17 months & 18.5 weeks

Call me lazy, but I prefer re-prioritized, the blog has taken a back seat (once again) to life with a toddler and growing fetus.

G has reached 17 months of age! WOW!! Next month she will be a year and a half old. Looking back at her early infant days, I thought 18 months sounded so far in the future--so old--but it really has flown by.

At 17 months, I think I'll just do a bullet point list because it's better than not getting this post published!

•  Roughly 32 inches tall & 22 pounds (with a belly). 12 teeth. blue eyes and fast growing blonde hair that I refuse to cut into bangs. Size 18 month clothes, and some 2t shirts (and shorts with cloth diapers). Size 4.5W (and a few 5) shoes.
• "All the time words" as of 7/25: Dada, Bite, Drink, Yeah (often repeated quickly), Please, Up, Bye-Bye, Hot, and her version of blueberry
• "Sometimes / prompted words": Dog, Ball, Kitty, Momma, Night-Night 
• Most of her words are not particularly clear or complete. For instance, Ball is typically "bah" and Please is just "puh-puh-puh." The "B" sound has become more prominent in her vocabulary and she'll repeat it a lot. I'm waiting for baby to come out :-)
• Animal Sounds as of 7/25: Woof, Roar, {snort attempt for pig}, Eeee-Eeee {monkey}, Dool-Doo {rooster}, tweet-tweet and cheep-cheep for birds and chickens {these aren't always clear}, finally Meow has appeared for kitties, and she now tries really hard to make a fish face for fish--it's SO CUTE

waving to the cow

• Foods: Still not a fan of meat except for ham-off-the-bone, the occasional hot dog, & chicken or beef ravioli. Loves scrambled eggs with cheese. Fruit is a big favorite, but she ADORES blueberries above everything else. Still drinks 2% milk, much to my chagrin. Likes carbo snacks like pretzels, crackers, etc... Likes cereal and granola bars. Will eat the occasional PB&J, but not often. Pasta makes a daily appearance at lunch or dinner. Doesn't like fresh farmer's market (or otherwise) tomatoes and still scoffs at potatoes. Does like Veggie Pasta :-) -- I generally have to make veggies fun (except grilled zucchini, that she loves) by making them jump or fly or sing.

• Sleep: G sleeps from about 8:45 (bed time is 8:30) until 8ish in the morning. She takes one nap (you may recall that she's been on one nap since about 11 months old) from about 1:45 to 3:15 pm. 
• Some nights are better than others, as far as ease of falling asleep. I've not determined a viable reason. I would blame it on teeth, but it isn't consistent, so who knows. In general, she sleeps through without crying out, but with teeth, she definitely cries some in the middle of the night or early morning. I love how reliable and predictable her sleep patterns have become. I will miss that when the new baby comes.
• Social: G is seriously so social! She likes to wave & say hi or bye to whoever will participate. She has gone on a lot of play dates this past month. I've really been trying to get her used to not being the only kid in town. She will sometimes interact with other kids (especially at the gym), but will still solo-play a lot, too. She's not scared to go to other kid's houses, as long as I'm there. At our neighbor's house, she even went into another room to play--out of my sight--and was giggling as if she didn't even notice I was "gone." 
• So far, it seems, her favorite playmate is the 2.5 year old who lives across the road. He is always up for a game of chase and I think she kind of likes his rambunctiousness--even though she was put off at first. He does a lot more 'big kid' things that are fun for her to see and try. His house also has an awesome ride-on toy that bounces.

tuckered out at the end of a play date

• Temperance: The 'terrible twos' have made a few appearances. I know it has to do with her inability to communicate effectively--not to mention she doesn't always get what she wants. I just ignore some fits, talk calmly through some, and distract her out of some. In general, though, she's a very mild mannered baby--I'd probably go so far to say she's one of the best kids around. She is helpful, polite (for a toddler, you know), friendly, sweet, and smart. She doesn't bully, in fact, she is often the "bullied" on play dates but takes it in stride. I think it's because she's super pint sized and knows it...haha
• Milestones:
• Building a 6 high block (wooden) tower! She can build super tall Mega Blok towers.
• Getting pretty successful at using a fork, but with most foods she prefers her hands. She's also moved on to eating bigger bites / I don't have to cut things up as small any more.
• CLIMBING! She loves to climb up on cabinet doors that have little molded borders (no clue what those are called), so that she can see what is on the counter or into the mirror. I know I need to get her a step stool.
• Running. She had jogged a little bit before, but she can now pretty much take off at a decent pace for a 1.5 year old.
• A full month or more with NO tears or looking back when I drop her off at the gym. She LOVES it. I'll talk about this in another bullet.
• Participating more and more at library story time.
• Helping make more things in the kitchen and now she loves playing with tongs.
• Trying to put on shoes by herself (this had appeared before, but it's more often now), and trying to put on shirts. She will try to put shorts on her arms. She also got a hold of a bra she tried to wrap around her too...comical, though I suppose inappropriate.
• first painted toes!
• swim lessons
• nearly a month of being weaned -- hasn't asked for it since a few days after

• Fun little anecdotes:
• G is usually doing something different every time I come to pick her up at the gym. Once she was in the little kid's gym where the 3-6 year olds were playing with balls. I thought she would be scared of all the action, but one of the girls said she was just loving all the noise and fun! Another time she was 'helping' a big girl color, while sitting at the desk with her. Another time she was playing with this little touch screen thing with a 4 year old girl. I watched them for a bit before G noticed me, and the little girl put her arm around G and gave her a little kiss on the head. It was SO sweet!
• G's been playing in the dirt since my dad showed her 'how' to do it, but this month she decided sitting in the dirt to play was better than sitting on the edge....greeeeaaat.
• G took a bite of a crayon this month. I was freaked out when I saw a weird red thing in her diaper, but then I remembered....
• Speaking of diapers, G is pretty much ready to potty train. She doesn't have words for pee or poop yet, and she doesn't seem to hate having a non-clean diaper; but she has a good amount of bladder control + will sit on the potty for a long time. I just need to 'mom up' and do the 3-day thing where she doesn't wear a diaper and learns what going on yourself feels like for real. I'm waiting until we get back from our Tahoe Trip (our small 2-night vacation for the summer).
• I also think G's pretty close to a big girl bed. I reaaaaallly don't want to push this one, but I know it's coming. She would totally climb out if she wasn't so tiny. She's beyond independent, so I assume after potty training, we'll get her out the crib.
• G loves buckles. If you have any cool toy ideas with buckles, let me know! My husband figured out that our Beco Gemini (soft-structured-carrier) is great for keeping her busy. She loves trying to do and undo all of the buckles it has.
• G likes to play with either of our wallets. We had our best hour at church last weekend because during consecration, when she got a little ancy, she took things out of my wallet and tried to put them back in. I should get her own and fill it with fake or canceled things, rather than things I'd hate to lose.

I always feel like I leave stuff, out but I think that's a good run down of G at 17 months :-)

July 22 2012

And not to waste your time with additional clicks to other blogs, I'll throw a few facts in about myself at 18.5 weeks pregnant with #2.

• Mostly the same as last time I wrote...except I am showing WAY more. The check in lady at the gym was pretty bold, and announced I am having twins by the way my belly just jumped out over night. I sure hope not!
• I've had a few days of real blah-feelings. The new baby must have been going through a HUGE growth spurt because I felt soooo fatigued and had two bad headaches this week. I was also starving, but didn't know what to eat.
• The other night, my husband (who has been feeling the baby for quite a while now) and I experienced a SUPER earthquake in my belly. The baby was moving like crazy for about 5 minutes straight.
• Still jogging, but not as often, about 2-3 times a week instead of 3-4. I go to the gym 4-5 days a week, but do the elliptical and light weights the other days.
• Still craving dairy. I got mozzarella jalapeno cheese sticks this week and they are soooo amazing. I could eat 4 at a time, but they weren't cheap, so 1 a day :-) I'm doing better at making myself take time to care about eating healthy for the new baby. With G, it's hard to be "selfish" like that.
• I'm up to about 12-13 pounds gained...a bit on the high side of average, but that's how my last pregnancy was too and I lost all of it plus extra, so I'm not worried. Unless it is twins...then I'll be stressed.
• Our ultrasound is less than 2 weeks away. I cannot wait! I was hoping they'd say it's a boy...but to be honest, I love our agreed upon girl name so much, that I kind of want them to say girl now! :-) SSSOOO either way, I will personally be totally stoked. Watch them say {a} we can't tell, or {b} there's two! GGGAAAHHH!