Okay, here is Mama's "broken record moment"... where does the time go?! How is it possible that another month has passed and 18 months is just around the corner?? Wow. This month I have really noticed how much you have learned...it's so awesome to watch. Your motor skills, your language, even your sense of humor are developing more and more. Here's more information about this month:
Eating and Sleeping:
Everything is pretty much the same in this "category." Your appetite varies by the day (as Dr. Khan told us to expect), but overall you continue to be a pretty good eater. We try to be
We're still working on eating from a plate with the proper utensils. I suppose it'll just be a matter of practice, practice, practice.
One of my favorite developments this last month is that you learned how to pray! Daddy and I always pray before meals, and liked showing you how to fold your hands and invite you into the tradition. One night this past week I was giving you dinner and realized we had forgotten to pray. I exclaimed, "Linnea, we forgot to pray!" and you immediately folded your hands!! I couldn't believe it! Now we can say "Time to pray" or "Fold your hands" and you know just what to do! You'll even say "Amen." So cute.
Meal time signs continue to be very helpful. In addition to more, you've perfected all done, and milk as well. It's really helpful for you to be able to tell us exactly what you want instead of grunting or shrieking
Sleep continues to go very well. The only time you really stray from sleeping happily through the night is when you are working on some teeth. Even in those cases a little tylenol, some snuggles, and a sip or two of milk do the trick. You are doing great with just one nap, and we love the extra time to do stuff with you on the weekends!
Likes and Dislikes:
Likes:
- Luther. Oh man, do you love your Luther boy. You love to say hi to him, pet him, climb on him, feed him. He's becoming a bit more tolerant of you (the "feeding him" part helps). I stand by my prediction that you will be best buds when you get a bit bigger.
- Climbing...stairs...furniture...anything. You've started to challenge yourself by climbing the stairs like a "big girl" (standing up holding onto Mama or Daddy or the wall as opposed to crawling up)
- Finding little perches to sit on. Some recent favorites are the little step stool Mama made in junior high and Mama's guitar case.
- Dancing!! And spinning.
- Balls
- Water
- Books
- Keeping hair clips in your hair...you did well at first but then got wise...a work in progress I guess.
- Pretty much the same things as last month...anything that involves stopping, getting things taken away, or not having things go your way...ha ha ha.
Still not sure where you are weight/height wise. Mama still needs to schedule your 15 month appointment! I'm guessing you are around 23-25 pounds, and maybe 32" or 33" tall. You are mostly wearing 18 month clothes, but partially because those are the ones that we have that are appropriate for the weather. You still have plenty of 12 month clothes that fit, and some 9 month clothes that I still use for you! You are still in size 3 diapers (although as I said last month we use size 4 overnight). You got a tooth on your bottom right hand side right as you turned 14 months. I know you are working on a few more, but they are being stubborn. Grrrrr....
Talking:
Man, I thought last month was a language explosion! That is definitely continuing this month, even more so. I addition to the words from last month you can correctly say/use in context: up, cheese, uh oh, please (when used in "up please"), Luther, toes (you like pointing out people's toes), toast, ta da (this is so cute!). You also consistently sign more, all done, please, and just recently milk. I think we will work on help and thank you next.
You love saying ta da when you do something "special" - like dump toys out of a bucket...ha ha.
We love hearing you learn how to express yourself more and more.
Other Happenings:
- The last weekend in October, we spent our first night away from you! We left you in the care of Grammy and Grampy while we took Auntie Gracia and Ty out to South Dakota for a caching weekend. We were gone most of the weekend. We missed you a lot...but we did okay. You did AWESOME for Grammy and Grampy. You ate well, slept through the night, and according to Grammy didn't even fuss at all. We are so thankful it went well!
- We celebrated your second Halloween! Last year you were just a tiny baby in your Sweet Pea costume. This year you are a rambunctious, active owl! You got to have a couple parties - one for Faith Group, one at daycare, and then one at home with our friends the Winters and the Olsons. We didn't actually take you out trick or treating, but we still had a great time. You were so cute in your owl costume!
- You and I (Mama) took a trip to the Children's Museum! We went with Auntie Jackie and Gavin. We had a great time. You got to play with water, pet therapy dogs, play with balls, crawl and walk all over the place - you were in heaven! Daddy and I hope to get a membership one of these days so we can take you more often.
- In not so fun news, you had your first bout with the stomach flu this month. You got very sick on the way home from daycare one afternoon (you gave your Daddy quite a scare). When it was all said and done you threw up about 7-8 times in the span of 3 1/2 hours. It was awful. You got to the point where you had nothing left to throw up. We hated seeing you like that. After a day or so of rest and a few diarrhea diapers, you were back to your normal self. We hope this is not something we have to repeat anytime soon!
- We've gone a few more times to storytime at our library. We've had a great time, and often run into friends from Amma there - 2 weeks in a row! We love that the library is so close, and you seem to enjoy our time there.
Mama and Daddy
