Eighteen and Thirty-three

Lola Morgan is eighteen months old today!She has started using a fork properly, she is learning to wash her hands and she is pretty good with a sponge in the bath. She loves to sit in toddler-sized chairs so we're going to go out this weekend to try and find a cute table and chair set. We got her some crayons and drawing paper last week and she's quite the scribbler. She says "papa" with a French accent (I swear). She loves chicken tamales, broccoli, any kind of fruit, cheese, crackers and ravioli. She loves to show you where your eye is by sticking her finger in it.There have been challenges of course. Sometimes at night she likes to whine to get what she wants. And the frustrating part is she doesn't know or can't tell us what it is she even wants sometimes. She is definitely testing her boundaries (and our patience). She'll throw her food on the ground flowerette by flowerette and watch your reaction with a self-satisfied smile.She's a decent walker considering she's only been doing it for about three months now. She's getting tall enough though that she'll bump her head on table tops because she's not paying attention to where she is going.Her vocabulary consists mainly of one word labels like body parts, food items and names. She does know "all done," "thank you," "cheers" (accompanied by a clank of her sippy cup with yours), and "bye bye."Lola's baby brother is thirty-three weeks old. Julie had her regular pre-natal doctor visit today and everything is as normal as can be. The heart sounds great, every test comes back normal, and every measure of development is where it should be. Of course, the difficulties of pregnancy are not nearly so rosy. I did not know that someone could be simultaneously so tired at night and so unable to sleep too. The heartburn I'm told is something fierce this time around. He also is quite the gymnast. When you can see Julie's tummy move and protrude from 10 paces you know you've got a live one.The doctor told us that by Monday he will be far enough along that if she started to go into labor the doctors would not stop her from delivering. Julie is holding out hope for 41 weeks though (perverse, I know). I am hoping for a leap-year baby.No, we still haven't thought of a name. In fact, if we don't get on the stick here pretty soon, his birth certificate is going to read Baby Brother.