This girl.
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| I love those curls that have a hint of red in the sun. |
What's new...
Words - mama, dada, baba (bottle), uh oh, stuck, dog, hat, shoes, show, baby, boy, eat, thank you, hi, bye, no, yeah, snow, walk, wawa (water), bapple (apple), belly, booboo, nose, eyes, bappy "happy", peak a boo "pee bo", boppy "potty", cracker and tractor sound the same "cacker", help "ohm" (I guess help is hard to say?)...and probably more that I can't think of
Animal sounds - monkey "oo oo, aa aa", dog "ruff ruff", cat "meow", cow "moo", sheep "baa", lion "roar", pig which is a gutteral "oink", ducky which sounds like the oink
Sign language - all done, more, please, thank you, hat, bird, horse, bear, milk, cracker, eat, car, train, book, water, brush teeth, boat
She also still blabbers a lot. I'm convinced that she knows what she is saying because she often gets frustrated when we don't respond the way she wants us to or when we can't understand her. She uses a lot of sign language. For awhile, I started getting nervous that it would slow her talking down, but I don't think it will. She is trying new sounds and words more recently. She also has started saying "more" when she signs more, and sometimes doesn't even sign it. We're working on combining 2 words like "mama help". She has just this week mastered it.
Animal sounds - monkey "oo oo, aa aa", dog "ruff ruff", cat "meow", cow "moo", sheep "baa", lion "roar", pig which is a gutteral "oink", ducky which sounds like the oink
Sign language - all done, more, please, thank you, hat, bird, horse, bear, milk, cracker, eat, car, train, book, water, brush teeth, boat
She also still blabbers a lot. I'm convinced that she knows what she is saying because she often gets frustrated when we don't respond the way she wants us to or when we can't understand her. She uses a lot of sign language. For awhile, I started getting nervous that it would slow her talking down, but I don't think it will. She is trying new sounds and words more recently. She also has started saying "more" when she signs more, and sometimes doesn't even sign it. We're working on combining 2 words like "mama help". She has just this week mastered it.
She now prefers to go up and down the stairs like a big person, holding our hand or holding onto the side rails. She is now running instead of just walking around. She does much better on uneven ground, especially on the trails outside. She just needs to learn to slow down on the downhills.
She is becoming such little person. We are getting to know her little personality on a daily basis. She is communicating more and more each day. She still loves being outside. I think she would live every moment of her entire life outside if she could. (in the video below, she is counting sticks...this is what she does when I say, "can you count the ___?")
We are in love with her.
She has such a dynamic personality. She is wild, adventurous, brave, active, energetic, yet curious, focused, a problem solver, gentle, sweet, funny, and so caring and concerned about others around her. I am constantly impressed and surprised at little daily developments that I see in her. I am literally crying right now just sitting here thinking about what a joy and blessing it is to be able to be her mommy. We are blessed beyond measure. I am so excited to see her as a big sister.
A couple weeks ago, we were all three sitting in our chairs at the table, and she was holding out her hands fussing a little bit and not eating her food. We couldn't figure out what the problem was until we thought for a second--she wanted to hold our hands and pray! She squints her eyes and watch us, and then claps after we say "amen". She often wants to pray multiple times when we are all three sitting down together. So cute.
She loves playing with older kids, especially 2 and 3 year olds. She is interacting more but usually just follows their lead with whatever they are playing. With younger babies, she is very gentle and sweet. She'll bring them toys and gets very concerned when they cry.
I still get these weekly Baby Center updates that I started when I was pregnant with Madison to get status updates on the growing baby in my belly. Bryce and I laughed at how true this week's update was about our almost 18 month old, "Fasten your seat belt! Your toddler's probably on an emotional roller-coaster now: One minute she's as happy as ever, and the next she's a mess. It may be a year or two before she outgrows temper tantrums. Until then, expect to deal with regular outbursts of anger and frustration. While it's difficult to predict what's going to spark a tantrum, you can cut down on their frequency by making sure your child gets enough sleep and eats well during the day. Remember, a hungry, sleep-deprived toddler is a meltdown waiting to happen."
She's been playing with dolls (and stuffed animals) a lot over the past couple months. She gives them a bottle, tries to put doll diapers on them, shares her goldfish crackers with them, puts a blanket on them and says "nigh nigh". I couldn't help but get her a baby doll stroller and baby doll toy car seat about a month ago.
We are in love with her.
She has such a dynamic personality. She is wild, adventurous, brave, active, energetic, yet curious, focused, a problem solver, gentle, sweet, funny, and so caring and concerned about others around her. I am constantly impressed and surprised at little daily developments that I see in her. I am literally crying right now just sitting here thinking about what a joy and blessing it is to be able to be her mommy. We are blessed beyond measure. I am so excited to see her as a big sister.
A couple weeks ago, we were all three sitting in our chairs at the table, and she was holding out her hands fussing a little bit and not eating her food. We couldn't figure out what the problem was until we thought for a second--she wanted to hold our hands and pray! She squints her eyes and watch us, and then claps after we say "amen". She often wants to pray multiple times when we are all three sitting down together. So cute.
She loves playing with older kids, especially 2 and 3 year olds. She is interacting more but usually just follows their lead with whatever they are playing. With younger babies, she is very gentle and sweet. She'll bring them toys and gets very concerned when they cry.
I still get these weekly Baby Center updates that I started when I was pregnant with Madison to get status updates on the growing baby in my belly. Bryce and I laughed at how true this week's update was about our almost 18 month old, "Fasten your seat belt! Your toddler's probably on an emotional roller-coaster now: One minute she's as happy as ever, and the next she's a mess. It may be a year or two before she outgrows temper tantrums. Until then, expect to deal with regular outbursts of anger and frustration. While it's difficult to predict what's going to spark a tantrum, you can cut down on their frequency by making sure your child gets enough sleep and eats well during the day. Remember, a hungry, sleep-deprived toddler is a meltdown waiting to happen."
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| Show me your teeth! (since she doesn't respond when I say "smile!") |
She's been playing with dolls (and stuffed animals) a lot over the past couple months. She gives them a bottle, tries to put doll diapers on them, shares her goldfish crackers with them, puts a blanket on them and says "nigh nigh". I couldn't help but get her a baby doll stroller and baby doll toy car seat about a month ago.
She loves books. Multiple times a day, she sits down by herself with a pile of books somewhere, and starts "reading" to herself and pointing to pictures. When she wakes up on the wrong side of the bed or she needs a moment to calm down, one of my first reactions is "do you want to read a book? how about the monkey book? or the hokie bird book? or..."
Here are a couple pics from her first time really experiencing "noh" back in February. She was pretty hesitant and didn't roll around in it. She just walked around and tried to help clean off the driveway and side walks.
Sleep
She sleeps great. She still goes to bed between 6:30 and 8pm (usually right at 7pm if it's a normal day and we are at home). It is unusual for her to wake up during the night, but to say it never happens is a lie. Who knows the reason, but we often have a few reasons that we're always guessing: teething? growth spurt? nightmare? new place? I have been told that randomly waking up will go on for years for a number of reasons like nightmares or being scared, sickness, thirst, bathroom, lonely, etc. It can be very frustrating, especially being pregnant when getting sleep is already difficult, but I am thankful that we can comfort her when she needs us.
She takes one nap a day right after she eats lunch which is usually between 11:30am and 12:30pm. She sleeps anywhere between 25 minutes and 2 hours. Anything longer than 45 minutes is considered a huge blessing in this house because of how rare it is :-) No matter how long she decides to sleep, I leave her in her crib for an hour. If she is awake for some of that, she is either talking, yelling "no no no", or crying.
She goes down like a "big kid" now. We still have a routine--5-8 books while she drinks her bottle, a few songs, then we brush her teeth, and go back to her room. Then lights off, in the crib, wide awake with her blankie in hand. She doesn't cry at all now unless there's a kink in the routine like nights when we have homegroup at our house (every 2 weeks) and there are other kids awake downstairs. She also still sleeps with a sound machine. I still love putting her to bed. It's the sweetest time of day because we just slow down and spend a few special moments together.
She takes one nap a day right after she eats lunch which is usually between 11:30am and 12:30pm. She sleeps anywhere between 25 minutes and 2 hours. Anything longer than 45 minutes is considered a huge blessing in this house because of how rare it is :-) No matter how long she decides to sleep, I leave her in her crib for an hour. If she is awake for some of that, she is either talking, yelling "no no no", or crying.
She goes down like a "big kid" now. We still have a routine--5-8 books while she drinks her bottle, a few songs, then we brush her teeth, and go back to her room. Then lights off, in the crib, wide awake with her blankie in hand. She doesn't cry at all now unless there's a kink in the routine like nights when we have homegroup at our house (every 2 weeks) and there are other kids awake downstairs. She also still sleeps with a sound machine. I still love putting her to bed. It's the sweetest time of day because we just slow down and spend a few special moments together.
Eat
She eats pretty much anything we eat, but isn't always a fan of it. We've had a harder time lately getting her to eat meat.
For breakfast, she usually eats oatmeal, cocoa wheats, or cereal like cheerios. Occasionally she'll eat a piece of toast with peanut butter and banana, a biscuit if we have leftovers, or some of a waffle. We like to make waffles on the weekend and freeze all that we don't eat so we have our own "eggo" waffles to pop in the toaster throughout the week.
For lunch and dinner-- A few different meal staples for her: ham and cheese quesadilla, peanut butter and jelly, english muffin pizza, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, and each of these with either a fruit, vegetable, or both. Fruits and veggies that we like to give her and usually have on hand: pear slices, apple slices, blueberries or strawberries, apple sauce, steamed peas, corn, broccoli, or carrots. We try to give her what we eat, but it doesn't always happen and she eats earlier than we do (dinner around 5pm and bedtime around 7pm).
YES, we are still giving her a bottle. She drinks a bottle right when she wakes up in the morning, a couple ounces before nap, and a few before bedtime. Some people probably are thinking "What?!?! But she is 18 months old! She's not a baby! But her teeth! What did your pediatrician say?!" Well, her pediatrician didn't think it was a big deal at 12 months. She said it's not a big deal as long as she is completely done with the bottle by 2 years old. Bryce and I are not stressed about it or trying to force her out of it at the moment. We have a lot of big life changes in the next 3-4 months. I don't think we need to be stressed about her drinking a bottle at 1 1/2 years old. Some kids are nursing until 2 or 3 years old. Some kids have a pacifier in the mouth constantly until 2 or 3 years old. Some kids suck their thumb or carry a blankie around with them until even 4 or 5 years old. She doesn't have any of these "comforts" that she's dependent on, just the bottle mainly before nap and bedtime. We don't see it as a big deal or worth stressing about. She won't be drinking her bottle when she's 2 1/2 or 3 years old. We also brush her teeth 2x a day and give her a multi vitamin with fluoride. Lately, we've been focusing on not stressing about the little things and not putting others expectations on Madison since every child is so different with their own little needs. But for the record, we are definitely going to try and have her fully off the bottle by 2 years old.
For breakfast, she usually eats oatmeal, cocoa wheats, or cereal like cheerios. Occasionally she'll eat a piece of toast with peanut butter and banana, a biscuit if we have leftovers, or some of a waffle. We like to make waffles on the weekend and freeze all that we don't eat so we have our own "eggo" waffles to pop in the toaster throughout the week.
For lunch and dinner-- A few different meal staples for her: ham and cheese quesadilla, peanut butter and jelly, english muffin pizza, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, and each of these with either a fruit, vegetable, or both. Fruits and veggies that we like to give her and usually have on hand: pear slices, apple slices, blueberries or strawberries, apple sauce, steamed peas, corn, broccoli, or carrots. We try to give her what we eat, but it doesn't always happen and she eats earlier than we do (dinner around 5pm and bedtime around 7pm).
YES, we are still giving her a bottle. She drinks a bottle right when she wakes up in the morning, a couple ounces before nap, and a few before bedtime. Some people probably are thinking "What?!?! But she is 18 months old! She's not a baby! But her teeth! What did your pediatrician say?!" Well, her pediatrician didn't think it was a big deal at 12 months. She said it's not a big deal as long as she is completely done with the bottle by 2 years old. Bryce and I are not stressed about it or trying to force her out of it at the moment. We have a lot of big life changes in the next 3-4 months. I don't think we need to be stressed about her drinking a bottle at 1 1/2 years old. Some kids are nursing until 2 or 3 years old. Some kids have a pacifier in the mouth constantly until 2 or 3 years old. Some kids suck their thumb or carry a blankie around with them until even 4 or 5 years old. She doesn't have any of these "comforts" that she's dependent on, just the bottle mainly before nap and bedtime. We don't see it as a big deal or worth stressing about. She won't be drinking her bottle when she's 2 1/2 or 3 years old. We also brush her teeth 2x a day and give her a multi vitamin with fluoride. Lately, we've been focusing on not stressing about the little things and not putting others expectations on Madison since every child is so different with their own little needs. But for the record, we are definitely going to try and have her fully off the bottle by 2 years old.
Growth:
Birth - 6 lbs, 3 oz , 20 inches
1 month - 8 lbs, 21.5 inches
2 months - 8 lbs, 14 oz , 23 inches
4 months - 12 lbs, 4 oz, 24 inches
6 months - 15 lbs, 12 oz, 25.75 inches
9 months - 18 lbs, 5 oz, 27.5 inches
12 months - 20 lbs, 8 oz, 30 inches
18 months - 23 lbs, 10.5 oz, 32.5 inches
Awesome post! She is so cute and so fun and so sweet. Cannot wait to see her as a big sister, either. You are one awesome mommy to her (and to future little guy!).
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ReplyDeleteshe's so beautiful. i'm excited for you guys and the blessings on the way!
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