Mother's Day and Phoebe's 18 month stats

Mother's Day was quiet and lovely. The kids were kind and gentle with each other all morning, which is all any mother really wants for Mother's Day, anyway, isn't it? I guess not. Perhaps I just have low expectations. But I believe that low expectations are a healthy metric for most things—you don't have to impress or woo me, truly. Just being you is enough. 

Of course, it helps if you're pleasant to be around and are doing your best to make sure that everyone around you is having a good time, too. And my kids did just that. They treated each other with respect, and helped Phoebe be happy all morning—the absolute best gift!

Here's Phoebe up on Benjamin's lap before church:

Here's Phoebe with the boys, getting ready to sing the sacrament hymn:

Here's Phoebe reading a book with Zoë while we were waiting for sacrament meeting to officially begin (we have sacrament as a family before Andrew leaves to play the organ during official sacrament meeting):

She loves this anthology of Eloise Wilkins. I got it years ago because I've always loved Eloise Wilkins' illustrations, but none of my kids were ever very excited about it...until Phoebe. She loves all the pictures of babies and animals and squeals happily with every page turn. So, it was well worth the purchase.

Now here she is reading Everything is Mama (by Jimmy Fallon) with Alexander:

This is one of her favourite books. I think this picture was actually taken in the middle of church. She went and dug it out when she heard mothers being mentioned so many times.

Phoebe is starting to enjoy singing time (thank goodness). She used to just be a little terror during singing time, but she's figured out that participating can be fun, too. We usually sing Popcorn Popping, Jesus Wants Me for A Sunbeam, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes with her, at least. She loves to join in the action songs...and then wanders away while we're singing other songs. Or turns on the piano and bangs on the keyboard. Or screams in our faces. Or twirls around the room. Or chucks toys at us. 

You can never quite be sure what you're going to get from Phoebe.

This post has kind of morphed from a Mother's Day post to a Phoebe appreciation post, perhaps because she just turned 18 months old...so I have her milestones on my mind. 

Here she is after having climbed up on Miriam's lap on...I believe this was Monday during Family Home Evening. We were all taking turns taking about memories from our baptisms, since Zoë's baptism is right around the corner. When Andrew asked Miriam to share her memories, Phoebe ran across the room and climbed up into her lap, which surprised Miriam because Phoebe doesn't often choose her.

Miriam is an excellent helper with Phoebe, but often feels like Phoebe only spends time with her under duress—like, Mommy needs to go to a meeting so Phoebe must play with Miriam, but if Phoebe has a choice of a playmate it isn't usually Miriam. 

And it's hard for Miriam to feel like that, though I'm sure it's nothing personal. 

It's beginning to feel personal, though, as Phoebe has been collecting more and more words, but refuses to say Miriam. And Miriam is so easy to say—because we usually refer to Miriam as Mimi for Phoebe. 

Phoebe can say:

• Dad
• Mom
• Grandpa (Ampa, Bumpa, or sometimes even Grandpa)
• Rachel (Achie or Shh-shh)
• Zoë (Zozo)
• Ben (Buuuuuuh!)
• Alexander (he swears she points at him and says, "Ahhh!")
• Shoe
• Water (wa-wa or water)
• Banana
• Want
• What?
• Cat
• Dog (sometimes)
• Puzzle (new as of this morning!)
• Sit! (new as of this morning!)
• Bye/Hi (she just yells, "Ahhhhhhhh!" while waving...does that count?)
• Moo
• Duck
• Ear
• Grogu
• Jesus
• Cookie
• Cheese
• Yes (Bup, Yup, Yeah, Bum)
• Nurse (nuh-nuh)
• Diaper (diaper or biaper)
• Bubbles
• Ball
• Bus

There are probably other words I've missed from this list, but so far no attempt at Mimi, or Meme, or Miriam, or anything.

At least she's not Zoë's, who learned to say "Meadow!" before she learned to say any of her own siblings' names (Meadow was Rachel's good, good friend in Durham and lived just down the street from us, so rode the same bus as Rachel and Miriam. And when the kids would pile out of the bus, Zoë would happily cry out, "Meadow!" long before she could say Rachel or Miriam). 

Anyway, I'm sure she'll get there. For now, Miriam was happy Phoebe chose her lap during family night.

Phoebe is doing...healthy. I would say she's growing well but she's...not. Her records show that she hasn't put on any weight at all since her last appointment.

At 15 months she was 22 lbs. 14.2 oz. and 30.75 inches tall.

At 18 months she is 23 lbs. 1.8 oz and 31.5 inches tall. 

One of her favourite activities is eating (ask anybody), so I'm not sure why she isn't growing. The doctor said it might just be a testament to her increased activity levels since kids sometimes start running around like wild around this age...and that's certainly true in Phoebe's case. She's running us all ragged!