Sweet & Sassy is 19 months old

Avery...she's sweet and sassy. Although lately it's been more sassy than sweet. She's 19 months old now. I know she's going through a stage where she's trying to assert her independence and show us that she's got a mind of her own and she wants to be heard. We def hear her loud and clear...in fact the neighbors can too! She loves to shriek...whether it's b/c she's playing or b/c she's throwing a temper tantrum. Either way my ear drums are begging for her to stop. Parker can often be found with his hands over his ears and yelling back: "Ouch, Sissy! You hurt my ears!". This is like the pot calling the kettle black b/c he is a shrieker too. Where do you think Miss Sassy learned it from? They love to have shrieking contests in the car and then laugh and giggle about it.

Her stats:
Weight: 26.6 according to our scale the other morning
Height: unknown - 34.25" as of her 18 month appt and her next appt isn't until May
Diapers: We've been squeezing her in the last of her size 4, but in the last week or so she's been leaking out of her diapers. It fits around the waist, but her tush has gotten bigger. She just started using size 5 this week and it's huge in the waist and her tush is swimming in it, but no more leaks!
Clothes: Mostly 2T, can fit into a handful of 18 month size - usually shorts b/c she's got a tiny waist. She's wearing some 3T Jumping Bean brand (from Kohl's) shorts. It's a bit big around the wait and a tiny bit long, it's not huge.
Shoes: size 7
Hair: It is almost shoulder length!!! But she's got a mullet. Sigh! I think I'm gonna ask my sister in law to trim it again to get it growing some more.

Loves: cuddling; reading books; still very attached to her binkie (will be weaning...soon); playing cars/trains with Bubba; loves to be chased or to chase someone; singing (new favorite is ABC song, she even sang: A, I, M, M, O, P, A, S today...multiple times, same sequence and happy birthday); loves to count (she's been saying 2, 3 after I say 1, but now she'll 8, 9, 10 too); going for walks (either riding in the stroller or wagon or literally walking while holding hands); drawing

Bad habits: same as before: hitting when she doesn't get her way or when she gets mad or just b/c she feels like it; closing her eyes when she doesn't want to hear something; she still spits out food when she sees something else she wants to eat or drink or she just doesn't feel like eating anymore; crying/whining/throwing a tantrum if you see a book/toy that you want that Bubba was playing with first

Potty training may be in our future. She keeps telling me "poop" after she goes in her diaper. Occasionally she will tell me before she has to go so I sit her on the potty, but she won't do anything and she'll usually poop about 10 min later...in her diaper. But sometimes she'll say poop and then run away and not let me change.

New words are popping up:
woo (look)
uh (up)
eee (here)
hung-geeh (hungry) - you say this as you rub your belly (a sign that I made up for hungry, which was the first sign you did, then you learned milk and more)
Eh (Elfs, our Elf on the Shelf)
I know (I don't know)
toe
daw (draw)
ha bih-day to you (happy birthday to you)

She is cutting some major teeth! But that stinkin' upper right molar still hasn't fully come out and it's been since October! What the heck?!? On 12/10 I saw her upper right incisor coming through and her upper left incisor is just under the gums - I saw a white spot. She's still working on those darn upper and lower left molars - still super swollen, but haven't broken through. I'm hoping that once these teeth all come out then her mood will improve. Then again, she'll probably start cutting her 2 year molars, which knowing what a slow teether she is, it will probably take a whole year!

She's doing really well stabbing food with a fork and putting it in her mouth. I'm still trying to teach her how to hold a spoon and put food in her mouth. She does pretty good eating yogurt and stuff that doesn't fall off the spoon easily. The thing is she wants to hold the spoon like her fork, which she holds with a tight fist and the fork facing down. I'm trying to teach her to hold the spoon right side up, but she keeps flipping it face down again once I let go of her hand.

Here are some pics from the past 19 months of our Miss Sweet:

she was about 3 months here - complete sweetness! she was such a wonderful baby. the only time she really cried was when she was hungry, needed a diaper change, or wanted to be put in her papasan chair or swing.

this was around this time last year so she was about 7 months old. still very sweet and agreeable baby...for the most part. 

she was about 15 months in this pic and def a sweet little girl who loves to cuddle and offer her cheek or forehead for YOU to kiss her when you ask her for a kiss, her "sassy-tude" (my husband says I make up my own words like trafficky when there's a lot of traffic) has def developed. Their cousin Mason and Audrey were over playing one afternoon and I built them a huge fort using Parker's bed sheets. Avery kept pulling on the sheets roof then would laugh cackle when the others would get mad at her and give them a look as if to say "what're you going to do about it?". I tried to distract her with her own toys and books, but she wanted to play with annoy the big kids.

about 16 months - at Busch Gardens...sweet baby girl just wanted to sit on the ground and play with acorns. there was no convincing her to get up...i chose my battles and let her sit on the ground and play since we were off to the side where there wasn't a lot of people. my OCD did kick in and I doused her in hand sanitizer when she was done playing. 

she was 18 months in this pic...we were going to take our family pics and picked my sister in law up so I was sitting in the back with the kids. Avery wanted to hold  my hand. She loves to hold hands and will even insist on holding my hand just walking around the house. 

Miss Sassy:

Avery's about 7.5 months - as you can tell her sassy side is coming out! 

about 8 months...we were going for a walk at the downtown outdoor market. she's got her sassy pout!

about 15.5 months - just look at that face! it's as if she's saying "I'm gonna do something naughty...whatcha gonna do about it?". She gives me this look ALL DAY LONG.