We have reached 18 months of age… boy oh boy, this little girl is a handful! She is active, into everything, and constantly on the move. She is communicating with words and signs more and more, knows her routines, and knows when she can get away with something (and when she can’t). At night, or at naptime, if I ask her, “do you need to get in your crib?” she will stop horsing around, and lie down quickly. If she’s in her crib and won’t settle down, I will just get up and look at her, and she’ll quickly lie down (she knows I’m going to lay her down). I can ask her to go get a book, go get a diaper, go throw away trash, pick up toys, and wipe up spills, and she does it!
She is a mama’s girl. She snuggles up to me at night to sleep, giving me kisses before drifting off. She holds my hand just because she wants to while we take walks. She clings to me like a little monkey in the water. She comes running to me shrieking with happiness when I come home from work.
She desperately wants to hold babies, like real ones, not dolls. She thinks she can just walk around with them, I guess, and is confounded by the adults’ refusal to let her pick them up by their heads. She enjoys tumbling, forward somersaults and back flips over my knees. She proudly lifts her arms in a gymnastics’ “ta da!” pose after each move. She also loves to jump… on furniture, yes, but also just up and down on the floor. She has discovered her belly button (and mine, and everyone else’s) and can now point to her hair, nose, ears, and feet.
Words
Hot, keys, cheese, shoes, baba (bottle), duck, dog, mama, dada (meaning Ga Ga, which means grandma), uh oh, ball, bubble, bye-bye
Signs
More, all done, eat, milk, bird, water, “no no” (finger wagging), no (shaking head), please
Likes
Taking “medicine” (for her fever)
Her night time bottle
Reading books
Sitting in the sand on her “beach”
Swinging on my lap at playgrounds
“Playing” the piano (while I’m playing, um, trying to play)
Pulling my hair, and pulling my earrings out
Favorite:
Animals- ducks and horses
Food- cheese, coffee (despite the fact that I only give her a taste of coffee mixed with lots of milk, she acts like it’s the best thing she’s ever had)
Drink- still water
Toy- balls
Thing to get into- bathroom and kitchen drawers (yes they are baby-proofed, but she keeps trying)
Item she can’t have- my keys
Song- “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and “Old MacDonald”
TV show/DVD- Little Einstein Farm Animals
Dislikes
Getting dressed, and getting her diaper changed
Being in the car for too long (more than 1 hour per day, or at a time)
Blankets of any kind on her at any time
When I put chunks of vegetable in her rice and pasta
Mother of All Things 
My 16 month old dislikes similar things! Must be the age! Haha! Mine likes blankets though!