I stopped writing monthly posts when R turned 12 months, but I wanted to pop in and write up a quick post about all the things she's doing now at 17 months because she is really starting to shine and I don't want to forget any of it.
-When prompted, she will give hugs and kisses to Jordan and I and to her grandparents and aunts/uncles. DEAD. Sweetest ever.
-Waves goodbye and will blow goodbye kisses when prompted.
-Can point to her eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, nose, hair, belly button, arms, legs, feet, fingers, and my sister-in-law taught her where her dimples are just this week.
-Signs "please, more, all done," and we are working on "thank you." When she wants something we have, she grunts and points emphatically. We say, "R, use your words to tell us what you want." Then we offer her words for the things she might be asking for. When we land on what she wants, we ask her to say please, and lately she's started signing please without being asked.
-Absolutely hates having her teeth brushed. Hates.
-She can run fast and enjoys running up and down the hallway...and basically everywhere else.
-Loves loves her Praise Baby DVDs. When she knows we are going to put her DVD on, she smiles and then opens her mouth really big like "woah!" and claps.
-Dances to music by wobbling her head back and forth and grinning.
-I wouldn't say she has a large vocabulary yet, but she has started saying some distinguishable words. Other than mama and dada, "dra" (draw/color) is probably the one we can understand the best. She loves to color and asks to do it a lot. R also loves her "nanas" (bananas) basically all day every day. She loves fruit just like her mama!
-She can point out all her aunts and uncles and grandparents by name when prompted.
-She's not a picky eater at all. There are really only a few things she doesn't seem to like: oranges, apples, plain ground beef or chicken (unless we put some kind of sauce on it). I keep waiting for her to get picky on me, but seriously she will eat basically anything.
-Takes one nap every day. She goes down around noon and sleeps until 1:30 or 2:00. Occasionally she will go until 2:30. We rarely have a problem with her going down for a nap. She eats lunch around 11:30, and then after lunch we put her in her cotton sleep sack, give her a paci, and lay her in the crib with a blanket and her three stuffed animals. She's awake when we leave the room, but she usually goes to sleep on her own!
-For bedtime, she typically goes down well. Her bedtime is between 7-7:30 depending on how she's acting. She eats dinner around 6:00/6:15, and then at 7:00 we change her, put her in her pjs, and put her in the crib with a paci and her stuffed animals and a blanket. For the last month or so, she's been doing this hilarious thing where after we leave and shut the door, she will just stay awake in her crib playing and flipping the light switch off and on for 30-45 minutes. Sometimes she even falls asleep with the light still on! But she doesn't cry or anything. Typically she will cry if she's thrown the paci out the side of the crib and wants it back, but otherwise she goes to sleep well on her own and sleeps until we wake her up the next morning for work (or about 7:00 on the weekends). For the record, we really didn't do any kind of sleep training with her. I'm really hoping Baby Bum #2 is as good a sleeper as R is!
-We recently restricted the paci to naps and bedtime only, and she got the hang of it quickly! She initially gets mad when we take it away, but I think she's starting to understand that we take it in the morning, and she doesn't really seem to worry about it the rest of the day.
-She loves playing with the fridge magnets and the lids of the tupperware containers. She has a toy where she sorts colored blocks into a container by shape, and we have to help her point out the color, but she is really getting the hang of how the shapes work. She is also getting good at her Melissa & Doug fruit puzzle.
-This is the best one. We did not teach her this, so I have no idea how she learned it, but she can tell us when she's pooped! She comes up and pats her bottom, and 9 times out of 10 she's pooped. I say, "R, did you go poo poo?" And she pats her bottom again. So I say, "Let's go change your diaper," and she runs down the hall and right into her room and over to her changing table! It cracks me up. Maybe potty training is around the corner????
-She loves loves loves sitting at Jordan's desk in his lap. When I get home from work with her, she will run down the hall and pound on the back bedroom door saying, "Dada? Dada?" When she see him after work, her eyes get big and she laughs.
-She is very smart and picks up on things we do and copies us. She is not at all fooled by us "hiding" things in the pocket of our jackets, etc. She will go for it immediately and pull it out.
-When I pick her up at daycare, they are usually having gym time. I walk in and say, "R, mama's here!" She looks at me and gives me a huge grin and then races off in the opposite direction and I chase her. I usually play with her in the gym for 5-10 minutes before leaving daycare. We throw balls around and just play. I like not rushing out and just spent a minute or two watching her play with the other kids and getting a chance to talk to her teacher about how she did that day.
-R is very opinionated and definitely has a personality. She loves playing outside (always has since she was a baby!), going to the park, and going down the slides especially.
She is such an absolute joy, and I just love every minute I get to spend with her!