Practically Imperfect: Autumn // 18 Months

THIS GIRL! Oh my goodness, I love her. Autumn is just... ugh, I can't even put it into words, she's so unique. I just love her and she's perfect and I want her to stay little always, the end. She keeps me on my toes, is quite resourceful and sharp, but is also such a quirky little goof. I mean, look at that ultra-cheesy smile!

It's crazy to think that she would officially be starting nursery at church this Sunday, were it not for the coronavirus. Well, without further ado, let's do an update on this cute toddler!

Autumn at 18 Months:

- She loves playing Ring-Around-the-Rosy, and sometimes I catch her saying, "ashes, ashes..." while spinning around by herself.

- When I ask her, "Where is your nose?" she will readily point to it... and then immediately start picking it. Whyyy, Autumn. She also loves when I ask where her belly is because I always tickle her after she points to it.

- She recently figured out how to open the pantry. All of a sudden it became very common for Autumn to come strolling out of the kitchen with a giant off-brand cereal bag slung over her shoulder (literally... like Santa with his toy sack) and a fistful of cereal that she's munching on. I've had to push the cereals back on the shelves so that the older kids can still reach them, but Autumn cannot.

- She loves to help load the dishwasher, and to help transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer.

- Her favorite books include: 5 Little Monkeys, a book about baby animals, and a collection of Frozen board books she got back on her birthday.

- She has quite the sweet tooth and KNOWS a treat when she sees one. Even if she's never tasted it before in her life... she has a 6th sense for sweets and will NOT stop protesting until you give her some.

- She loves sneaking into the bathrooms to steal other people's toothbrushes and such. We have to keep all bathroom doors closed.

- She adores her siblings and tries to follow them and play with them. Sometimes they enjoy her company and play nicely with her... and other times they go in a room and shut the door so she can't mess with what they're doing. It's hard to be a baby!

- When she DOES get to play with her siblings, it's really cute to see. She gets very loud and animated.

- Speaking of which, homegirl has a loud screech. Very loud.

- Autumn is a climber. I cannot emphasize this enough. My other 2 kids didn't give me anywhere near as much grief with climbing as this girl does. She climbs on the back of the couch and uses it to get onto the wide windowsill right behind it. She climbs onto the kitchen table. I once found her squished into the second floor of the Barbie house in the playroom. The climbing is not a recent development, by the way... it's been going on for a couple months now. That girl is non-stop! I fully expect her to start trying to climb out of her crib in the next couple months.

- She enjoys being spun and tossed and bounced, but she HATES swinging. I don't know why!

- At the beginning of the summer, she strongly disliked being in a swimming pool. Now, after a good handful of dips in Grandpa Kelly's pool, she's quite the water baby!

- She enjoys saying "Hiiiiiii!" to people (as long as she's in the right mood).

- She loves being outside, and going places in general! If you ask her if she wants to go on a walk, or go somewhere in the car, she will ALWAYS give a happy "Yes!" and head straight for the garage door.

- Also, she sticks her tongue out and makes a "th" sound a lot. The "th" sound shows up in a couple of the words she says, too, so "yes" actually sounds more like "yith" when she says it.

- She gives a loud "OH!" when she sees a living creature, be it a dog, cat, bird, butterfly, ant... if it's alive, she's excited to see it.

- She still loves her purple "binkie" (blanket) with hearts on it. Lots of love for binkie!

- On the rare occasion that she says her siblings' names, she calls her brother "Aus" and her sister "Cole".