It's a month of celebration in our house this November! Last Monday, we celebrated our second wedding anniversary and Chief turned one! She had a birthday party at school and we opened some presents here at home, but the real party is happening on Thanksgiving Day, when all of her grandparents will be here to celebrate with us. Although it seems like just yesterday I wrote her 9 month post, she is already a whole year old. And what a year it has been! Let's talk about these last few months:
Growing chunkier by the minute, but her height growth has slowed down. The doctor said that genetics is starting to kick in- so she's probably going to be short like her Mommy. In the past week, she pretty much outgrew her whole 12 month sized wardrobe, so I took the opportunity to stock up the 18 month wardrobe :) I figure she should have an even wider selection, as she'll likely be in this size range for a while! Some of the 18 month stuff is still big- her jammies are rather roomy, and the parka I bought her for when it snows is definitely too long in the arms still, but her 12 month clothes were just getting too tight, so I don't mind pants that are a bit too long or sleeves that need to be rolled up.
Eating pretty much everything now. We have not yet done a proper peanut butter introduction, but we'll likely do that soon, but every other supposed allergen has been introduced now with no problems whatsoever. She has transitioned to cow's milk now during the day and doesn't seem to know the difference- but she prefers it in a bottle. We sort of skipped the traditional sippy cup and went straight to cups with straws in the lid, but the one she currently uses seems to frustrate her unless it has juice in it. I just bought some new straw cups yesterday, and sent them to day care this morning, so here's hoping she'll drink milk out of them today. I'm still nursing her when she wakes up and before she goes to sleep, and then whenever she wants it, and she has actually started asking for it when she's tired or cranky. I'm going on a business trip this week, so she'll be having cow's milk with her regular breakfast and then breast milk in a bottle at bed time- which hopefully is as effective as the breast at getting her in a comfortable, sleepy mood- so by the time I get back on Friday night, she may have weaned herself. I hope not! I didn't realize how much I would want to keep nursing- I hate pumping with the fire of a thousand suns, and I am very excited about a time in the near future when I can get dressed without worrying if my outfit is "boob accessible" as I like to call it, but I absolutely love the feeling of closeness we have when she's nursing, and it's definitely the most effective way to calm her when she's fussy or cheer her up when she's upset. Our goal was 1 year so she can wean at anytime and I'll be fine with that, but I hope it's not while I'm gone on this trip...
Talking about the puppy, all the time! Daddy has called her Puppy as a term of endearment since we brought her home from the hospital, and one day she started saying what sounded like "Bobby" over and over again. One day, he asked her, "Whatcha doin', Puppy?" and she repeated him- so that word was Puppy, not Bobby! We bought her a stuffed puppy for her birthday because we can't have the real thing right now, and she loves him! Until she names him something else, we call him Puppy, and she'll talk about him all the time- "Puppy, Puppy, Puppy, Puppy, Puuuuuuppy! Puh-PPY!" It's her favorite word, alongside Daddy and Mama, of course :) (The occasional Boogie and Booty get thrown in there still, for good measure, and she will wave and say Hi to people in public, which wins her a few Hi's in return.)
Making facial expressions which crack me up! She has this super cheesy grin that she puts on when she's trying to get you to smile- she's over-acting because she knows it will get a reaction from people, and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. She also does this monkey routine if you ask her "Are you a monkey?" She'll put her hand under her armpit and pucker up her lips to say "ooh ooh ooh" and she makes us all laugh. When she's getting kind of tired, she starts acting really silly, and will do things like put her head in her hand and put her elbow on whatever surface she's nearest, like she's posing for a camera, or throw her head back until you kiss her under the chin and make her giggle. She's definitely reached the point where she knows how to make people smile and laugh, and she'll pull out every trick in her bag to keep her audience entertained.
Listening to Mommy sing Disney songs, as ever. She loves it when people sing anything, really, and apparently they do a lot of the traditional nursery rhymes at school, because she seemed to recognize "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" the first time I sang it to her (er, is it a song, or a chant?) and it's still her favorite, especially if you bounce her while you sing it. I'm more comfortable with the idea of her watching tv now, so we've put on a few Disney movies with the intention of watching them with her, but she'll only pay attention during the songs- otherwise she busies herself with her toys (as she should), or just falls asleep in your lap (which is even better). In addition to music, she loves being read to- and her favorite book is Sophie's Shapes that came with her Sophie the Giraffe toy. Mr. Geek and I both have it memorized because we've read it so many times, over and over and over again. The doctor said part of what she likes so much is the way we read it- I definitely recite it almost like a song, with the same inflection on the same words each time. We recited it together once, and she seemed a little startled at first, but then she clapped when it was over, like we'd just put on some performance for her. It's the only book in her library that she'll sit through the whole thing- she likes to hand you a book, let you read a couple of pages, then pick up a new one and ask for that instead.
Sleeping through the night still, and with a pretty regular routine. Between 7 and 8 I can put on her jammies, nurse her, and then put her in bed still awake and she'll fall asleep without a fight. This week when I'm out of town, Daddy has to do bedtime, and all he has is a bottle. We're both pretty nervous about how that's going to go, but I'm sure she'll be fine. Nap time is a bit of a battle, but we manage to get at least one 1 hour nap in every day- at school takes one nap that will last up to 3 hours, depending on how thoroughly they wear her out in the morning. Generally around 11 or so on Saturdays and Sundays I can nurse her and put her in bed, and she'll complain, throw all her stuffed animals on the floor, and even take off her pants, but after about 15 or 20 minutes, she falls asleep. On the rare occasion when she complains about bed time, I don't like to let her fuss for more than 5 minutes, but I'm more willing to let her cry at naptime, because she doesn't quite believe me when I tell her she's tired and she needs to work a bit of that energy out of her system. We're past the stage of an infant who needs immediate comfort every time she whines, and she is most definitely complaining about the fact that she's been placed in bed, away from her favorite toys- if the cry becomes more urgent than just a complaint, I'll pick her up and we'll try another nap time tactic, like a walk with the Ergo or stroller, or sitting in Mommy's lap to watch a movie. But bedtime is always smooth, and she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night anymore.
Loving her stuffed puppy; waving at people in public; her toy piano; saying "Hi" on her toy cellphone; dancing to music; turning light switches on and off (but mostly off); opening and closing doors and drawers; the eternal struggle for the electronic devices she's not supposed to have; Sophie's Shapes; standing on her own; pushing things around the room, but not actually walking on her own yet; giving big, slobbery, open-mouth kisses.
Hating naps; getting into and out of the car too many times in a row; sitting still.
So that was months 10-12! I'm not sure how often I'm going to do these updates anymore- we'll only be taking birthday pictures on her actual birthday from now on, no more monthly photos, and I'm sure you're getting sick of all-baby-all-the-time around here, so I'm going to try to cut back a little bit.
How has life been for your little one lately?
Much love,
The Geeks
Growing chunkier by the minute, but her height growth has slowed down. The doctor said that genetics is starting to kick in- so she's probably going to be short like her Mommy. In the past week, she pretty much outgrew her whole 12 month sized wardrobe, so I took the opportunity to stock up the 18 month wardrobe :) I figure she should have an even wider selection, as she'll likely be in this size range for a while! Some of the 18 month stuff is still big- her jammies are rather roomy, and the parka I bought her for when it snows is definitely too long in the arms still, but her 12 month clothes were just getting too tight, so I don't mind pants that are a bit too long or sleeves that need to be rolled up.
Eating pretty much everything now. We have not yet done a proper peanut butter introduction, but we'll likely do that soon, but every other supposed allergen has been introduced now with no problems whatsoever. She has transitioned to cow's milk now during the day and doesn't seem to know the difference- but she prefers it in a bottle. We sort of skipped the traditional sippy cup and went straight to cups with straws in the lid, but the one she currently uses seems to frustrate her unless it has juice in it. I just bought some new straw cups yesterday, and sent them to day care this morning, so here's hoping she'll drink milk out of them today. I'm still nursing her when she wakes up and before she goes to sleep, and then whenever she wants it, and she has actually started asking for it when she's tired or cranky. I'm going on a business trip this week, so she'll be having cow's milk with her regular breakfast and then breast milk in a bottle at bed time- which hopefully is as effective as the breast at getting her in a comfortable, sleepy mood- so by the time I get back on Friday night, she may have weaned herself. I hope not! I didn't realize how much I would want to keep nursing- I hate pumping with the fire of a thousand suns, and I am very excited about a time in the near future when I can get dressed without worrying if my outfit is "boob accessible" as I like to call it, but I absolutely love the feeling of closeness we have when she's nursing, and it's definitely the most effective way to calm her when she's fussy or cheer her up when she's upset. Our goal was 1 year so she can wean at anytime and I'll be fine with that, but I hope it's not while I'm gone on this trip...
Talking about the puppy, all the time! Daddy has called her Puppy as a term of endearment since we brought her home from the hospital, and one day she started saying what sounded like "Bobby" over and over again. One day, he asked her, "Whatcha doin', Puppy?" and she repeated him- so that word was Puppy, not Bobby! We bought her a stuffed puppy for her birthday because we can't have the real thing right now, and she loves him! Until she names him something else, we call him Puppy, and she'll talk about him all the time- "Puppy, Puppy, Puppy, Puppy, Puuuuuuppy! Puh-PPY!" It's her favorite word, alongside Daddy and Mama, of course :) (The occasional Boogie and Booty get thrown in there still, for good measure, and she will wave and say Hi to people in public, which wins her a few Hi's in return.)
Making facial expressions which crack me up! She has this super cheesy grin that she puts on when she's trying to get you to smile- she's over-acting because she knows it will get a reaction from people, and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. She also does this monkey routine if you ask her "Are you a monkey?" She'll put her hand under her armpit and pucker up her lips to say "ooh ooh ooh" and she makes us all laugh. When she's getting kind of tired, she starts acting really silly, and will do things like put her head in her hand and put her elbow on whatever surface she's nearest, like she's posing for a camera, or throw her head back until you kiss her under the chin and make her giggle. She's definitely reached the point where she knows how to make people smile and laugh, and she'll pull out every trick in her bag to keep her audience entertained.
Listening to Mommy sing Disney songs, as ever. She loves it when people sing anything, really, and apparently they do a lot of the traditional nursery rhymes at school, because she seemed to recognize "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" the first time I sang it to her (er, is it a song, or a chant?) and it's still her favorite, especially if you bounce her while you sing it. I'm more comfortable with the idea of her watching tv now, so we've put on a few Disney movies with the intention of watching them with her, but she'll only pay attention during the songs- otherwise she busies herself with her toys (as she should), or just falls asleep in your lap (which is even better). In addition to music, she loves being read to- and her favorite book is Sophie's Shapes that came with her Sophie the Giraffe toy. Mr. Geek and I both have it memorized because we've read it so many times, over and over and over again. The doctor said part of what she likes so much is the way we read it- I definitely recite it almost like a song, with the same inflection on the same words each time. We recited it together once, and she seemed a little startled at first, but then she clapped when it was over, like we'd just put on some performance for her. It's the only book in her library that she'll sit through the whole thing- she likes to hand you a book, let you read a couple of pages, then pick up a new one and ask for that instead.
Sleeping through the night still, and with a pretty regular routine. Between 7 and 8 I can put on her jammies, nurse her, and then put her in bed still awake and she'll fall asleep without a fight. This week when I'm out of town, Daddy has to do bedtime, and all he has is a bottle. We're both pretty nervous about how that's going to go, but I'm sure she'll be fine. Nap time is a bit of a battle, but we manage to get at least one 1 hour nap in every day- at school takes one nap that will last up to 3 hours, depending on how thoroughly they wear her out in the morning. Generally around 11 or so on Saturdays and Sundays I can nurse her and put her in bed, and she'll complain, throw all her stuffed animals on the floor, and even take off her pants, but after about 15 or 20 minutes, she falls asleep. On the rare occasion when she complains about bed time, I don't like to let her fuss for more than 5 minutes, but I'm more willing to let her cry at naptime, because she doesn't quite believe me when I tell her she's tired and she needs to work a bit of that energy out of her system. We're past the stage of an infant who needs immediate comfort every time she whines, and she is most definitely complaining about the fact that she's been placed in bed, away from her favorite toys- if the cry becomes more urgent than just a complaint, I'll pick her up and we'll try another nap time tactic, like a walk with the Ergo or stroller, or sitting in Mommy's lap to watch a movie. But bedtime is always smooth, and she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night anymore.
Loving her stuffed puppy; waving at people in public; her toy piano; saying "Hi" on her toy cellphone; dancing to music; turning light switches on and off (but mostly off); opening and closing doors and drawers; the eternal struggle for the electronic devices she's not supposed to have; Sophie's Shapes; standing on her own; pushing things around the room, but not actually walking on her own yet; giving big, slobbery, open-mouth kisses.
Hating naps; getting into and out of the car too many times in a row; sitting still.
So that was months 10-12! I'm not sure how often I'm going to do these updates anymore- we'll only be taking birthday pictures on her actual birthday from now on, no more monthly photos, and I'm sure you're getting sick of all-baby-all-the-time around here, so I'm going to try to cut back a little bit.
How has life been for your little one lately?
Much love,
The Geeks
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