January 7, 2014
You’re getting very good with your words and communication. Here’s a list of the best ones: milk, snack, cheese, apple, no, a-choo, bow-wow, hi, bye-bye, please, all done, thank you, night-night (which you call your monkey), mama, dada, della, bed, bib, book (which sounds like bip), grape, sock, yuck, hat, hot, cup, knock-knock, bubbles, choo-choo, ho ho ho (for santa), eat, more, up, down. I’m sure I’m forgetting some, and not all of them sound exactly like they should, but they’re good enough for us to get the idea. You still do great signing for milk, drink, more, please, eat, and all done. I was pretty proud of myself for teaching you to sign the word drink last week.
You’re growing so quickly, too! You are basically fully out of 12 month size clothes now. I put an outfit on you last week that I swear you had just worn the week prior, and it was way too small! Crazy. Must be all that cheese you beg for and eat constantly. Or perhaps your middle-of-the-night bottles you’ve been crying for lately. Not sure why that is happening, and it isn’t every night, but some more milk seems to calm you enough to be able to put you back in your crib to fall back asleep. I’m hoping it’s just related to this growth spurt and goes away on its own soon.
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January 13, 2014
Tonight in your high chair I was putting your bib on you, you pointed to your nose, and said, “nose”. What?? Your mastery of words is getting better and more surprising every day.
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January 22, 2014
I’m sorry I’m a day late, but happy 15 month birthday, baby girl! We have your well check tonight at the doctor, so I’ll have your full 15 month stats after that. Your latest obsession? The new toothbrush I got you the other day. You kept biting my finger with the baby gum/tooth rubber finger cap I started you out with, so I got a tiny regular one. You loved it the first night, letting me brush away splendidly. But now you refuse to let me do it and insist on grabbing the thing yourself. Then you fall into hysterics when I take it away. Geez. Dramatic.
You’ve also started saying “bye-bye” in the cutest way possible. You say “buy-BYE”, with intense accent on the second syllable. And you’re usually carrying something with you as you say it, like you’re going on a little trip. You, my dear, are the trip.
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January 23, 2014
You HATED your doctor appointment last night. You screamed as soon as I simply sat you on the table when the nurse came in, when no one was even touching you. You were surprisingly calm when the doctor came in, though. You must like her best. You had to get 2 shots, which weren’t really any big deal since you’ve had plenty of those before. But then you had to get a blood draw so they can test your lead levels and check for anemia. Oh lord, was that awful. As soon as they put the little needle in your arm you started crying out, “All done! All done! All done!” I felt so terrible. Fortunately it didn’t take too long, and then we were out of there. You were sore last night because you kept crying out in your sleep, when you were rolling over I presume. I gave you some infant’s pain reliever a little while after bed last night and again before bed tonight, and I think it’s helping. You were really lethargic today, but you didn’t take a very good nap. Hopefully tonight is better.
Here are your official 15 month stats:
- Height: 31.75″ (85%)
- Weight: 22 lbs. 2 oz. (63%)
- Head: 46.2 cm (65%)
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January 29, 2014
The past 2 days now you have wanted to sit on the toilet and go poop. Yesterday it was right before your bath and tonight it was just randomly before you got your pj’s on. I spied you in the little hallway between the dining and living rooms straining and farting, and I asked if you were pooping, to which you replied, “Pip.” That’s how your “poop” sounds. So I asked if you wanted to go poop on the toilet, and you got all excited and ran into the bathroom. That has to be the tiniest pair of buns our toilet seat has ever held. You didn’t end up having any poop in your diaper and nothing came out on the toilet, but when I put your nighttime diaper on there was the teeniest little turd hanging out back there, so you were obviously trying. If you potty train early I will be ecstatic!
And I keep failing to note this, even though it’s been a while, but you have permanently dropped a morning nap. That occurred around 14 months.
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February 2, 2014
You have now been able to climb up on the futon by yourself for a week or two, and you absolutely love it. You adore sitting up there with Della snuggled under blankets, watching PBS, sucking your thumb with monkey (a.k.a. Nigh-Night). This morning you two were all cuddled up under blankets in the rocking chair, just like Marissa and I did when we were little girls. In the exact same chair at the exact same ages. I am having so much fun watching you two grow together.
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February 10, 2014
I hope I’m not jinxing us by putting this out into the universe, but we are on night 3 of you going to bed after drinking your milk from your sippy cup instead of a bottle without even a peep. That means this house just may be bottle-free. YAHOO!!! I am so ready to be done washing bottles, so this little advancement of yours makes Mama very happy. You never really got the hang of holding your bottle by yourself for extended periods of time, so I don’t miss having to hold it for you each night either. The first night you cried out a lot during the night (no issues at bedtime, though), but I think that was more of your current cold coming on than missing a bottle. You’ve been drinking milk from your cup in the mornings for a while now, so I’m very glad the transition to cup at night has been smooth, too. (knock on everything!) It was very hard for Della to give up her bottles all together, so I was anticipating a struggle with you as well. So far, not at all, though. Thank you! Let’s keep it up.
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February 14, 2014
Happy Valentine’s Day! Your new favorite thing is climbing up on the couch with your green monkey Nigh-Night and snuggling in under a blanket to read your little books and watch tv. You are such a goofball. But so stinkin’ cute!
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February 20, 2014
I should have known something was up when you started walking around with a full-blown scowl and frown on your face after your nap today. I have never seen you make this face before, but it was an actual frown – looking up at me from under a furrowed brow and everything. You honestly looked like a little monster. And you certainly started acting like one, too. Around 6:00 this evening every little thing made you cry and scream. So I bathed you, gave you a drink of milk, and put you to bed at 6:30. Incredibly early, but you were even asking for nigh-night and haven’t made a peep since. Growth spurt? I did realize your toothbrush is hurting your teeth, though, because you happily let me brush your teeth with my finger after shouting in my face again when I tried the toothbrush. Are there teeth in there too? Who knows.
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February 21, 2014
Happy 16 month birthday!
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February 25, 2014
Today you climbed up on Della’s bed with her, and you’ve been climbing from the little bumblebee chair over the arms of the couch when we don’t catch you and stop it. Great. You also said “turtle” and “bird” tonight when Daddy was reading you your Hello magazine. That one really is great.
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March 9, 2014
You’ve started grinding your teeth lately. Eesh. 2 year molars starting to come in back there maybe?
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March 12, 2014
You’re pretty proficient at using silverware now and must have a spoon at every meal. You call both forks and spoons “spoon”. I’d say you’ve been pretty good for the past month or so, so around 16 months is when I’ll say you started using utensils.
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March 14, 2014
You had your first real barfing spell last night, lucky us. I peeked in on you guys when I went to bed at 11 as I usually do, and you started rustling around and crying a little. I backed out of your room before you fully saw me and waited in the hall to make sure you settled back down. You didn’t, so I finally went in to rock you back to sleep. Unfortunately I found a puddle of puke in your bed, which had also smeared all over your head and pj sleeve. Fortunately I was able to get you cleaned up, changed, and your bed changed without waking Della or Daddy up much, so that was a success. I did have to bring in the replacement Nigh-Night, though, because the regular one got a little barf on him, and you didn’t much like that. His tail wasn’t nearly stinky enough, and you kept pushing him away as I rocked you before putting you back down. You barfed once more during all this, and thankfully we were in the bathroom and I was able to aim everything over the sink, since you were already cleaned off. You slept the rest of the night fine, though, but you did puke up some water that you drank this morning. I was afraid of that so didn’t give you milk, and I’m very glad I made that decision correctly. But you were crying for food and drink because you were so hungry, so I tried a couple dry Cheerios. Those stayed down, so then we had more water and oatmeal, and now you’re eating lunch just fine. I felt so bad because you kept giving the sweetest, most adorable, cherubic little smiles as I was cleaning you off last night, like nothing was wrong. You did have one giant poop this morning after the water barf, so I hope that means whatever this was is done coming out your mouth. You’re about to go down for what will hopefully be a nice long nap.
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March 26, 2014
I apologize yet again for being late on this, but happy 17 month birthday, little bean! I can’t believe we’re almost to a year and a half. Unfortunately you have a terrible cold, haven’t slept in 3 nights, and we’re flying out to Tucson tomorrow. I really hope some of the cold medicine I got for you yesterday kicks in soon!!
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April 2, 2014
Well your flight out to Tucson was an absolute nightmare, but the one home was much better. I guess this cold really did affect you terribly. I’m just so thankful you weren’t a disaster again on the way home, or else I would seriously have wanted to get tranquilizers for you for the planes to Hawaii in a couple weeks. You got lucky.
We switched you out of your infant car seat today, too. So you made it almost 18 months in there; I can’t remember when we switched Della up. You were far too heavy to carry in the baby one, and have been for a while now, but I had to make sure Della was big enough for the booster before you got the convertible one. I tested you both out in the new seats this afternoon after naps, and it was smiles all around. Little pink elephant “baby” is still in there with you, but the dangling baby rings, frog rattle, and teether are now gone.
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April 15, 2014
You are currently scooting all the Cheerios on your high chair tray close to you so you can bend over and suck them up with your mouth. You are such a little weirdo.
Bonus entry: When trying to put you to bed for the first time tonight, you started playing peek-a-boo in my lap while rocking instead of quieting down. Nice try, kid.
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May 13, 2014
Sorry I haven’t been on here to update your page in so long, kiddo. You were a million times better on the planes to/from Hawaii than to Arizona, so we were elated about that. You also celebrated your big 18 month birthday over there, too. You’re getting faster and using a bigger vocabulary every day.
Unfortunately, at your 18 month checkup, we learned you have a heart murmur. We had to go to a pediatric cardiologist to have it checked out, where he did a full ultrasound, and, amazingly, you sat still and let him for a good, solid 15-20 minutes. Thankfully there are no holes or openings in your heart walls at all, so it really is just a functioning murmur, a.k.a. an extra sound in there. He said because you’re growing so aggressively at this age and you are skinny enough that your chest cavity is thin, they can just hear the blood rushing around in there so much louder than normal. It’s called a Still’s murmur, and you are just fine. In fact, he said your heart is perfect, and this should go away on its own at the longest by about age 5. Hooray! But now you and Della have a wicked cough. They started last night at bedtime – you both coughed so hard you threw up multiple times, and you didn’t sleep at all during the night. I was on the futon with you and kept having to play Sesame Street over and over through the wee hours of the morning because you refused to sleep. At one point you were screaming so hard and flapping your arms, and you wouldn’t let us touch you and couldn’t even say anything. We almost took you to the ER, because there was obviously something very wrong in there. But Sesame Street calmed you and actually made you happy again, so I just gave up my sleep last night. You’re both going to the doctor this afternoon, so hopefully they can shed some light on what is making you guys miserable.
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May 31, 2014
I don’t know what’s going on with your sleep now, but you rarely sleep through the night without waking anymore. It doesn’t take much to get you back down – drink of water, rock for a minute – but still. I’d rather get some uninterrupted nights again.
But your vocabulary is getting so big. You can now name everyone in our family, including yourself. You also say your own little versions of phone, mustache, Frozen, and Anna. Because of course, it’s your guys’ favorite movie and you’ve watched it a million times.
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June 1, 2014
For as aggravating as you can be with your complete lack of listening skills, sometimes simply listening to you provides more enjoyment than anything else. A perfect example is when you pretend to talk on the phone. You use either a play phone, a little computer, or pretty much any other toy you can grab. The conversations go like this: “Hi. Hi. Yeah. Yeah. Ummmm. Oh. Bye-bye.” You are seriously a trip. I have no idea where you came from sometimes, but I’m so glad you’re ours.
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June 4, 2014
I think you love the movie Frozen as much as Della does now. When the song “Let It Go” comes on you sing along too, saying, “Go, go, anyway.” I love watching you guys.
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June 23, 2014
Today we used your last size 4 diaper, so you are officially now in size 5s. We have 1 more pack of size 5 nighttime diapers, then it’s on to size 6 in those. Getting so big!
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June 27, 2014
Last night we played over at our neighbors’ house for a couple hours, and you were so cute. You guys all started off playing with water balloons, and I filled up a tiny green one for you. You carried that thing around like it was your little baby for at least an hour and a half without breaking it. I was amazed. You are a very nurturing little one – you like to carry your babies and Nigh-Night around on your shoulder, shhh-ing them as if they’re crying. It’s so entertaining just watching you sometimes.
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July 7, 2014
Last week, on Thursday, July 3, to be exact, you fell out of your crib. Holy shit. Thankfully you weren’t hurt, and I’m still trying to figure out your exact mode of escape. I think you scared that out of your repertoire for a while, but please, let’s not make that a habit. I’m sure you won’t be contained for too long after this, but I know there’s no way we’ll be able to keep you in a regular bed just yet.
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July 13, 2014
Tonight as I had you on the changing dresser getting your nighttime diaper on, you started grabbing my face and giving me the biggest “mmmmmwah” kisses ever. It was so cute! You are such a ham. Kind of makes up for the little terrors you and your sister were this weekend. There was a super full moon on Friday night, though, so that has to be the explanation. Daddy and I were both pretty exasperated with you two by the end of today. So thank you for those kisses, my sweet baby girl.
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July 18, 2014
You started doing this face yesterday, where you stick out your tongue in an exaggerated fashion and say, “blllleh.” I know you saw Della doing it, and that’s where it came from, but everything you do is so much more animated. I seriously gave birth to a human cartoon with you, little one.
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July 21, 2014
Happy 19 month birthday, you adorable little monkey!
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July 31, 2014
Today on our run you started crying about 1.5-2 miles from home, and I told you you needed to be quiet or else the police car we just passed was going to take you to jail. Of course that did nothing to calm your crying, as you had no idea what I was saying. But Della knew exactly what I meant, and kept telling you to be quiet the whole way home so you didn’t go to jail. I’m such a nice mom.
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August 3, 2014
You started crossing your fingers tonight, and it was instantly your new favorite trick. You kept saying “cross, cross” and carrying around those tiny crossed fingers. So incredibly cute.
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August 26, 2014
We left Canada last week on your 22-month birthday, and I can’t believe you’ll be 2 in less than 2 months now! Your vocabulary skills improve daily, and you definitely communicate and speak better than Della did at this age. Granted she was still in daycare at this point in her life, but she still never talked as much or as well as you do now. Within the past couple weeks you’ve begun stringing words together to make phrases, and they’re completely accurate and understandable. No full sentences yet, but your verbal abilities impress me more and more every day. You are certainly one smart little cookie monster!
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August 28, 2014
This morning was the weirdest. You woke up right as Daddy’s alarm went off, so he got you out of your crib and brought you into our room to lie in bed with me for a few minutes. As soon as he got to the foot of our bed, you threw up on him and our sheets. Yum. It was very watery, almost completely clear. You had awoken half an hour before that crying for water because your cup was empty, so maybe you just drank too much too early? The rest of today was totally fine – no more puking, no fever, no illness whatsoever.
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September 4, 2014
You miss your big sister when she’s at school. Recently you started saying, “No, wait, school,” when we’d talk about Della’s new school, meaning you didn’t want her to go. The past 2 mornings you cried when she and I left and you stayed home with Grandma, then today you started crying again when she went to stand in the line outside her school door by herself. You love her so much, and it shows. But have no fear, you and I can conquer these mornings alone. You were so excited to see her when we picked her up today, and she was equally excited to see you.
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September 21, 2014
One month from today is your second birthday. Wow! Last night was our annual block party, and I commented how last year it fell on the day after you took your first real steps. This year was so much more fun for you, running around in a princess dress with all the other kids!
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September 23, 2014
You are such a little stinker. I put you girls to bed together tonight, because you both needed to go to bed early, Della had 2 very uncharacteristic meltdowns today (that’s much more your forte), and it had just been a long day, and of course you’re in there right now singing Happy Birthday instead of quietly going to sleep like your sister. However, it is the first time you’ve actually said “birthday” correctly in the song instead of singing it “happy to you.” So good job! Now please go to sleep. I love you.
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September 27, 2014
I’m sitting in the dining room, and you just came twinkling in here on your tip toes saying, “Cheerios. Cheerios.” You and Della are both dressed in your Bucky garb for the game today, and you both have matching pigtails in. I am completely overwhelmed by the adorableness of you two!
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September 29, 2014
You picked up a new favorite word today, and much to my chagrin, that word is “Why?” Ugh.
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October 15, 2014
Your newest word is “helicopter,” and it is hysterical watching you say it. I’m not sure why, but your tongue jumps out of your mouth on the last couple syllables. Adorable! Your vocabulary is expanding by the minute, and it’s quite impressive for a not-yet-2-year-old.
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October 21, 2014
Happy 2nd birthday, my sweet baby girl! I guess you’re not so much a baby now, though, are you? No matter. You’ll always be my sweet baby girl.
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November 14, 2014
You got a Strawberry Shortcake playset for your birthday, and it instantly became the best toy you’ve ever gotten. You play with it constantly, and the fine motor skills you exhibit by manipulating its teeny, tiny pieces are pretty incredible.
Here are the stats from your 2 year checkup, which was back on October 22:
- Height: 35.75″ (93%)
- Weight: 27.6 lbs. (61%)
- Head: 48.7 cm (69%)