Sweet 16

Month 16 flew by faster than any other month, mostly because my mom was here for two weeks and we went on our mini-trips. A few things changed (she decided she likes eggs now), but honestly, G seems pretty much the same. I guess that's because no major milestone was reached--like talking for real. On a fun note, I've recently started calling her Buttercup, or Butters for short. It's kind of silly...I really do not like South Park, but I know there is a little kid on there called Butters; who my husband says G kind-of resembles, with her bleach blonde hair.

Physically:

She seems to weigh more now, which is clearly a good thing. I estimate her at 22.5 pounds.
G now has four teeth on the top, four teeth on the bottom and as of last Friday (when she 'turned' 16 months), she had 3 molars. However, her last molar cut through on Monday of this week...so she now has 4 molars.

hot and sweaty outside

Her hair is growing so long, it seems, but in reality, it is still pretty short and fine. She can wear a pony tail, pig tails, and needs a clip to keep her front hair out of her eyes. I suppose you think I should get it cut, but I don't want her to have bangs, so getting that hair cut would only defeat my goal of letting it grow out! I just have to train it to fall to the side, instead of down in front like a boy's hair cut.

She's starting to run a little bit and is slowly getting braver with climbing. She tries to 'jump' sometimes, never really leaving the ground, she'll just bend down and then spring up. She loves walking--in fact we go for a walk around the block sans stroller almost every day. I recently bought her new shoes because she out grew the first pair she ever wore. She's now in a Stride Rite size 4.5W. Kids shoes are so hard to fit, at least on G. Her size is different for every brand, but I really like the way Stride Rite fits her and I like the sensory technology. Yes, I pay for 'fancy' shoes...but she does a lot of walking and I plan to only buy her one pair of shoes per size until she gets closer to 3. Her dad has horrible feet, and I hope that getting her good shoes will give her an edge on combating those genetics.

We've been brushing her teeth for a while, but recently she's been letting me do a 'better' job of it--so that's good. I really want her to have good oral hygiene & can't wait until she's old enough to understand the true benefit of brushing her teeth. She also decided she wants me to do bath time, instead of Daddy. That's a bummer for us both, because it was their 'special' time and it was my 'alone' time. Maybe she'll change her mind again, soon! I guess I just make it more fun ;-)

silly girl!

G's learned some new 'games' and songs from library story time. She does them better at home than at the library. She gets distracted or overwhelmed with fascination of other things there. We do 'Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck' and she loves the 'ding ding ding' part. She likes doing 'Open Shut Them,' where you open and close your hands into fists and then clap. She surprised me one day by doing the motions along with me--out of no where! But she's recently lost a bit of interest in that one, in favor of 'The Wheels on the Bus.' In general, she loves singing and trying out different body actions.

She still helps with 'chores,' but doesn't like helping clean up at nap and bed time very much anymore. I think she knows that sleep is coming and tries to resist in anyway possible. She still likes cleaning out the dishwasher and I can pretty much let her do the silverware (minus the knives) on her own--since she can reach the drawer. She 'helps' with laundry and 'helps' swiffer or sweep. She knows what to do with the dust pan and likes to throw things away. I'm also impressed that she knows that a towel is necessary when washing our hands--she'll even grab one for me if she notices I don't have one right by me. G also gets my glasses case and brings it to me, when she sees me putting in my contacts. I never showed her either one of these things, she just picked them up from watching me! She's a sweet and intuitive girl.

Emotionally and Socially:

G is pretty clingy to me, but is also social. It's interesting, but totally normal for her age. She loves waving and saying hi and bye to people (I usually have to tell her it's time to do whichever one, though). She likes watching other people do various things, and points out, while babbling, whatever she thinks they are doing. She's gone through a period of separation anxiety--especially when I left her at the gym. She has (knock on wood) recently gotten better about it and for 2 days in a row hasn't cried one bit when I dropped her off.

Something I think is a very good indicator of her social 'skills' is that she will hold my gym membership card or credit card and hand them over to the adult who needs them (check-in girl or checker at the store). She then patiently waits for them to hand it back and returns the card to me. Everyone gets a big kick out of it and comments how cute she is.

G is very well behaved out and about at the various stores + places we frequent. I often let her walk next to me, holding her hand, if we don't have a lot of shopping to do (re: don't need a cart). She's good at listening and acting on "no! or "stay by momma." Don't worry, I do always hold on to her tightly around cars, etc...

I've recently noticed that she has some sharing issues--again typical for this age of only (and stay at home) child. We work on sharing, with mixed results. She's pretty good at sharing with adults, and my dad thinks that's because adults will hand the item back to her relatively quickly. Kids, on the other hand, tend to keep the item longer than G would like. Things like the gym play center and library story time are my attempts to force her into sharing opportunities. I'm also trying to create some play date buddies.

Mentally:

G is super smart and understands nearly everything we say to her. After the first time of seeing something / learning it's name, she will remember and be able to point it out. She listens very well, and generally does what we tell her. There are, of course, times when she knows what we want her to do and she chooses to throw a fit because she doesn't want to do it--namely nap and bed time.
She has a stellar memory--almost too good. She's very quick to point out if something is out of place, doesn't belong, or is different. It's tough to distract her if she is 'on a mission,' and she doesn't take keenly to things being hidden from her. She is also a creature of habit, which at this age, is pretty good. It makes life a bit easier on us if she isn't crying from confusion all the time. She has a rough outline of how the day will go in her mind, and that helps her from getting overwhelmed with being such a little girl in a big world. I know that 'routine' means when we try to get a babysitter later this month, it will cause quite a stir.

Sleep and Food:

G goes to bed around 8:30 pm and wakes around 8 am each morning. In general, she sleeps through the night. When she is cutting a tooth, though, she whines several times throughout the night (sometimes crying hard enough we have to go calm her down). She recently went through a period of crying or whining for a long time before falling asleep, but I hope it was related to teething, as she has settled back into doing that for only a few minutes. I am getting more pregnant by the minute; laying her down in her crib is getting increasingly harder. I've started standing her in her crib and telling her to lay down (nicely, of course). So far, she has done so! To aid in the change, I've been singing to her for a while before leaving. I think she really enjoys that.

Our Bed Time Routine:

• change into jammies + night time diaper
• brush teeth and hair
• clean up toys
• read story
• nurse (this is getting cut this weekend, post to follow)
• read another story and say prayer
• go to bedroom, she turns on her fan & we say 'night night' to various things
• lights out
• hugs and kisses
• in crib
• twinkle twinkle little star song

faves; milk and pasta

G got her first taste of cow's milk at the end of this month. I know, I know. Stop the presses.
I never planned to give it to her, but I felt kind of forced into it. She doesn't eat a lot of meat, and protein is seriously lacking in almond milk--despite it being from nuts! I introduced organic whole milk as a way to up her protein intake and keep her healthy + growing. I don't really care so much about the fat content, so I started giving her 2% after the first half gallon. Two percent actually has more protein anyway. She apparently loves cow's milk more than almond milk, drinking it at every meal and asking for more. While I hate that it's not breastmilk, I already made my mind up about the weaning and we are almost there. Organic milk is a bit more expensive than regular, but I think it's totally worth it. My husband thinks it tastes better too. She still drinks a fair amount of water.

G's protein comes from eggs, beans, whole grains, and dairy (milk, cheese, greek yogurt). She gets plenty of carbs, as those are her favorite (duh!). She has taken to loving bagels and cream cheese (this morning she actually said "no" to a waffle!) as her breakfast of choice. She likes any kind of pasta--including the 'veggie' pasta I used this past weekend. I also got her to eat a little bit of beef by making meat ravioli instead of cheese. I smiled on the inside about that victory. Thank you Ragu for masking it ;-)
I've slacked off a bit on the organic stuff--except for fruit and milk. It gets so expensive and it's not like I'll be able to buy it all for her forever. I will do the same for our other kids when they are first starting out too, though.

momma and G and the pink stroller at Yosemite

Favorites:

Any kind of berry
Cheese
Anything Elmo
Music
Hugs and Kisses
Dogs and Babies
her pink princess umbrella stroller
putting on or taking off shoes