Thea is 18 months old

Thea is getting more and more verbal and can say at least 50 words. She measures in the 50th percentile for weight, which means exactly average, but is in the 90th percentile for height. She's tall and slim, and very strong. The doctor had trouble holding her down to look in her ears at a recent appointment. It almost made Todd cry when she yelled "Daddy, Daddy!" while the doctor was doing it.



She likes to stand on a chair and watch while we make dinner. She'll point to something and say "Dis?" (I think that means "What's this?" or "What's the word for this?" Very Helen Keller.) And I say, "Mushrooms. They're dirty, so we have to wash them before cutting them." And she says "Diiiirty. Wash wash wash, cut cut cut." Or "Knife, and it's daaaangerous," and she'll say "Fork! Dangerous."

I took Thea to a WNBA basketball game this past weekend with our friend Molly, and she had a great time. We had to take the metro to get there, and she kept calling them "Bus!" We'd say, "That's close, it's a train." She'd reply "Train" and nod her head, but then yell "Bus!" when the next one pulled up.

This weekend we're taking Thea to visit her aunt Heather and Amy while Todd and I go to Vegas for one of our best friend's birthday. Here's an incredibly detailed email I sent Heather about how to care for Thea. In hindsight (from the vantage point of posting two-year-old emails I sent Thea when she was smaller — my version of scrapbooking, I guess), it seems hilarious and neurotic.



Thea's schedule:

* 6/7am: wakes up. She usually wakes up around 6:30, but sometimes earlier, sometimes later. We usually give her a bottle when she wakes up.
* 7/8am: breakfast
* 11/12 noon: lunch
* 11:30/12:30 until around 3pm: nap. A bottle helps her get to sleep
* About a half hour after she wakes up, we give her a snack.
* 5:30/6:30: dinner
* 7:00: bath
* 7:30: stories, maybe a song or two, and bedtime. She usually falls asleep by 8:00.

How to get Thea to sleep:

Like most people, Thea likes to be kept in the loop about what's going on. So be sure to tell her that it's naptime or bedtime and time to go to sleep. If you put her down before she's asleep, give her a kiss and say "good night, I love you!" Depending on her mood, she'll blow you kisses as you walk out the door or she'll protest in a "hey, wait, we're not done playing!" kind of way.

For a nap, I give her a bottle and rock her for a while. Sometimes she still wants to play, even though she's really tired, and I have to struggle to keep her on my lap. Just keep offering her the bottle and eventually she'll take it and realize how sleepy she is. She usually falls asleep in my arms, but if not, I kiss her and tell her it's time for bed, then put her in her crib. If she cries like she's indignant, she'll calm down in about a minute and probably play quietly until she falls asleep. If she cries like she's really upset, pick her up and rock her and let her know it's time to go to sleep, and that you love her and you'll be nearby and you can play with her when she wakes up.

For bedtime, give her her medicine, put the cream behind her ear (the left one; she'll probably show you when you hold up the cotton ball and say "Cream"; she turns her head the right way), and then give her the bottle. [Oh, right! Thea had ringworm at the time. Yuck. — Kelly, 5/18/07] We'll bring her favorite books to read to her. Right now, she seems most into the books about welcoming a new baby into your house (how lucky!).

What Thea likes to eat:

Breakfast:
* Cereal, especially if it's sharing a bowl with you
* Bites of banana
* Sausage (her favorite)
* Waffles; at least that's what the daycare says, but she doesn't eat them at home
* Oatmeal

Lunch
* A protein of some sort (vegetarian chik nuggets or sausage, usually)
* A vegetable (broccoli is her favorite)
* A starch (rice is a favorite)
* A fruit (she doesn't like apple sauce, but if you cut up some fruit she might take it; no skins on apples or pear — still choking hazards, I think?)

Reliable dinners
* Her favorite thing is pizza. Don't tell her you're getting it when you call the order in, though; babies don't have a good concept of "not now but 45 minutes from now." I don't blame her a bit.
* She also *loves* palak paneer and rice
* Spaghetti with just a little sauce, not too much
* Rice
* Sausage, always sausage (hot dogs are okay, too, but not as good)

Snacks and misc. favorites:
* French fries
* Chocolate (not wild about fruit sweets, though)
* Cheese and cracker
* Dinner rolls with butter
* Whole olives, which she likes to put on the end of her finger
* Crushed ice
* Veggie booty
* Cheese crackers (like goldfish)

Drinks
* She gets about three bottles of milk a day, give or take.
* She likes juice boxes, but isn't crazy about juice. Likes apple juice, though
* Water in a sippy cup is her primary drink


Thea and Lila

Thea's first tricycle ride