18 months

Year and a half! Here are the highlights:

• Chatterbox! Rosie is finding her voice. Words (or variations of them) include: hi, buh-bye, thank you, water, bounce, Dada, Mama, Vavô, Vavó, Ba, Ong, Elmo, Big Bird, up, bu bu, apple, cheese, pan (bread), more/más, bubbles, yeah, no no. She also tries to mimic sounds. We are working on the alphabet (we can get to D and then it all kind of sounds the same).
• Signing: new signs include: melon, bird, flower, penguin, giraffe.
• Comedian: Rosie loves to laugh and to get other's to laugh too! I think she takes after Di T and loves to join in on the fun just for the sake of a good belly-shaker!
• Leads the way: She will gladly take your finger and lead you to her destination. This might include her patting the seat next to her to have you sit down, walking us to our bed as a gentle hint that she would much rather snuggle with us there instead of the crib, and directing us to the fruit basket.
• Games: Hide and Seek is forever being perfected. Coffeehouse. 
• Books: Rosie still becomes engrossed with books (yay!). Her all-time favorites right now include the Tails book by Matthew Van Fleet (though she has loved it literally to pieces), Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox, and most Sandra Boynton books (especially Barnyard Dance).
• Musica: Rosie loves music! She loves to sing (i.e. have sung to her): If You're Happy and You Know It, Open Shut Them, Kia Con Buom Vang, Rubber Duckie, Elmo Song, Head Shoulder Knees and Toes, the Barney I Love You song (much to DaddyO's dismay), to name a few. She also likes to shake her little booty. Her dance moves mostly revolve around fist pumping, rocking back and forth, and stamping her feet. 
• Teeth! She has at least 10 teeth, though it's something hard to get a good look in there. She's got 1 monster molar with others cutting through. Looks painful! She doesn't particularly enjoy brushing her teeth, something to work on.
• Walks. Most afternoons Rosie and Mommy take a walk up and down the street. Rosie usually doesn't want to come back down. In fact, I'm pretty sure if I let her have her way she'd go straight for the library! On our walks, we stop to see what flowers are in bloom, pet tree bark, chat with neighbor people and pets, and sit on people's stoops. 
• Water-crazy. Rosie loves to be in the water. On hot days we've set up her mini pirate boat pools and a crazy water sprinkler. We also found a great park that has a great water feature. She is become more fearless when it comes to water-in-the-face and doesn't shy away. In fact, I usually have to take her kicking and screaming a little.
• Clean up: A pretty random but funny memory to record is that she likes to throw things in the trash and clean up. She will sometimes dump things out of its packaging just so she can use the trash can. Once she was playing in the living room and she walked into the kitchen, pulled the hand towel, wiped spilled water, then came back to attempt to get the towel back on the rack. She also spent 20 minutes mesmerized by the vacuum. Now if we could only teacher to change her own diaper...

Rosie continues to be super loving. She gives the sweetest kisses and the firmest hugs. She comforts you by patting your back when you're holding her. We're so lucky to have family (both near and far) and friends (both of the toddler and adult variety) who love her so!