18 months.

The chair she normally takes her monthly
photo on is in storage, so we had to make do.

Every month for the last 18 months (excluding the months we were in Singapore), I have photographed Linna on this lounge chaise we have in our living room. I do this so we can see how big she gets as she gets older. My plan is to do yearly photos after she turns two, and continue taking them until she's in high school. Since we're moving to Singapore for two years, that chair has been put into storage:( I'm going to have to get creative with her monthly/yearly photos since we won't have the chaise for a couple years, but we'll start using it again when we move back to Minnesota.

Now that Linna is 18 months, she is talking so much! She literally repeats everything we say. She says "thank you" (or "shank you") when she gives us something, or when we give her something. It's so cute. She loves saying "hi" to people when she walks into a room, and she says it to AJ and I a lot. She went through a couple-week phase where she was really stand-offish with AJ, but lately she is ALL about her Papa. Every time we're in the car she says "Papa?", and every time we pull into the driveway she says "Papa!". Mama is quickly becoming second best around here! She loves bringing us books and asking us to read to her (she just says "read"). You can always get Linna's attention by singing any song. She loves music.

Of course, she had to take the sign down.

We have been working on colors and the alphabet with Linna, and she pretty much knows every letter of the alphabet, and can distinguish the difference between the colors yellow and green. She loves coloring, putting stickers on things, playing with colored clay, and is still obsessed with shoes and hats. She's like a little girl now, instead of my little baby:(

Linna is all about Barney and Sesame Street, and her attention span is amazing when we put on one of her shows. Yes, we let our kid watch TV. Call us "Parents of the Year", but we can actually get things done when she's watching one of her shows. Her eating habits change daily, but she's pretty consistent with eating a big breakfast (normally whole milk yogurt, some kind of fruit, and oatmeal), a couple snacks throughout the day, and then lunch and dinner are hit or miss. Sometimes she'll go the entire day barely eating anything, and other days she's eating everything in sight. We struggle with getting her to eat veggies, so I've been hiding spinach in her eggs, and add some Suja fruit/veggie juice her her water. Currently her favorite snack is Somersaults, which are little sunflower seed bites. We try to give her new things every day, but one day she will love one thing, and hate it the next day.

Linna's hair is also getting so long and wispy. We should probably give her a little trim, but I seriously get teary-eyed thinking about cutting her hair:( I feel like it will take away her "baby look". So lately, she sports pigtails, a ponytail, or a little barrette to keep the hair out of her eyes. She's wearing size 18 month clothes, size 4/5 shoes, size 4 diapers (they hold more pee than size 3), she weighs 25 pounds (60%), is 31.5 inches tall (44%), and her head is 19 inches (90% - go figure). Linna also has gotten into the habit of pooping in the bathtub. I mean she seriously does it at least three days a week. Ick. I try to catch her in the act and put her on her potty, but she has no interest in using that thing. So for now, I get the fun task of scooping poop out of the tub, then scrubbing it with bleach. The other day she did it so fast, that she actually handed me her poop out of the tub. SO GROSS! Oh the joys of raising a toddler.

(Linna loves smoothies, and I love how she says it... "shmooooy".)

This month, we've said goodbye to so many of her little friends in the classes we're involved in. I know this move to Singapore doesn't even phase her right now, but it's so crazy to think that she will be two years old the next time she hangs out with her buddies (Linna and I will visit MN for a couple months in July/August)! As we get closer and closer to our move date (March 5th), I get sadder and sadder saying goodbye to friends and family. We are so excited to get back to our friends and life in Singapore, but we're really going to miss everyone at home in Minnesota. I will continue blogging from Singapore, so I hope you're able to follow our adventures half way around the world. Linna is growing up so fast, and I love that I can look back on my blog posts to remember how little she once was... it's so easy to forget.

Cool cat.

Linna would play outside in the snow for
hours every day if we let her.

See you soon Singapore!