morning when Mariah woke up, the first words out of her mouth were "ABBIE!! AH YOU ABBIE?" (Where are you Abbie?!) When we got there Mariah gave Abbie lots of hugs and kisses.
