Nearly 19

Although Val is nearly 19 months old, we just had her 18-month check-up today. She is still a skinny minnie, at only 23.8 lbs. (we were surprised, she feels heavier than that!) which puts her in the 25th percentile for weight, and 33 inches long - 75th percentile. So following the same growth curve since she was tiny.

It's funny to me that some of the charming, amazing things she does turn out to be run-of-the-mill developmental milestones to be ticked off the nurse's checklist. To whit, walking backwards. For ages she's been backing up to sit on low surfaces, like the bottom step, or her little chair, or the stomach of an adult lying on the floor. But recently she's been very deliberately and consciously walking backwards. By this I mean, she'll pause in what she's doing, then very deliberately walk forwards about 5-6 steps, in a posture that shouts "Now I'm walking forwards," then stop, and just as deliberately walk backwards in a "Now I'm walking backwards!" kind of way until she bumps into something. Then she'll do it again. It's so incredibly cute! She's not walking to or from anything, she's just walking because she can! And I'm really no less charmed by it, knowing that it's something apparently all toddlers do. I'm just resentful that the entire world isn't as charmed and amazed as I am.