16 month update

Anabelle is 16 months now. This age is so incredibly fun, it's unbelievable.

Eating

This kid definitely takes after her daddy on this one. She is like a bottomless pit. Her nick name is hungry, hungry hippo! Thankfully, she eats pretty much anything and everything. She absolutely loves fruit and crackers in any shape of form. Right now, she's enjoying watermelon, cherries and apricots. Hooray for summertime!

She practices using utensils everyday, and I have to admit, she's pretty good with her coordination.



Sleeping

I'm very grateful to have a good sleeper on my hands (knock on wood). She's been sleeping through the night since about 8 months. I'm not going to count our teething nightmares, because those don't count, right? She has 12 teeth right now, with 2 more coming in. We have a bedtime routine that involves bath time,
too manylots of books and prayers. When it's time for bed, she is r-e-a-d-y!

Learning

She impresses me every single day with the new things she's learning. So far, she can say:

-dada

-a-ma (I'm still trying to get her to say, "mommy" but all that comes out is "bobby.")

-cat

-duck

-uh-oh

-wow!

-ball (her favorite)

-yeah

-hi

-bye (which sounds like, "hiya")

We practice sign language a lot. She can sign:

-more

-all done

-hungry

-water (kinda)

-please

All you mommies out there with younger kids, I highly recommend learning basic sign language. It easy communicating with her this way, since she doesn't have a full vocabulary yet. We are still working on "help" and "thank you."

She's also learning animal sounds. Just the other day, we were riding in the car and I asked her what I cat sounds like, and she immediately responded with, "meow." Then, I asked her what I dog sounds like, and she said, "woo, woo." I almost cried. The hubs stole my joy this past weekend by asking her what mommy and daddy sound like. Apparently, I sound like, "raaaaawr" and fun daddy sounds like, "yeah." At least she's learning that mommy is the boss, right?!

Fun

Anabelle loves to play outside and loves to play in the water. The easiest entertainment is to just give her the water hose and let her have at it in the driveway. I try not to think about all the water we are wasting and the effect on the environment. It's all about balance, right?

She loves to run around the house or the yard with a ball larger than her entire body and yell at the top of her lungs. She also loves playing chase! Also on the list of toddler enjoyment is sidewalk chalk, sidewalk paint, crayons, bubbles and songs.

I'm pleased to say that Anabelle la-la loves to give kisses. Her response to, "I love you" is to give kisses. They are the best kisses ever! She also enjoys hugs. She runs to me and gives me the biggest bear hug everyday :) On those long, hard days, her bear hugs are more like spider monkey hugs without letting go.

My little booger also enjoys reading books,solo or with mommy and daddy. She just got over a phase of wanting to read I Love You, Stinky Face.  every, single night. Now she loves a variety of books each night, but a few of her favorites are Goodnight Moon, I Love You Through and Through and We're Going on a  Bear Hunt.

Obstacles

Now that we've entered toddlerville, we are going through the tantrum phase. We had a mini meltdown session during our photo shoot.



I know she's still learning how to communicate and the only way she knows how to do that is to whine and throw herself on the floor. We've had several discussions that she needs to try to tell me what's wrong and that kind of behavior is not ok. We say "gentle" and "kind" in this household too many times to count. I'm just hoping she outgrows this phase quickly. Who am I kidding, right?

I feel so blessed to have her in my life. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!

-Valerie

------

How do you handle toddler tantrums?