I’ve always said 18 months is my favorite age! But somehow I forgot that I’ve always said that until this week! It’s sooo true! I’m just not sure where the time is going these days with little miss! When did my baby turn into an 18-Month-Old? That’s starting to really talk, put together 2-3 word sentences, snuggle with mommy, and just generally be the coolest little human around?  I’m IN LOVE with my girl right now, 100x’s more than before, if that is even possible.

{ photo credit: Little Roo Studios , Ava’s moccasins // Ava’s dress on sale!// Ava’s bow }

She has a legit sense of humor, is such a little show-off, and loves to dance! She already shows compassion at times, which completely blows my mind. I mean, she takes care of her babies and our dogs like it’s her job! She can help clean up her toys now, feed the dogs (with reminders when the bowl is full LOL), and also go fetch certain things for mommy and daddy when they don’t want to get off the couch. 🙂 Time can officially slow down! Here are our current baby faves:

^^ This rainbow pool we got from Amazon has been THE BEST this summer! And with the price, it can’t be beat! I sincerely hope we can get at least two summers outta the baby before it gets a dreaded hole because it’s seriously awesome. We don’t put very much water in because she really just likes to stand in it, climb from side to side, put the rings on, and lay on her tummy to kick. She always says, “I want pool,” after she wakes up from her nap!

^^ This sports car that we regularly take out for walks is still on serious rotation! We love this thing and all the drink holders it has.

^^ Oh yeah, this wagon is so great! Especially when we also are hanging out with our nephew. We love that both he and Ava can jump in this and be so portable. Usually, when we give Ava a choice between her car and her wagon, she honestly picks this nearly every time! Plus, it folds up when we’re on the go!

^^ This colorful stack and sort board is pretty to always have out mamas, but Ava plays with this a few times everyday. She’s starting to sort and actually match the color up with the pegs. She also likes when we just use the blocks as manipulatives to count.

^^ This puzzle is waaay cooler than what I even realized when I bought it! It’s always one of the first things she wants to play with after she wakes up. It’s awesome because it’s a magnet board, we talk about the animals, she can open the doors, and she has been working on fitting the right sized pieces into each door. Great buy.

^^ I bought this Doodle-Pro Trip before we took our trip to Michigan and it seriously bought us a ton of time in the car! She was occupied with this for 20 minutes at a time, which is a ton for an 18-month-old, right? 🙂 She hasn’t figured out how to erase things yet but this board is the perfect size for the car.

^^ In terms of shoes, I bought her a pair of Native Shoes which were so worth it! These are THE BEST pool shoes!!! Plus, they’re basically tennis shoes with solid support so she can actually run in them too! Worth the price because of the versatility! Also, I just bought her this pair of glittery sneakers from the Nordstrom Sale and they are even prettier in person!

^^ I resisted getting any sort of Bumbo seat but this booster one has already been a lifesaver! We try to always keep it in the car so we have a quick option in case we are at a friend’s for dinner. Ava thinks she’s a big girl sitting in it. This is her new highchair when we travel 🙂 We also use it when she wants to color at the table.

^^ Okay, so this one is so random! And I always supervise her when she plays with these just in case she would try to put one in her mouth, although she’s pretty much over most of that. These pom poms are the coolest. I kept seeing them all over Pinterest and I totally bought into them because we can sort by color, we can scoop them, we can throw them, we can dump them, etc., etc., etc.

^^ Stella made the list again!!! She loves, loves, loves all of her baby dolls, including the Cabbage Patch doll she has! She puts her to “night night”, sings “Rock a Bae (Rockabye Baby)” to her, and changes her diaper. Melt my heart every single time!

^^ My mom got Ava this Fisher-Price animal puzzle and it’s quickly become her favorite puzzle to work as she’s obsessed with farm animals right now! The “ba-ba” (sheep) was missing for a couple of days and that’s all I heard about for awhile! She was so happy when we found it!

^^ We’ve had these stackable cubes for awhile but it hasn’t been until recently that Ava really has started to play with them more appropriately, stacking the cubes and setting the animals in and on top of the cubes. This set is SO versatile and the speech therapist in me loves them because of all of great vocabulary we can work on – think of prepositions (on/off/above/below, etc.), animals’ names, colors, etc.!

{ photo credit: Little Roo Studios }

That’s pretty much it! Also, let me tell you: As with all kids, she loves anything new! Of course, she loves the typical jumping on the couch, reading books, dancing in the middle of the floor to “tunes”, and peek a boo! The girl loves interaction. But some of the above list includes most of the items she entertains herself with for a bit. Ava also adores sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and, of course, popsicles (especially the princess mini kind)!

You can read more of our Baby Favorites: 15 Months, 10 Months, 7 Months, 6 Months, and The First Six Weeks.

Photos by our go-to gal, Rachel of Little Roo Studios.