It Is WELLS With My Soul : 18 Month Update!

Weight: 24 lb 6 oz
She is in the 74th percentile in weight.
A jump in percentile by 60% since her 12 month appt.

Length: 32 1/4
She is in the 72nd percentile.
A jump in percentile of 25%

Head Circumference: can't remember exactly, she is in the 83rd%
One of things they talk about in the research about her syndrome is the possibility of "microcephaly," which means small head and can effect cognitive abilities. However, clearly she does NOT have a small head! She is actually very proportional, tall like both her mommy and daddy!

Sizes: Haha, she has grown so much! Looking back at her 12 month update post, she has jumped a year in clothing size in 6 months! When she was 12 months old, clothes labeled 6-12 months fit best and now at 18 months old, clothes labeled 18-24 months fit best.

Social: Like gross motor skills, she is delayed in speech and language. However, as an early childhood specialist I know that those important gross motor skills like walking have to be mastered before kiddos start talking. I mean, really, there is a reason kids don't talk before they walk. She is saying mama, dada, buba (the dog), uh...oh, rock (like a rocking chair) and she is starting to say Hi. She waves hi and by all the time. And she will say "uhhh" for up. I know in my gut that once she starts walking her words will explode! She babbles constantly and sometimes she looks at me and just spews off a whole bunch of jumble and I just know she is telling me something. Oh, and my mom swears she has said "nana" :)

On The Move: Well, she is walking! It isn't her main mode of transportation, and honestly I don't think it will be until we fix her vision issues. I mean, would you want to walk if you couldn't see the ground below you? She will take 15-20 steps independently. We are working on standing independently. It was cool to look back and read her 12 month blog update. At that point she was barely crawling, and crawling slow. Now she crawls faster than a crab and climbs on anything and everything! Its all about progress people, and we are making progress!

Food: She eats so much and pretty much anything and everything. Which is no surprise considering she gained over 6lbs in 6 months! We stopped giving her milk before naps and bed time about a week ago and it has pretty much eliminated all the spit up issues we have been having for, well forever!

Sleep: She naps only once per day now, typically. If she had an early morning she will take a morning nap, like on Fridays when we wake her up at 6:15 instead of 7:15. She is still sleeping relatively well at night. In the past month she has been doing this new thing where she will start whimpering around 5 am and will whimper on and off until you go in. All she wants is to literally be held and cuddled for less than 5 minutes. Now, let me preface this with I am an extreme believer in "Baby Wise" sleep training, I truly believe it is the reason that Blakely is such a good sleeper and I have kept a semi good hold on my sanity. But, my kid isn't a cuddler ever so if she wants to cuddle for five minutes sometime between 3-5 am....I am not opposed and truly enjoy it :)

Likes: Eating, I mean really...its a passion for this kid. She also likes tormenting poor Max the dog, but he is so good to her. I think it is because he knows that come dinner time, she will always feed him from her chair. They are best buds :) She also loves bath time and will blow bubbles in the water! I am gonna need to get her in swim lessons this summer for sure!

Dislikes: She does not like it when I leave the room or get out of the car. She screams, currently I find it very endearing, ask me later and I may be annoyed. But she loves me so much she doesn't want me to leave :)

The past six months have been a whirlwind of a time. But like all seasons of life the phrase "this too shall pass" is applicable. And its true...it does. The tides are turning for this family and I know better times are ahead. But I also know, that come what may. God is in control and we are incredibly blessed to have our Miss Blakely Mae Wells!

I don't have any new pictures to really share since I share them in our monthly updates so I am going to just pick one from each month that is my favorite!