I can’t believe Sophia is 18 months old! I’ve loved every stage of her life and it keeps getting better and better!
This stage of her life is full of curiosity and learning – I’m embracing these moments with just her and I. I have about 6 weeks left of this pregnancy, and wanted to dedicate a post all about Sophia’s growth and development!
Sleeping
Sophia has been a pretty great sleeper ever since we transitioned her to her own crib at 6 months. Recently, we made the transition of going from 2 naps to 1 nap. This has been a huge milestone for her because now she naps anywhere from 2-3 hours a day! She goes down for bed around 7:30 pm and sleeps until 6:30-7:00 am.
Her bedtime routine has been very consistent since we sleep trained her at 6 months old & I think that’s helped her sleep throughout the night ever since. After dinner she usually gets a bath, we read a few books together, and then she chugs her bottle of milk. We always do this in her nursery with the lamp on so it’s dim, this is her cue that it’s bedtime.
She turns on her sound machine, and I rock her for about a minute while she lays her head on my shoulder. This has always my favorite part! Sometimes I’ll sing her a lullaby or scratch her back while rocking her. I turn off her lamp and put her sleep sack on. I always tell her “I love you, sweet dreams baby” and give her lots of kisses.
She will lay down and put herself to sleep within 5 minutes! Every now and then I’ll hear her wake up in the middle of the night from teething. Sometimes she will cry for a few minutes and then go back to sleep.
Sophia has a security blanket/lovie that we gave her at 6 months and it has a pacifier attached to it. She is completely obsessed with “giraffey” and this has been her comfort while she sleeps. I plan to write a blog post on how we transitioned Sophia from 2 naps to 1, with all my tips and tricks. I’m passionate about baby sleep so be on the lookout for those posts!
Eating
Sophia’s eating is hit or miss! She has become quite the picky eater recently. I’ve always given her a variety of foods to eat, and for the most part she will try everything. Sometimes she will eat almost everything on her plate and other times it all ends up on the floor!
She prefers fruits over veggies, so I’m always finding ways to sneak in her veggies. Sophia has gotten really good at her using her utensils while she eats. I still use silicone bibs on her and this collects a ton of food that doesn’t make it in her mouth!
Her favorite foods are yogurt, mac n cheese, tangerines, strawberries, fruit snacks, chili, beans, and rice! We have a rice cooker at home, so she has learned to love rice. I will mix veggies or chicken in it and she will eat it all. She also likes seaweed and rice together – she’s already becoming a sushi lover like her mama! Sophia has always been on the smaller side, so it’s become my mission to feed her lots of protein, carbs, and fats!
Teething
Within the last two months, Sophia has been teething like crazy! She has gotten her canines and molars and they have been coming in fast! If she’s being really fussy all I have to do is look into her mouth and I usually can spot a red bump with a white speck of tooth underneath it! One of her favorite things is to chew on crushed ice, and I’m pretty sure it’s because it helps relieve the discomfort. I always make frozen popsicles using baby popsicle molds. I will make a green smoothie with tons of spinach and freeze it, this has also been one of her favorites treats lately.
Playing
The last few months, Sophia has discovered how fun the park is! She loves to be pushed on the swing. I think she’s realized how fun it is to walk around the park and have the freedom to do so! She also has been climbing on everything. We have a Little Tikes slide and she can go up and down the slide all by herself now. She also loves playing with water as all toddlers do at this stage. Playing in the bath tub or washing her hands are some of her favorite things to do right now. I did get her a Step 2 water table and plan to set it up once the weather gets warmer outside.
Favorites
Sophia has always loved our two cats, Willow and Evee. She loves to pet them when they get close and will try to play with them using their cat toys. Our cats love string and Sophia has realized that if she brings them string then they will come near her. She loves the attention and tends to get really excited around them, but they end up running away from her every time!
Lately, Sophia will see a puppy outside or at the park and yell “puppy”. She has been spotting them a lot more. Sophia watched the beginning of Secret Life of Pets 2 and she was very intrigued by the pets talking. Sophia also loves watching Baby Shark and Cocomelon, she could watch it all day if I let her!
Milestones
We read A LOT of books during the day. I’ve read to her since she was a tiny newborn and she’s grown to be such a lover of books. She has always been a verbal baby and she started babbling very early. Whereas, her motor skills came much later and she didn’t crawl until 10 months and walk until 13 months. Sophia also picked up sign language quite early and communicates her needs to us all the time. The signs she uses the most are: more, please, eat, all done, and thank you.
Recently, I’ve focused more on her speech because she really has picked up so many words! She can say hi, dada, mama, papa, baba (bottle), boo, moo, banana, cheese, stinky, night night, bye bye, wow, baby, that, bubbles, kitty, and puppy.
She also has been answering my questions by nodding or shaking her head – it’s really cute! It’s really impressive when I ask her to do something and she does it, she’s constantly surprising us. She also enjoys helping us with things around the house like: throwing away her diaper, filling up the cat food bowls, and picking up her toys at the end of the day.
Sophia has started to understand real-life scenarios with her toys. It’s amazing to see her mimic sounds and actions after I model them to her. For example, she has been rocking and cuddling her baby dolls after seeing me do it several times! Since she’s going to be a big sister soon I have been modeling pretend play with her toys & baby dolls.
Another big milestone that I’ve noticed is that she is starting to play independently for longer stretches of time. She has always been attached to my hip and recently she will go find books or toys to play with on her own! Her independence has really come a long way and I’m hoping she can keep it up once baby sister comes.
These last 18 months have gone by quickly and even while staying home and quarantining together we’ve made so many memories. I’m blessed and grateful that she’s in our lives, she brings so much joy and I’m so excited to see her become a big sister soon!
Follow me over on Instagram to see what life is like with two little girls! @_cathyjune
