18 months old!

yup. it's true. our little cadence joy is officially a year-and-a-half old as of last friday. just look at her sitting like such a big girl in a big people chair at the bourgeois pig.

she's definitely talking more, although most of it is still in a language i forgot over 30 years ago. she now says 'bak' for book instead of just 'ba'. 'bappo' for whatever she wants to eat has now became 'mo?' maybe because i keep asking her 'do you want more?' 'ball' is her favorite word and thing in general. she can now count one, two, four-five. she'll say random letters of the alphabet. she can do the motions for 'itsy-bitsy spider.' at this very moment, she is walking around our condo in a pair of my shoes. she is growing up way too fast.

i am relieved to say that since coming home from vacation, cadence has returned to her usual sweet self, for the most part. i think being away from home really threw her off, and i was scared that she was turning into a little ball of temper tantrums. she's been much better since we got home and back into a general routine.

recovering from vacation was a painful experience nevertheless. cadence started sleeping very poorly the night we got home, and i think i went 5 nights in a row after vacation without decent sleep. it got to the point where ted had to set up the air mattress in the living room so at least one of us (ted) could get some rest. thank goodness she seems back to her old sleeping schedule.

sunday was monthly grandma day again. we went to see ted's grandmas carol and sophie. we had a big group. all 3 of ted's siblings in the chicago area (david, lauren and jason) as well as david's girlfriend becki made it out to see grandma carol.

at grandma sophie's, cousin vikki and her daughter mackenzie were there as well. cadence loves playing with cousin mackenzie! and we got a special treat when mackenzie showed us the dance routine she's doing for her ballet recital coming up in may. cadence thought it was great fun and danced along! i love watching those two interact. cadence loves grandma days! she really loves spending time with family, since she normally only sees me and ted during the day.

anyhoo, my neck is stiff as a board, so i think i'm gonna stop typing now.