Stella's 18 month update!

Our Boss baby is 18 months old!  She is just a ball of extra sassy, sweet, and silly rolled into a toddler.  

In body and spirit, Stella is solid! I mean, have you seen her belly and thighs?!  I die!  But, beside her baby build, she's just a solid little person. She doesn't cry easily, she gets back up from falls and bonks completely  un-phased. Stella isn't very sensitive.  You can tell her 'no' all day long and she just looks at you, humored that you think you have a say in what she does. This kid has a way of walking around like she owns whatever room she enters. Hence the nickname Boss. 

Stella once, not paying attention, walked into a dinner tray and hit her head. Instead of being sad by the almost instant goose egg, she yelled 'NO!'  Then head butted the table (slowly, so it started to tip on it's side) while growling at it.  Then she stopped and began to hit it, repeatedly, while yelling 'NO!'  She finally let the dinner tray be, but walked away while maintaining a glaring stare.  So much spirit! 

Stella is a hitter.  Not as bad as some, but compared to Indie who's maybe hit twice in her life, it feels excessive.  When mad Stella used to yell and hit you, or any other object that was close by.  We've worked with her on not hitting people.  So, now she'll stop herself mid swing and just stare you down before hitting the next closest thing. It's now rare that she'll hit people but when she does, she immediately knows she's done wrong and will fold her arms and defiantly avoid eye contact, while blinking excessively.  

The first time I gave Stella a small swat on the back of her hand, during an especially challenging poopy diaper change, I could see the confusion all over her face.  She looked at me and motioned how she hits, then with furrowed eyebrows asked 'No, no?'  I immediately felt so guilty (as I always do).  She had put together and was confused by the fact that she's told not to hit, and yet I just smacked her.  

Estelle LOVES the word 'NO'.  She loves to shout it, repeatedly.  She loves to clap at you and point when she screams it.  She loves to sit quietly as I talk sternly to Indie about misbehavior.  Then, when Indie and I are done with out discussion, she loves to follow Indie around and continue scolding her.  She'll yell 'NO' and tell Indie off in gibberish. Stella loves to stomp her foot to help emphasize her points of anger.  When Stella get's on a 'NO' kick, it's hard to redirect her without it ending in an all out screaming meltdown.  This girl has got fire in her bones.   

Stella will growl to signify she doesn't like something. I want to say this started shortly after her first birthday. It's pretty cute, although she's now starting to grow out of it.  Everyone who sees her react this way gets a big kick out of it. "Stella, do you want more grapes?"  GRRRRRRR.  "Stella, are you all done with your bath?" GRRRRRRR "Stella, are you ready to go to nigh-nigh?' GRRRRRRR  "Stella, did you poop?" GRRRRRRRR

Stella LOVES to be snugged.  She will often find her binky and blankie and come up to me wanting to be rocked and sung to.  She has to be rocked and loved everyday at least twice a day.  She'll often pull out her bink from her mouth and say, 'RORORO,' which means the song 'Row Row Row your boat,' which means you may now sing to me for the next hour. Physical touch feeds Stella's soul.  When Damon comes home from work he HAS to hold Stella immediately or face gravely offending her sensibilities.

Stellie lives and breathes for her binky and blankie.  She is so attached.  Every second of every day they must be with her, or their whereabouts accounted for and easily accessible.  Stella loves to hold the corner of her blanket and rub it under her eyes and nose as she smells it.  Often, this makes her look like a very sad and traumatized child.  But, it's her happiest place.  

We recently discovered that not any corner of the blanket will do.  She has to have THE corner.  She knows which one she likes best and will grunt with displeasure until you help her find the right one.  Better believe that corner is wearing down a lot faster than the rest of the blanket. 

  

Stellie loves to give kisses and hugs.  She kisses everyone in the room before exiting the room.  For some reason she also thinks it's necessary to kiss anything I tell her is yucky.  Her hands, bugs, trash, filthy toys, old food...you get the idea. She'll give it a good kiss before leaving it alone. If she finds an ant crawling around outside she'll follow it on hands and knees kissing it. Which usually ends in the accidental death of the ant.  All I can say, is that I'm glad spiders move to quickly for her to be able to kiss. 

Stella loves to be silly.  She is so fun loving and loves to do anything that might make her beautiful little eyes sparkle.  Stella likes to sneak up behind you and tackle your back while giggling like a gremlin.  She loves to tease, tickle and rough house. She'll hang onto your legs and make monkey sounds anytime you're trying to be productive. She loves to be silly with Indie and twirl in circles til she falls down.  She also loves to put boxes and bins on her head and blindly run a muck til she hits a wall and falls down, giggling. 

Stellie loves books,  She takes 2-10 to bed with her every night.  She does NOT like to share story time with Indie.  Estelle loves to play Mom with her stuffed animals.  She'll feed them, put them to bed, rock them, throw them, hug them...all the normal Mom things...

I'm slightly concerned about Stellie's vocabulary. While Estelle is an amazing communicator through other avenues, she doesn't say much.  She has her own gibberish that she will hold full on conversations with you in. It's not anywhere near English though. Her words consist of: 

Mom-Meme. 

Dad-Da.  

Indie-Inie. 

Book-Bee. 

Binky, baby, kitty, and Blankie are all-Bebee.  

Water-Wawa.  

All done- Onyawn.  

Papa.   

Row Row Row your boat-RORORO

No

Eat-Dee

Ball

Everything else just gets said in grunts, growls, screams or her gibberish. 

Stella loves food, especially sweets. She refuses to eat all vegetables, unless hidden in a green drink.  You can assume that if it's unhealthy for you, Stella will love it.  If it's nutritious, it's probably going to be a battle.

Estelle loves to be told she's pretty, and to put on things she thinks are pretty.  Hats, shoes, headbands, bracelets, hair ties, bows,  doesn't matter what size or where it's been. She LOVES to dress herself up to show off.  She'll walk around waiting for applause and compliments. She dips into my make-up and Indie's pretend make up often.  She learned pretty early on how to open almost any lid or seal. In the name of beauty. 

We sure love this spirited, sweet, beautiful girl of ours. She's brought so much love, life, spunk and laughter into our home.  She's so precious.  Happy 18 months!  Hopefully this new baby and sharing Mom doesn't turn her life upside down for too long!

Photo dump!