Holy Cow! 18 Months!!

I am having a hard time believing that Evie is really 18 months old.  She is truly out of the "baby" stage and in full-on toddler mode.

At 18 months:

• Evie weighs 23 pounds and 7 ounces. (35th percentile)
• She is 32 1/2" long. (65th percentile)
• She is wearing mostly 18 month clothing, but the pants are getting too short on her.  She still has some 12 month clothing in the rotation too, but her belly is starting to hang out of that.  I actually bought her first pair of 24 month pants today.  They seem huge, so we'll see what happens!
• Evie loves: grilled cheese sandwiches, blackberries, kiwis, seeing her friends at daycare (seriously, she doesn't even say goodbye to me anymore, she's so focused on running to play with the other  kids...I know that this could be much worse), playing peek-a-boo, "scaring" people by quickly uncovering her face and saying boo, trying to dress herself, *trying* to help around the house by throwing things in the garbage (this was cute until she tried to throw my cell phone in the trash), trying to play in the toilet, and unloading all cupboards and drawers in the kitchen/bathroom.

You can see bibs and random utensils laying all over my kitchen floor.  As soon as I put them away, she pulls them out again.  It's not worth the effort most days!!

• Evie hates: being told no, when we take anything away from her (she usually scolds us), cottage cheese, napping (at home, she does fine at daycare), having her diaper changed, having lotion put on, when we dress her because she'd rather try to do it herself, and shoes.  

I can't believe that she's now closer to 2 years old than 1 year old!!  She is such a little person now.  It's hard to believe that she was ever any different, but she has changed and grown so much.  I can't wait to see what each new day brings!!

17 months (and 5 days)

Because Evie's 17 month-iversary was on Christmas Eve, I'm just getting around to posting this now.  17 months doesn't feel like much of a milestone with 18 months being right around the corner and all, but she has changed so much since 16 months.

Christmas 2010 at my parent's house

The biggest change has been in language ability.  We've had a language explosion at our house!!  She is repeating so many words now (M and I have really had to clean up our language...well we're trying at least), and she understand so much of what we are saying.  As a language teacher, it's amazing for me to watch language acquisition as it happens from birth, but I'm a dork like that.  ;)

At 17 months:

• Evie has added many new words including cow, good (when you ask her how she's doing), no way, yes, banana (sounds like bah-nah), car, bath, and there are so many more!  She's going to be a jabbering fool just like her mom any day now. 
• Tantrums are becoming a bit of an issue.  I feel like we are handling them pretty well mostly by ignoring/distracting her.  They haven't lasted very long.  We still haven't had a major blow up in public.  ::fingers crossed::
• Evie can find her tummy if you ask her, but she points to her eye/ear/head when you ask her where her nose is.  I always laugh when she does this, so I'm probably encouraging her.  I'm sure she'll figure it out eventually.  
• Evie has her second Christmas, but this one was much more fun.  She did a pretty good job of opening presents and she handled the crazy schedule and extra people really well.  We are going to M's family Christmas this weekend, so hopefully that goes as well as my family's did last weekend.

Hanging out with Grandpa!

• She has been sleeping very well at night for the past few weeks.  A cold threw us off right after Thanksgiving, but I'm hoping that we've gotten past that.
• She understands so much of what we say.  It amazes me!!!  She even walked to her room on her own earlier today when I asked if she was ready for her nap.  Of course, she fell asleep in my arms and woke up screaming as soon as she hit the mattress, but I was impressed that she went to her room like that!  (Focus on the positives, right!?!?!!?!?!)
• Evie's favorite game is "scaring" people.  She covers her face, then quickly uncovers it and says "Boo!"  I scream like she scared me to death and we laugh and laugh.  She really like playing that game with her aunts, uncles and grandparents at Christmas.  

Christmas 2011 at my aunt and uncle's house

16 Months

I can't believe that it's been a year since this:

This is one of my favorite pictures of her of all time.  My dad took care of her so that I could go shopping early on Black Friday last year when she was 4 months old.  Evie was a bit of a crab for him...but he did manage to get this picture.  LOVE it!

But now, Evie is 16 months old!  Crazy how time flies!!!

At 16 months:

• Evie's new words are "no" and "book."  "No" is not exactly a great development, but it's kind of nice when she's not using it to try to scold me.  She will tell me "no" to more food when she's done eating, etc.  That's kind of cool to be able to communicate with her more.
• Walking is so totally last month...now she's picking up speed.  Running is where it's at these days.
• She has mastered blowing kisses in the past few weeks.  This is something M has been trying to get her to do for a while now.  I'm not sure that she completely understands what she's doing, but it's still pretty cute.
• Evie went trick-or-treating for the first time.  We didn't actually ask for any candy.  We just stopped by a few neighbor's houses.  Evie loved walking around with all of the other kids.
• Evie ate her 1st Thanksgiving dinner.  She loved the turkey and the dinner rolls!!  She didn't care for the mashed potatoes or stuffing, but she did like the brownie I shared with her for dessert.  :) 
• She has started throwing more and more tantrums...not a good milestone, but it's all part of asserting her independence.  For the most part, I can distract her or ignore her so that she quits.  We haven't had any serious meltdowns in public yet, but I'm sure our time is coming.  
• Evie is working on animal noises and finding her nose, ears, etc.  Hopefully I can post about some of those milestones next month!!

Playing with the dog last week.

 Each month, she keeps growing and growing, and I am more fascinated with this little person that she is becoming.

15 months

Evie is 15 months old today.  It's crazy to think that at this time last year I was dreading the end of my maternity leave, and just beginning to feel like I had any sort of clue what I was doing as a mother.

Evie, 3 months old

Now, I still feel like I am just beginning to figure out this motherhood thing, but with a walking, talking (a little) toddler.  What a crazy ride this mom thing is!!

At 15 months:

• Evie has several words, including most recently, "baby."  She is the youngest at her daycare and many of the other kids say "Hi baby" to her all of the time.  She has started saying "Hi baby" to everyone, including me and M!  So cute!!
• Evie has said her first word in Spanish too.  She says "pato" to all of the rubber ducks in the bathtub with her. 
• She is walking all. the. time.  It took her a little while, but I think she's finally decided that walking is more efficient than crawling.  Every time she walks across the room, I can't help but smile.
• She loves fruit, spaghetti, tacos, cheese, my pal Scout, spending time with other kids, making loud banging noises with items found on the floor, dancing, "driving" her toy car, playing with the dog, hugging mommy, daddy, other kids at daycare, and pretty much anyone who will let her, and reading books.
• She hates being put in the carseat, being put in the stroller, being told "no," having the remote control or a cell phone taken away from her, being picked up/being set down (depending on the circumstances), grocery shopping, and anything garlicky.

"Helping" daddy fold the laundry last week.

Playing outside a couple of weeks ago.

It's so crazy to see how much Evie changes and how quickly it all happens.  I can't imagine what she'll be like a year from now!

Wordless Wednesday (and 13 Month Update)

Pasta is so yummy!!!

...and messy!!

I love pasta!

You are 13 months o ld today little one!!  I can't believe how quickly time goes by.  The past month has been great spending so much time with you and seeing you grow so much. 

In the past month:

• You have started saying more words.  Now you know "hi" and "bye bye"
• You have been pointing at everything and everyone. 
• You get EXTREMELY excited whenever you see a dog, whether it's on the street, on TV, or in a book.  
• You have started wearing shoes...sometimes.  You're still not quite sure what to make of them.
• You have begun playing peek-a-boo with your own hands.
• You have figured out my hiding spot for my cell phone and the remote control...I'm not actually very happy about that one.  
• You have figured out how to go down your slide by yourself.  I still catch you at the bottom though.  :) 
• Your personality has gotten bigger and bigger every day!!

Naps...or lack thereof

 I've been having a harder and harder time getting Evie down for naps lately.  I know that this is most likely a "me" problem, not an "Evie" problem.  We did Ferber right around 6 months for nighttime sleep.  I don't think it worked the way it was supposed to.  Things kept coming up that made it impossible for us to stick to the routine, like ear infections, teething, me not wanting to let her cry anymore....  For a while, I felt like she had just been crying in her crib from the beginning of January to the middle of March.

I gave up.  In the meantime, our daycare person managed to start getting Evie to nap.  She let her cry, but never for more than 20 minutes.  It took a few weeks, but she was napping better.  She had never been a good napper before.  I will take most of the blame for that.  I didn't have a very good nap routine when I was home with her on my maternity leave.  Our first daycare provider never really got her into a routine either.  It's a really long, boring story, but in the end we left that daycare mostly because of the "nap problem."

Around Mid-June/early July, Evie finally started sleeping through the night.  We didn't do Ferber/CIO, it just sort of happened when I cut out her night time feeding.  I think she was just ready for it.  That was also when she started napping poorly.  I don't know if they are connected or not...but I really like sleeping all night after not sleeping all night for 11 months.  The naive side of me thinks that maybe she'll just start napping better when she's ready, but I know that probably not the case. 

I will admit that I still rock her to sleep before I put her down.  I feel like if I don't, it's the beginning of World War III, and the nap definitely won't happen then.  I've tried to let her cry it out, but it's never worked.  She works herself into a frenzy, and how could anyone sleep after that?  (I'm talking about 45 minutes of screaming/crying.  I had to vacuum to get myself through it.  I couldn't stand to listen to her.)  I'm really nervous about going back to school at the end of August.  I'm worried that our daycare person will have a horrible time with her, and Evie will suffer through crying most of the day while I'm gone.

Side note: I know many people would recommend a new daycare, but she does a great job overall.  She is very caring with Evie, but she takes care of three other kids as well, and Evie can't monopolize her time.  

Has anyone tried Ferber/CIO for naps?  What were your results?  Did your little one get themselves so worked up?  Any other tips??? 

Evie had her 12 month check up today and I talked to the pediatrician about it.  He gave some non-specific information, and basically said that she'll start napping better when I start "tough love,"  meaning I should let her cry.  I just don't know if I can do it.


On a high note, Evie no longer has a milk allergy!  The doctor removed the diagnosis because she eats cheese and yogurt without any problems. I also have her height and weight update.


Weight: 19 lbs. 3 oz. (a little on the small side.  She's my peanut!)

Height: 29 inches (right at the 50th percentile)

11 months

  

It's hard for me to believe that you're 11 months old today.  I never thought I'd be one of "those moms" that gets a little misty when I think about my baby turning one and not being a baby anymore.  It turns out that I am that mom.   You'll probably notice me squeezing you a little tighter in the next month, but I don't think you'll mind. 

In the past month, you've become so much more mobile.  Still not crawling (but your grandma asks EVERY time she calls...lol), but you scoot, roll, crab walk on your head, and grunt your way to whatever you want to get into.  You are up on your knees so often, but you fake us out.  As soon as we think you're going to lurch forward and crawl, you collapse and roll away.  When we put you up against the coffee table or the couch, you've begun taking steps on your own, with BOTH feet now.  (No more splits because you only move your right foot!!)  If we hold your hands, you will walk for several feet.  You even crossed your auntie's living room last weekend! 

You have really begun to love books in the past few weeks.  We've always read to you, but for a long time you didn't seem to even notice what we were doing.  Now, you like to look at the pictures and "help" turn the pages.  You like to look at books on your own on the floor too.  You are "talking" quite a bit these days too.  Your babbling seems to have become more complex, and I'm pretty sure that you actually said "mama" and meant me a few times recently.  The babysitter was sure that you said "duck" when you were looking at your farm animal book today...You wouldn't repeat it for me when I got home, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.    

You love to play outside, although the weather hasn't been very cooperative lately.  Going to the park is becoming our afternoon, post-nap ritual.  Playing on the swings is your favorite, but you also like digging your hands and feet in the sand.  You also really love the water.  I promise this Wisconsin weather will get better, and we'll spend as much time as possible in the whale pool this summer!!  

The stats:
- Weight: approximately 19 lbs.
- Length: approximately 29"
- Two teeth (bottom center), which you just got after Memorial Day
- Not crawling, but rolling, and just beginning to cruise on furniture and walk holding onto someone's hands
- Still nursing 3 - 4 times a day, but you fight me about it most of the time.  You'd rather feed yourself!!


I love being able to spend so much time with you now that school is out.  I can't wait to see what the next month brings!!

10 months

I know I'm a little late on this.  Evie turned 10 months old on May 24, but because I just started this blog on May 30, I thought I'd do her 10 month update now.

Height and Weight:  Height was 28 inches at your 9 month check up.  19 pounds 0 ounces at the doctor's office on Saturday.  Hopefully we're done with doctor's visits for now.  We need to kick that nasty ear infection!

Milestones:  This one is tough because I haven't been doing this every month.  Still not crawling, but getting closer every day.  Each day you seem closer and closer to cruising along furniture too.  You can stand up against the coffee table unassisted for quite a while.  You take steps with your right foot, but the left hasn't figured it out yet.  You pretty much end up in the splits next to the coffee table!

Loves: Going for walks.  Playing outside.  Laughing at Keeka.  Playing peek-a-boo.  And you really seemed to like playing in your new pool on Monday afternoon.


What mommy enjoys most about you at 10 months: Watching your personality blossom!  Every day you are more your own unique little individual with your own quirks.

Dad, I thought pools were supposed to have water in them...???