18 months!

Our sweet baby girl is growing up!  Too fast for my liking too... perhaps it is because she has two brothers to follow around and learn from.

The only thing this little girl is lacking is hair.. although she does have a nice sprout right at the crown.. I like to twirl it up like one of those toy trolls we had back in the 80's (90's?)!  And she is also lacking words, she says a few and she gets her point across very nicely.. she has a beautiful sing song voice full of "ahhs, laaas, baaaas.. and other cheerful sounds!  we really need to be sure to capture it on video before her words do start coming.. of course she also has a horrific screech!  We are certainly not worried.. she says more than Cole at this point.. heck she says "mama"!  And she chatters on waving her arms and is very animated in her conversations.  Caden says "I don't think Cora knows what she is talking about"  I say.. "She knows exactly what she is talking about!  It is us that don't understand"

This girl is as strong as an ox!  She began climbing this rock wall to get up with the big kids, we pulled her off before she could hurt herself.  At 34.5" and 31.5 lbs she is still a good ways above the curve.. she stands just a fraction of an inch taller than the boys at this age, but is a whole 6-7 pounds heavier!  She is solid!

Cora is also a magnet for anything dirty.. she can find mud, dirt piles, ant hills, rocks, dust, puddles.. you name it she'll sit herself smack down in the middle of it!

What's wrong with the above picture?  Cora and Charlotte throwing pea stone while the boys sit nicely!  The girls are going to give  us a run for our money!

Cora loves her babies!  She has recently taken to carrying one with her everywhere she goes.  And she won't go to bed unless she has a baby in there with her.  So that is why we have all those baby dolls lying around the house!  It all makes sense to me now!

Perhaps it goes along with her love for all things messy, but Cora also loves art!  She collects pens, markers, chalk, crayons.. all throughout the house.  If you miss one when picking up, she'll be sure to find it... thankfully we've only had one wall incident, and a small table drawing incident.. after that we've been able to keep the rest of it (for the most part!) on paper.  Another thing we've noticed is that she sticks her tongue out and to the side.. not in this picture, but up above in the soccer one.

Cora also has incredible fashion sense!  She loves shoes!  and she loves hats, she puts anything she can find on her head.. Cole's underwear, her bathing suit, you name it!  If only she didn't have Extra wide feet she could have so many more shoes! (This may be a good thing for our wallets!)  We also find it incredibly interesting that in the giant pile of shoes at our backdoor Cora will bring them to us.. that isn't the fascinating part.. it's that she knows the owner of all of them! 

Cora is a VERY loving girl.. she loves her brothers.. most of the time anyway!  She won't get into bed until she has given them a hug goodnight.  this may be her way of stalling, but it seems genuine!  She has a special relationship with each of them.  With Caden they play lovingly, jokingly.. with Cole, they hit, tackle, push...hmmm see the picture below?  It's all innocent this time, but what I envision in years to come is the two of them conspiring to have Cora pushing the pedals while Cole steers.. we're in for some big trouble with these two :) We'll have to rely on Caden to keep us in the loop on their schemes!

Cora is still such a happy girl.. she goes with the flow and takes on whatever life brings her.  She has a bit of an independent streak and definitely voices her opinion a bit more often, throws a tantrum or two when she doesn't get what she wants.. but for the most part she is the best little girl anyone could ask for!  We all love her to bits!