This has been an exciting month! She is constantly learning things and it is fun to watch her grown up!
She can follow simple commands (bring mama the book, give mama a hug, give daddy kiss, sit on my lap, etc) although she doesn't always WANT to do them! She knows tons of phrases... like, "Do you want to go _____ (to the YMCA, shopping, on a walk, etc)?", and she'll go running for the door. "Time to go to bed" and she knows to give daddy a hug and kiss or to grab our Boppy and head towards the stairs.
The last 2 weeks she has learned to sign "more"... I've worked with her signing 2 phrases, "more" and "all done". I figured if she showed interest in those then we'd expand. Those were the easiest for me to do because it relates to eating, which we do all the time! She has done the sign several times in the last few months, but nothing consistent. Well, now she gets it. Or, kinda gets it. I think she thinks it means "I want", because if she is hungry or thirsty, she signs more and heads towards the kitchen, stopping to make sure we are following her! And when we do, she gets SUPER excited that she was able to communicate her need! Then she'll point to what she wants (Cheerio's, Goldfish, juice, etc) and is happy! At least until she runs out, at which point she signs more again! It all started one night when David was eating a York Peppermint Patty. He gave her a small taste, and she was in his face making all sorts of commotion. I told him to make her sign more for it, and so we showed her how to do it, and she kept doing it over and over again! And she hasn't stopped since! It's really precious!
She has started to evict things from her crib when she is unhappy about going down for a nap. Often times I'll go up there and all of her stuffed animals and toys are strewn about the floor!
She is starting to really test limits too. She for the most-part knows what she is allowed to do and what she isn't. And if we leave the room, she goes immediately to what she isn't allowed to do. When you walk in and catch her red-handed she acts all innocent.... like, "Look mom, did you know you can type on this computer?"... or, "did you know there is this lamp right here that you can touch?"... or, "did you see all these post-it notes that were left on the end table?" Stinker. I know she doesn't have the capability to know exactly what she is and isn't allowed to do, but she definitely knows right from wrong and she's testing it. I really didn't expect this to start so early on!!
I am not sure that she has started saying words. She says "ba" all the time when she sees a ball, and it's a different way of saying ba than she says for other words. She tries to say "hot", and makes the "h" sound - it's super cute! She says "more", but usually it's more-more-more-more, and sounds almost exactly as mama-mama... but there is a subtle difference. She says "mama" all the time, both to me and to random other things. So, does she know that I am mama? Can we call these words? I don't know. I guess I will say that she is exploring vocabulary and different sounds and pitches and she is making progress! She is starting to have long conversations with herself (immature jargon I believe is the technical way of saying that) and it is unbelievably cute! She just slurs like 50 sounds together in a long sentence. I REALLY want to know what it is that she is trying to say because she is usually quite intent about saying it! Sometimes she is talking to me, sometimes just talking to herself. Either way, I LOVE it!!
I've been going to the YMCA more often and leaving her in the daycare there. I've been going 2 times during the week and we all go once on the weekend. With both that and leaving her in the nursery at church she is getting to spend time frequently away from us. She seems to have some separation anxiety. Now when we leave her she digs her fingers into my shoulder and starts screaming and then trying to twist out of the workers arm and come back to me. It's really quite sad. However, she seems to stop crying quickly and settle into being away from us. I find it very interesting how different her personality is when we are away from her. When I'm there, she runs all over the place and is very independent. But when I leave her places I always come back to find her sitting in someone’s lap and they mention how she gives great hugs or how she liked to snuggle the whole time! She is obviously a different little girl when I'm away from her.
One other really cute thing she does is when we pick her up (in the mornings, from a nap, from the Y) she tucks her arms down at her side and nuzzles it. It is very endearing!
She is sleeping wonderfully at nights. She goes down about 9-9:30ish and wakes up between 7:30-8. She typically takes two 45 minutes a day, but sometimes it's just one nap that's 1.5 hours long. And then some days naps two long naps or just one short nap! It's a little hit or miss, which is frustrating for me. But I'm working on that (my attitude, that is). (OK, so I wrote this a few days ago, and since then we have had 2 very uncharacteristic nights where she has woken up screaming and been inconsolable and we've all been awake for like 2 hours!! But that is absolutely the exception, not the rule. Thankfully!)
I am still nursing 4 times a day (after b-fast, after lunch, after her afternoon nap and at bedtime). I'm planning on dropping the lunch one when we get back from our trip to MA at the end of this month. She is no longer interested in it and will only nurse for about 2 minutes total, if that! However, I need to have nursing as a tool to keep her quiet and get her to sleep on the plane... so I will keep it for another week or two!! I'm not really sure how long I will take to completely wean her. It is absolutely no bother for me to nurse her and I enjoy the closeness we have. Plus, I really want to keep her as healthy as I can through the cold/flu season. So, we'll see how things go! I'd also really like to have my body back to myself, so there is a delicate balance! :)
Officially she is 20lbs 6 oz (which puts her in the 31%) and 31 1/4 inches long (95%)! So... tall and skinny! :) With a very long torso!
1. Her eyes are still a pretty blue color.
2. Her left tear duct is still plugged. We have an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist this month to discuss that.
3. She hasn't spit up at all this past month.