21 Month Old Anabelle

This kiddo is the spunkiest toddler around. She is so full of life and energy, and I can't imagine her any other way. She is quick to give you her opinion and she doesn't hesitate to let you know when (or anyone else, for that matter) has entered her bubble of personal space. 

Everywhere we go, she gets so many stares, smiles and comments about how adorable she is. She's quick to smile and wave at strangers, because she loves to be the charming entertainment. The other day she whispered gibberish in my ear and started cracking up. I couldn't help but laugh with her, as she grabbed my face in her hands and gave me a kiss.  

She has developed a true passion for baby dolls and stuffed animals. She holds them in her arms, rocks them to sleep, feeds them and shushes them when they are upset. This early in the game, it's apparent that she has a sweet and loving soul. 

As much as she loves those babies, she's a bit of a tomboy at heart. She refuses to let me put headbands or bows in her head. She runs away from me whenever I try. Luckily, she's learned to rock that top knot better anyway. She loves any and all balls. She's quick to spot them when we are out and about, and has an incredible arm. I imagined putting her into gymnastics or dance, but I think I'm leaning towards softball. You guys, I'm not even exaggerating when I tell you this kid can chunk a ball across the room. 

Anabelle loves to dance and is quick to rock her hips to any up beat. She often asks me to dance, and we have mini jam sessions in the kitchen and the playroom. It's the best!

She's started to master mimicking what mommy and daddy do. She repeats the words we say and it's so incredible to watch her connect the dots in her head. She's learned so many new words lately, it's hard to keep up. Lately she's been saying: hello, boo!, bubbles, no more, puzzle, book, tree, juice and store. 

She's also a tough cookie! Whenever she gets hurt or falls, she whines for a brief second, runs to me for a boo-boo kiss and goes about her merry way.

We started using the, "you have five more minutes..." phrase and she's started putting her hand up when she wants five more minutes. It's pretty hilarious now, but I'm sure it will bite me in the butt later on.

I'm so excited to bake a few things together for Thanksgiving. She's been wearing the tutu I bought her all week pretty thrilled about it. She twirled around, giggling and laughing, and it kinda hit me. I have a daughter :)

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

18 Month Update

On Monday, we had Anabelle's 18 month check up. It was pretty much reminiscent of her 12 month check up. You know, crying in extreme terror as we walk up to the reception desk all the way through weighing, measurements and shots. Super fun stuff. Thankfully, she only had to tough it out through one shot. While she was crying post needle, I said, "Great job! High five, baby!" She gave me a weak high five (I didn't hold it against her) and the nurse said, "Can I get a high five too?" She gave him the meanest look, I swear daggers were going to fly across the room. I commended him for trying. Poor fella.
Stats: Height: 32 inches, Weight: 22 pounds, 7.5 ounces. She grew almost three inches and gained a couple of pounds from her twelve month check up. If I was a good mommy, I could give you exact numbers, but since I'm so disorganized, I can't find her last check up papers. 
Eating: Lately, her appetite has been all over the place. One day, she will have 2-3 servings, and ask for "mo, mo." Other days, she'll refuse lunch and decide to eat goldfish and cereal instead. Oh wait, that was Monday. Her obsession just a few months ago was raspberries, but now she's replaced that with eggs. And she loves nuts! We eat a lot of Kind Bars around here, and every time I open one, she thinks it's hers. And if it's a snack for dear old moms instead, there will be hell to pay. And by hell, I mean yelling and screaming. We are learning about sharing, so this is good practice. 
Sleeping: Still a rock solid sleeper. She has her mandibular canines (does that make me sound smart?) coming in, which have been waking her up in the middle of the night. I'll go into her room, comfort her and she'll fall right back to sleep. She has a strange affinity with tags. Tags on blankets, toys, stuffed animals, anything. She puts the tags up to her mouth, and sucks on her lower lip. She's never put the tag in her mouth, so I'm not sure what security/comfort that gives her, but she's been doing since she was about six months old. It's her thing, don't judge.
Learning: Further to her 16 month update, she also says:

• Neh (meaning no, her favorite)

• Bubbles

• Wa-wa for water

• Hap for help

• Eye

• Mo for more

• Tay-tay for thank you

• Bah for bad. She is always scolding the cats and telling them they are being "bah!" She's right 99% of the time. 

She says a lot of gibberish. We can have entire conversations together where she'll just ramble on and on, while I try to get a word in. She also tries to mimic me when I talk to her. It's hilarious.  
The only other sign she can do is "help." I've been really slacking on sign language, mostly because I want her to talk to me. We've been working on signing, "share" but since she doesn't care to share she's totally uninterested in learning it.
She can also make the animal sounds for sheep, birds and cows. She tries sounds for all other sorts of animals, but they all end up sounding like a baby bird.   Fun: She's still a total book lover. We went to the store the other day, and instead of waiting in the ridiculously long line, we sat in front of the book section and read books for a good 15-20 minutes. It was awesome. Why haven't I taken her to the library yet? I think subconsciously, I'm afraid she won't handle the quiet in the library very well. Does anyone take their toddlers to library yet? Please share your experiences with me. 
Since she had a fever after her shots, like she does every.single.time, we laid down on the floor and watched The Little Mermaid. She sat down and watched nearly the entire movie while munching on pistachios with me. This is the first movie that's she's actually sat still to watch. I even remembered all the words to the songs, and she didn't tell me to stop singing! That's a win in my book. 
While we were laying on the floor, she decided to climb on the couch sporting her best gear from our church and dive onto the pile of pillows on laid out on the floor. Repeat times 27. Over and over. I sat there with one eye on The Little Mermaid and the other on her. I even managed to snap some pictures of her dare devil act. Feel free to nominate me for mom of the year.

Other fun activities she enjoys regularly are eating dirt, eating soap, painting, chasing the cats, trying on my clothes, taking pictures by our infamous red brick wall and singing.

Obstacles: We're full force in the hitting phase right now. When she doesn't get her way or she's doesn't like something, she'll try to hit one of us, or whatever object that's in her way. When this happens, I get down on her level and tell her that hitting is not acceptable and it hurts. I'll also ask her what is wrong, and try to get her to explain (the best she can) on whatever is bothering her.
I though girls were more supposed to be more reserved and less likely to engage in dangerous activities like jump of the couch, bed or eat dirt? No? Is that just some silly rule I made up in my head? Either way, she's perfect in my mind :)
Tell me, what are your kiddos loving these days?

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

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How do you handle toddler tantrums?