Look Whooo Is 15 Months Old?

This girl is 15 months old today! She is full of personality, always full of conversation, and full of fun. Last week, she cut her first molar. Oh. My. I dread the rest of her molars coming in. Her naps were terrible, she went down crying at bedtime and naptime even with pain relievers (crying is pretty rare for her, especially at sleep times, so for her to do it daily was sad....and a little annoying because it hasn't totally stopped even though she's fine now). One day, her nap was literally 35 minutes long! A 15-month-old with 35 minutes of sleep all day. Not. Cool. Last week consisted of a lot of hour-long (or less) napping, crying, overall crankiness, and just not her normally happy disposition. Once that tooth popped through the gums all is back to normal!

I absolutely love taking her out shopping now. I joke with Michel that she should become a Wal-Mart employee and stand at the front greeting people as they come in because when we walk through the parking lot or the store, she just waves at everyone we pass with a big smile on her face! And if somebody waves back, or better yet, starts talking to her, that's sure to receive a great big smile! She's such a friendly little girl!

This month has really proven just how much she understands what we tell her, and how much she tests her boundaries. We give her one warning for whatever it is (lately it's eating things that she shouldn't - like the lamb on one of our nativity scenes; standing on the couch; purposely trying to crawl off the bed; throwing food on the floor). We tell her "if you do (fill in the blank) again, it's all done. She's complied enough that I know she understands exactly what she's not supposed to do, so we have to make sure to follow through or else she'll never listen to us. So far, we've managed to avoid any full-out tantrums....just a lot of fits that are actually more funny than they are anything else! :) Also, the funny thing about her consequences is she doesn't usually throw a fit when they occur. If she stands on the couch, she loses the privilege to be on the couch. The first time I took her off of it I expected a fit, but instead, she looked at me and signed "all done". It's not that I feel the consequence is ineffective; I feel like she's understanding what just happened. I don't know...I'm not at all trying to brag on my parenting. I have no idea what I'm doing half any of the time. We just try something and if it works - great! If not, we'll try something different next time. But so far, explaining stuff to her seems to be working so much better than anything else we've tried.

Weight: 21lbs 1oz (25th %ile)

Length: 29 1/4" (20th %ile)

Head Circumference: 17 3/4" (25th-30th %ile)
Side note about her head circumference: we had her 15 month well-check today (that's how I know all of her stats and %iles) and our regular pediatrician is out on maternity leave, so we saw the nurse practitioner. There was a pretty significant jump in her head circumference from 12 months (17") to today, so they're asking that we come back next month to have her head re-measured. The nurse practitioner thinks it's possible her head size was measured incorrectly at her 12 month appointment because from 9-12 months it only grew 1/4" whereas from 12-15 months it grew 3/4". She said if it grows a significant amount between today and our next appointment then there might be cause for concern. OK, I have mentioned on Facebook that I struggle with worry and anxiety, so hearing it's possible there's something wrong with my sweet girl gives me anxiety like crazy. So then I get on Google and start researching stuff...bad idea. While I was doing that this afternoon, I had a very strong urge to go read my daily devotional and give my concerns to God. Lo and behold, today's devotional was titled: Disciples of the Mind - Fear. It's no wonder that God was urging me to go read my devotional. Today's devotional was written for a sin I'm particularly struggling with this afternoon. How comforting to know that my God loves me so much that he knew exactly what I needed to read, and hear today! I just felt so much better, and like the burden was truly lifted today after reading that. All this being said, we would still appreciate prayers for our sweet girl that when we go back her head size will not be a concerning issue, and also pray that her Mommy will not be anxious about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving in my heart, I will give my requests to God and he will cover me with the peace that transcends only from him (my favorite verse - Phillippians 4:6).

Sleep: Her sleep needs haven't changed much this month. She's still doing 1 nap a day. When she's not teething, she generally naps 2-3 hours. Occasionally she'll still pull a 1 hour nap, but I've just conceded to the fact that it will happen, and it just means early bedtime for her. I think she's still catching up on missed sleep from last week because this week she's been sleeping 12 full hours at night and napping 2 1/2-3 hours during the day! Love it :) When she's not catching up on sleep or teething, she's up anywhere between 7 and 8 in the morning and then goes to bed anywhere between 7 and 8 at night with a 2ish+ hour nap in there. Not too shabby!


Eating: Some days she likes certain foods; other days, not so much. She currently is not a huge fan of bananas, but a month ago they were her favorite food. Michel's famous response to things like this: She's a year old. :) As of today, the foods she will always eat are: cheese, anything in a pouch, peas, broccoli, green beans, corn, oatmeal, yogurt (this is seriously her favorite food right now - both Greek and flavored yogurt), tuna salad, cheese enchiladas, Spanish rice, and anything sweet! She is her mother's child :) She's barely drinking milk, so the NP (nurse practitioner) suggested we water down whole milk in case it's too thick for her liking, or we can try 2%.

Clothes: She is starting to outgrow her 9-12m/12m clothes. We are in desperate need of bigger clothes for her! We were well-stocked for the first 18 months of life, but now we're running out.

New achievements of the month:
1. Pulls to standing! Yes, she is late in gross motor skills, but she's coming along! I'm not going to lie...it doesn't bother me at all that she's a late walker. I'm dreading the day that she's running up and down the halls. She keeps me on my toes just with how quickly she crawls. But now that she knows she can stand she tries to do it all the time: in bed, in the tub, pulls up to the coffee table and toy box, and anything else she can get her hands on.
2. Climbed up the stairs just yesterday. I went to my best friend's house. She has a 5 and 2-year-old. Her 5 y.o. mainly stayed upstairs to play, but her 2 y.o. came up and down the stairs to play with us, then play with his brother, and back up, back down. I knew Audrey was by the stairs, and I had been watching her closely. I seriously turned my back on her for about 5 seconds and she was up 4 stairs...just climbing away! She just needed the right motivation to make her want to go upstairs.
3. She says soooooo many words that I can't even keep track. Some that I can think of right off the top of my head (and these are words that she says without any prompting or anything): grass, sky, Santa, cup, book, ball, puppy, bunny, treadmill, bed, pillow, baby, Kleenex, Bubble Guppies (it's Bubba, but I know what she means), frog, peacock, penguin, duck, kitty, Ninja, Mama, Dada, Grandpa, Nana, Grandaddy, pouch (she loves any food in a pouch), water, diaper, pea, carrot, corn, bread, yogurt, cheese, sticker, bye-bye. Now I will fully admit some of these words nobody else would understand; some of these words I only understand in context. She's very good at pointing to make herself more clear. Like book and ball can sound very similar, so if I'm saying the wrong word she'll start pointing at what she wants.
4. She knows what sounds A, P, N, and D say. I promise, I do not sit around drilling her on vocabulary words and letter sounds - she just really has a knack for learning new words. She loves to talk, so it's very motivating for her to learn how to be understood! Plus, I mean, she is brilliant. Just look at who her mommy is :)
5. I'm pretty sure she tattles! Ummm....I don't know who she got that from :) When either Michel or I tell her no about something she wants, or is currently doing that she's not supposed to do, she wants the other parent and will sit and cry while saying a slur of "dadodadadada". It's not understandable by any means, but I'm pretty sure she's crying to the other parent about how unfair we are. If Michel's not here, she'll just sit on the floor and do it to herself. It's actually more cute than it is sad. Where do they learn these things???

Likes:
1. Puppies
2. Pictures of Santa
3. Books about Santa
4. Christmas
5. Daddy
6. Mama
7. Reading to herself or someone reading to her (she has started sitting with books and pointing to pictures while mumbling to herself....sooo adorable!)
8. Being the center of attention
9. Having other kids pay her lots of attention
10. Playing with balls
11. Playing on Mommy and Daddy's bed - seriously can stay up there having the best time for 20-30 minutes before she wants down
12. Touching the Christmas tree. She has to ask first, and someone has to sit with her. When we first put it up, she tried to eat a light bulb, so she's not allowed by the tree by herself for now.

Dislikes:
1. Diaper changes - rather than crying now she'll give you a big hug so that you won't put her down - again, where do they learn these things?? I won't lie...it usually does postpone the diaper change for a few minutes. I love my big girl's hugs!
2. Socks on her feet. If you see us out and about and it's 30 degrees, please don't tell me she doesn't have socks on her feet. I know. I try. I always have at least 1 pair in her diaper bag, but she will not keep them on.
3. Sitting in Santa's lap

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Oh well...maybe next year she won't find him so scary! I can't wait to see her excitement about opening all her presents this year on Christmas! Last year, I was excited to celebrate her first Christmas and quickly learned that she was way too young to care about any of it. This year, I know she will love the presents (more specifically tissue paper, bows, and wrapping paper!) and she will definitely love being around all of her family.