18 Months and on the move!!!

I will add some pictures in the next day or two. Joey and I have been kind of lazy about taking pictures this week. We have not done much exciting to take pictures of!

Ashlyn turned 18 months old yesterday. As I say every time, I can't believe she is 18 months old! She is halfway to 2! She has been acting more like she is two lately. Like she has since birth, Ashlyn knows exactly what she wants. If she does not get that, we are starting to see some tantrums. We are working on some ways to handle this. It's hard being a first time mom and not knowing what works. I guess we will learn just like any other first time parents: through trial and error!

The big news for Ashlyn this week at 18 months is that she finally learned how to crawl out of her crib! Joey and I were waiting for this day, and were really hoping it would come later than now. She first did this weekend when we were over at my parents. We put her upstairs in her crib over there to take a nap. We were downstairs, and before we knew it we saw Ashlyn walking around upstairs. We thought it was a fluke since the crib at my parents is older and isn't as low as hers. Well, two days later, Joey had the day off. He put her down for a nap and heard some noise upstairs. He went up there and she was standing in her room. She did it again that night. We looked on the internet and found this contraption http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6372421

We were both a little unsure if A) it would work and B) if it was even safe. $70.00 is a lot to spend on something that we won't be using for too long. If she had done this at 9 months old, I would have bought it in a heartbeat. We ultimately decided on turning her crib into a bed. We bought a little side rail to go on so she can't roll out. She wasn't very happy to have to sleep in it. I am a fan of Super Nanny, and decided to try her trick. We put her to bed and told her she needed to go to sleep. Every time she got up, we placed her back in bed. It lasted about an hour, but she finally fell asleep in her bed. We are going to do this every night until she goes right to sleep. I know that it will work. She did the same thing when we first moved her into her crib. It just takes some adjusting!

At 18 months Ashlyn is a wild and crazy toddler! She loves to dance and is constantly on the move. She just loves exploring and moving! She continues to use new words everyday. She also continues to put words together.

I thought I would list some of her favorites:

Food- This is a hard one. One day she will eat something, and totally love it. The next day, she will eat it and hate it! She loves yogurt and is a big cheese fan like her Mom!
Book- She loves any book, but really likes "Cat" that Auntie got her.
Show- Ashlyn has very little interest in t.v. She would rather dance to music. She watches less than an hour of t.v. a week. She does watch Elmo every morning when she is eating breakfast.
Toy- She loves her play kitchen. She also likes her lego/block/little people set. She also likes the ATV her uncle got her.
Thing to Do: anything with Mom and Dad and DANCE!!!!
Favorite Pet: her Alli!