19 months of Sutton

Posting one whole month late (usually I do 6 month updates on kids) because I literally forgot to do 18 months, plus she was so awful at her appointment in September that I think I blocked it out which means 18 months didn't happen.

All in all: 10/10 recommend having an almost 4 year age gap between children. One is completely independent by the time baby comes along. 

Also, 10/10 do not recommend having an almost 4 year age gap between children because one is completely independent by the time baby comes along and then you're sucked into the spiral of clingy, unreasonable toddlerdom a year+ later and you're not used to it.

That is the rock and the hard place I find myself between every day. 

I also saw a meme that said "Dads: I can't wait til they get older and we can do things together. Moms: I can't wait til they get older and they're more independent. Society: Moms, you only have 18 summers! Don't wish it away!"

:)

Anyway. That's the state of things. 

We've spent a lot of time trying to figure out Sutton. She was such an easy baby that we thought there was a mistake. I always thought that all babies were like Wells. Turns out, they weren't all up 5 times a night for 18-24 months. 

When Sutton turned 11 months, she became A Toddler in behavior and that's where we've been sitting ever since. 

That being said, we adore her and she knows it. Everyone loves her. She's the favorite at daycare, for sure. She's a completely different person there than she is the second she sees me. She's at daycare from about 7:30am-3:30pm, and 2-3 hours of that is napping time.  There are anywhere from 2-4 other babies/toddlers there for her to play with and her caregivers are amazing. 

I cannot take her into my classroom with me because she goes straight to the shelf with the glue bottles and throws them all into trash can. Her next stop is to grab handfuls from the colored pencil basket and launch them down the hallway. (This is so odd and stressful to me because none of the other babies do this when they go to their parents' classrooms.)

:)

She is starting to understand things though, which is helpful. She's signing "more", "thank you", giving hugs, nodding yes and no appropriately, and running to get things when we ask. She throws things away, she puts dishes in the sink, she runs to her highchair when she's hungry, goes to the fridge when she wants milk, she gets her shoes, puts her shoes away, puts everyone else's shoes away, and tugs the diaper bag to the door in the morning. 

She also shakes her head no and runs away when you tell her it's time for a bath and then again when it's time for bed.

She's a picky eater. Sutton loves eggs, clementines, bananas, whole milk, water, applesauce, grapes, and peanut butter sandwiches. 

....

That's pretty much it. She was a die-hard for strawberries and macaroni and cheese but she refused both of those this week. I stopped packing her lunch every day because the chances of her liking the school lunch is about the same as the chance of her eating what I pack. She really likes chex mix cereal bars, apparently. 

This is hard only because Wells ate everything, all the time. 

She did enjoy some pumpkin muffins last weekend but wouldn't touch the pumpkin pancakes. 

We've discovered that Sutton loves being outside more than anything. She climbs through dirt, rocks, climbs onto lawnmowers and tractors, and fills her hands with rocks to bring instead. I took her for a lawnmower ride this week and she loved that. It's really hard to drag her back into the house.