Taking Stock at 18 Months. 7-10-13

Here is what is happening at 18 months old:

• Boop knows more songs, now. One of her favorite songs is “Happy, happy, happy, happy…” with lots of clapping. That’s better known to you and me as “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” There’s also the “Hay! Hay! Hay!” song, better known as “Turkey in the Straw.”
• She is throwing some nasty little tantrums. They generally occur in the afternoons when she’s tired. She wants me to hold her all*the*time. 30 lb toddler + psoriatic arthritis = back spasms and no work accomplished. I hate to say it, but sometimes it gets so bad I just have to put her somewhere, like her high chair, until I can catch my breath. I’d say we’ve got at least another year of this. Better get my ‘suit’ together.
• And that reminds me of some useful parenting advice I got from an episode of Friends. Yes, I realize how bad that sounds already. Anyway, so they had to come up with other words for the things they didn’t want their toddler repeating. Toddlers fixate on words that are said with strong emotion, like those said when you slam the door on your finger or break your favorite dish—in other words, the sorts of things I’m prone to do. There’s really one main potty word that I have trouble with; so now I have an ongoing mental mantra of “Old suit,” in case something catches me off guard.
• Speaking of words, Boop knows lots, and she attempts them, with mixed success. One shocker this past weekend was bathroom words. Bless her heart, I think she knows all about potty, but she freezes up and gets upset when she gets on the potty and can’t go. 
• Check out the funny expressions while eating Pop Rocks...

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