Monday, February 18, 2013

16-17 Months Old!

**Most of this was written a few weeks ago at 16 months**

I normally try to share updates every month in the second year but had so much going on during the Fall and Christmas holiday season that the first post after Lacey's 1st  birthday was at 15 months (Dec). She is now 16 months and it's like someone hit an "on" switch and all of a sudden she's gone toddler, full steam ahead! As of about 2 weeks ago Lacey began talking up a storm. She had words here and there before, but now has so many words that we often hear a new one almost every other day or so, and even 2 words together. Some of them include: Mommy/Mama, Daddy/Dada, mo (more), nigh-nigh, go, shoes, no (and she uses this one correctly), Ky-Co (for Uncle Kyle), but there are many more. She's at that stage where everything is "dis" for "this" as she points to what she wants. We're working on please and thank you, though she's very close. She also likes to make her version of dog barking noises, growls while holding Luke's dinosaurs, and moos like a cow. **UPDATE: at 17 months she has more words than I can count and uses 2 word sentences.

Lacey's understanding of our words amazes me. She follows directions and knows what we are saying to her. This morning my mom was here helping Luke get ready for Parents Day Out (he has been going on Fridays to play with friends at his "old" school). My mom asked Luke to find his blankies so she could put them in his backpack for nap time. Lacey got up, found his blankies, brought them to his backpack and started trying to stuff them in. 16 months old, folks!

Her personality is so cute. She's opinionated and demanding, but loves to smile and is so happy. I was reflecting back on how difficult it was to get any good pictures of Luke because he would almost never readily smile for the camera. But Lacey does all the time. In fact, if you get the camera out, she poses with a smile! Luke loves attention, but perhaps Lacey will be our little performer.

The Little Miss is also quite conniving and mischievious. She enjoys throwing food off the sides of her highchair tray and just smile at me to see how I will respond. I typically give her a firm "no" while looking her in the eyes and/or give her a light hand slap. She giggles at both responses. They don't phase her. The girl also loves to run away from me and when I call her name to get her to come back, she laughs and keeps going. Stinker.

Lacey still loves books and will bring book after book for me to read to her. Singing is another favorite, especially if it involves hand motions. For obvious reasons, then, she remains obsessed with Barney. Luke has gotten into The Backyardigans, a cartoon where the characters sing and dance in each episode. As soon as she hears the theme music start, she toddles over to her little chair and plops down. She won't it through the whole show, but enjoys the music at the beginning and end.

I am so thankful to already have so many "older" toys with which she can engage. Around Christmas time she really started playing some on her own and has developed a love for the little kitchen we got Luke for his first Christmas here in TN. If I ever need a break, I'll ask her to go cook something for me in her kitchen and receive a 3 minute break. But that's it, 3 minutes. :)

I can hardly believe she's only been officially walking for such a short time and yet is so accomplished. It's probably because she really could walk long before that, but just refused to do so without holding onto or pushing something. She hasn't started the toddler run yet, but is so close. She has her own version of something in between as she attempts to chase after or keep up with her brother!

Finally, now that we're down to one nap a day, the girl has a regular sleep pattern. She eats lunch and then goes down for anywhere from 1.5 - 3 hours, though a typical nap is a solid 2 hours. Bedtime is between 6:30 - 7 pm and she sleeps until anywhere from 6 - 7:30 am the next morning. (That is unless she's teething, sick, or a combination of the two which has been our story much of the fall/winter). If it's possible, the girl is even more attached to her paci and blankie now that she was before, which is fine for now. They both help bring her comfort when she does stir at night.

The girl finally has her first molar on the bottom left and others are coming soon. She now has a total of  8 teeth: 4 on top and 4 on bottom, 1 of which is the bottom molar. With all these teeth she eats almost everything these days. By that I mean there are very few things I don't offer her due to lack of teeth, except things like hard, raw veggies and really chewy things like bacon. Her favorites remain broccoli, bananas, sweet potatoes with cinnamon, scrambled eggs, chicken pesto meatballs, freeze dried strawberries and ALL THINGS SWEET!  Man, this girl tasted a cookie and it was all lost from there. She loves cookies, chocolate, cake, anything sweet she can get her hands on! And I have to admit, I've lost some of my nutritional rigidity with child #2. I still incorporate veggie purees in foods when I can, but this girl gets a few more sweets than Luke did at this age. Similar to Luke, though, Lacey does not want to drink milk outside of the bottles she receives at nap/bedtime. I still give it to her in a sippy at breakfast when I know she's hungry and she'll drink a few sips, but that's it. I may end up with 2 kids in need of calcium supplements...

I know this is a super long post and outside of my typical bullet-point style, but seriously, so much has changed within the last month or so I feel the need to document it all for myself. My baby girl is on her way little girl...sniff, sniff.

Weighs 23 lbs, 1 oz. Wears size 12-18 months and 18 month clothes, size 4 diaper, size 5 shoe.

On to some pictures...


She's been eating pretty well with a spoon and is starting to prefer it over her hands. In fact, if she is having trouble eating, I throw whatever it is into a little bowl with a spoon and, voila, she eats.




A girl and her paci.


If I leave her diaper bag within her reach, she never fails to tear into it and toss everything out., happy to find snacks or toys as she does.




Oh...this stage....I remember when Luke was in the terrorize-everything stage. I don't usually let her in the cabinets under my bathroom sink because there is way too much to make mess of. Note the child latch. On this day, however, I was desperate to get out the door, so I acquiesced. And she went to town. Sigh...  As a side note, this is a great pic to see just how tight her little curls can get on the back of her head. 
 


I was cleaning out the pantry and these 2 decided to make a hide out...




This girl LOVES her brother! 

"I'm giving you hugs even if you don't want them!"


 Story time with Daddy.


Lacey loves to play in the little kitchen. 
She puts things in the microwave, cooks on the stove, then brings them to me. 



 "Look, Mama! I'm showing Daddy my book!"



I love this picture. Lacey is such a happy little girl.
And I can almost get a glimpse of what she'll look as an older child in this picture.



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