So here we go...
Food
AR is a particularly good eater, I have no complaints there. Some nights, she's not really into dinner and other nights she's like a garbage disposal. She's getting good at the spoon and fork. When I'm lazy and don't want her to make a mess, I don't give her one to which she calls me out and insists on one which is a good, but messy thing. We still don't give her juice at home, although I think some other people are giving it to her against our request, but with us, it's just milk and water. Her favorites according to my food groups because I have no idea what they are now:
Fruits-She will never turn down fruit, baby girl loves it all!
Vegetables-Veggies she's a bit more picky but her top faves right now are frozen peas (God bless whatever blog I read that on over a year ago), carrots, and recently she's really into orange/red bell peppers. She'll eat an entire one at a meal if I let her!
Meat/Proteins-Venison which makes her daddy very happy, eggs, black beans, and she loves to eat straight peanuts.
Dairy-I'm stressing about this! AR loves her milk, yogurt, and cheese. However, she's been battling this on and off cough/cold since December. We've been to the doctor/chiropractor and they all say her chest looks clear. We went to the doctor twice who gave her medicine both times which didn't really help it. The last time it got bad, I decided to take her to the chiropractor. She loved it, the wait wasn't long, and it cost just as much plus no medicine which made me one happy mama.
I think it helped but the downfall to this is I think she needs to be seen regularly for it to constantly help. The chiro suggested we eliminate dairy for awhile to see if it was maybe allergy related. My mom watched her for almost a week straight so we tried it out then. I didn't see a huge difference but we went ahead and switched to almond milk at home but she's still getting regular milk at the sitter's. She loves yogurt but I've noticed when it sits on her skin for awhile, which it does A LOT when she feeds herself, her skin looks irritated. I'm not sure if that's just a topical thing or an actual allergy so we've cut back on the yogurt and I'll definitely be asking the doc when we go for her two -year check up in a couple months.
Grains-She's not really a grain eater, doesn't eat much bread although she loves Cheerios and Goldfish if you can count those as grains.
Indulgences-Luckily, baby girl will accept fruit as dessert but if Mommy or Daddy are eating ice cream or something she wants a bite and loves it! We have to hide the Cheez-It box from her or she'll devour the whole thing. We definitely indulged on Mommy's birthday-love the chocolate all over her face!
Communication
Seriously, this child amazes me every day! She's so smart and I don't even realize it. If you know me in real life then you know just a few months ago, I was totally stressing about her not talking and even looking into speech therapy! I know, I know, I freak out, it's my personality. Now, she's repeating all kinds of things, which means we have to watch our language, and I can really start to communicate and understand her.
She still doesn't quite understand the concept of no/yes so that can be frustrating for both of us. For instance, she'll point to the kitchen and I'll go through a whole list of things: Do you want milk, grapes, Goldfish, etc...to which she'll say no. Then she gets frustrated and starts crying. We'll walk into the kitchen and I tell her to show me. Then she'll walk to the fridge and I'll open it up and she points to milk. It's difficult but we're both learning.
She calls people by name now, for instance:
My mom-formerly Nana is now Nanny
Matt-Daddy but she knows his name is Matt
Me-Momney but when she wants my attention it's Lyssa
Emma-both her dog and her friend, Emma B.
Shadow-Shadie
She knows all the kids at the sitter's, maybe a few just by syllables, and she even knows the sugarglider's name is Simba...she tells me this all.the.time. She knows her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandpas, grandmas, etc...and she'll repeat any name you tell her. Her latest thing is getting out photo albums and having me "read" them to her while she points to people and calls them out by name. She knows my step-sis Jo by photo, Haley, Nanny, and anytime we talk about or see my SIL, she says or asks for Ry, her fiancé. The other night, we Facetimed with her and the whole time, she kept saying, "Ry, Ry, Ry" and he wasn't even home!
The sitter is working on vowels with her. She knows A really well and can say the other vowels. She can also repeat after you and count. Although when she's in a bad mood and we'll ask her to repeat, she'll just say no. We'll keep counting and you'd think we're torturing her by the way she wails out NOOOOO!!!! It's kind of hilarious.
She's so sweet when she says thank you. The th are usually quiet so it just sounds like ank you. She signs and says sorry and please. She refuses to say love. I'll say I and she immediately goes to you! I'll ask her to repeat after me but for each word (I love you), she just says you, you, you.
She gives thumbs up, although sometimes her index finger stays out, too and she spends her time trying to put it down. If I show her then she just touches her thumb to mine-silly girl! She's also started putting one hand on each side of your face and giving you a "two-handed kiss" as we call it. We do "Mommy Kisses." When I lay her down for bed at night, she sticks Miss Monkey up for me to give her kisses. Then I slowly back away from her crib and we kiss our index fingers then throw each other kisses until I turn off the light. We both lay/stand there giggling at each other as we throw kisses back and forth. I could do it all night-love her so much!
Matt started a game with her where we tell her "Ready...set...go!" and she'll run down the hallway. Then we'll call out "Freeze!" She doesn't exactly freeze but she stops and hey, it's a step in the right direction.
She's also begun to understand that when people leave, she won't get to see them which has been really hard. She cries when Nanny and Haley leaves and it breaks my heart. We've been Skyping with my mom a lot lately because she asks for Nanny almost every night, even running to the guest room to look for her. Luckily, my mom is going to be here all summer, but I know August will be really hard when she leaves.
She does tons of animal sounds, points to pictures and says words, blah blah blah...yeah, I was worried about nothing! Oh and she's really into saying CHEESE! when you take her picture thanks to her Leappad.
Gross Motor Skills
As you know, we've been doing gymnastics since September and she LOVES it! Every Tuesday night, we just say the word, she runs to her closet, gets out her leotard, and is ready to go. Even if she's in the worst mood, she gets so excited for gymnastics. While she's a long ways from the Olympics, I've seen her grow in this area by leaps and bounds! She jumps, can wait in line, acts like a frog, walks on a balance beam and kicks her leg, and hangs...omg, this girl loves to hang! I would definitely say we're getting our money's worth out of gymnastics class.
We did a set of semi-private swim lessons. The first one went great, the second one went well until halfway through and the third she wouldn't get in the water until I coaxed her too. I've taken her swimming during and since then and she still has no fear of the water, will blow bubbles, put her face in the water, jump in, etc...so it's not the water. We're going to do private lessons this month and then I want to sign her up for group lessons over the summer. I'm a little concerned though since she didn't do well with semi-private. We'll see...
For her birthday, my grandma and I enrolled her in soccer class. I know, I know...you're probably sitting there thinking I overprogram my kid and maybe I am, but she's my kid and she's probably going to be my only kid so I'll do what I want! Bonus points for anyone who knows what that's from. I was a soccer player growing up and I'd love to see her play soccer too, but it'll be up to her when she can decide. For now, I just wanted a non-water and non-gymnastic activity for her. We'll see how she does to decide if we continue.
My girl is a mover and a shaker. Along with hanging, she loves to climb but hasn't figured out how to climb out of the crib yet...knock on wood. She runs, she marches, tip toes...I can barely keep up!
Side note: Playing at home, all she wants to do is read, read, read! I don't even know why we have toys.
Social Skills
My girl loves to be out and about. If she's at the sitter's, she has a strong personality. However, if we're with kids we don't see often or she doesn't know them, she tends to shy away until she's comfortable. With that being said, AR never meets a stranger. She has to say "hi" in the sweetest voice to every person, both child and adult, on the playground, at the store, at work, etc...
She has become a mother hen at the sitter's I've been told and I notice it when we're at the playground. If she hears another child crying, she was to stop what she's doing to make sure they're okay. She loves to hug, give kisses, blow kisses, give fives, and even give knuckles.
She can hear the phone in the other room and will say "phone." Therefore, she wants to talk on the phone. She'll say hi and if you ask how she's doing, she'll say "I'm fine." She'll even give the phone a kiss if you tell her say bye-bye.
I think she has good manners for her age. I always ask her to say please and thank you, most of the time it's prompted, but she's slowly learning when to say it. She'll say "sorry" although I'm not sure she understands that just yet, just knows she's supposed to.
Oh and her newest thing, whenever we do something with another kid, if she can't see them then she calls out for them. This is my friend's son, Liam. When they walked away from the table, she was shouting, "E-am! E-am!" Adorable and embarrassing all at the same time. Who am I kidding? I love it!
We started timeout a little after she turned one. I'm glad we did. She now "fully" understands what timeout is, sometimes she even puts herself in timeout! If I ask her to do something and she tells me "no" then I'll ask "Do you want to go in timeout?" She'll reply no. To which I'll tell her, "Okay then pick up xxx or go in timeout." Then I'll count to three. Typically, one and two will be answered with no but I'd say 80% of the time, before I say three, she'll pick it up.
The hardest time to do this is at dinner time and at bedtime. At dinner, it's normally because she throws something on the floor. I'll tell her we don't throw food on the floor, let her finish eating, and then when she's done, I make her pick it up. If she doesn't, she goes in timeout but usually she loves to help clean-up (i.e. carry laundry baskets, help take out the trash) so I don't think this is really a punishment for her. However, it got to where I was just putting her in timeout and she'd get upset during dinner and not finish it. I figure if she cleans it up, then I'm not out anything and hopefully she'll get tired of cleaning it up and stop too. Luckily, this doesn't happen often.
Occasionally, she'll throw tantrums. Luckily, this are mostly contained to home. Like if she asks for a snack and it's almost dinner time so I'll tell her not now. Then she'll cry, lay on the floor, pout, etc...I'll leave the room (where I can still see her) and tell her, if you need to be upset for a little bit that's fine, come see me when you're done. They usually don't last long. My fear is that I've heard three is worst than two and we're not even two yet! This pic is for those of you that say she's always smiling and looks so happy. Um, yeah...
She's starting to develop her personality, which is perfect parts of mine and Matt's which is just enough to drive me crazy at times! For the most part, she's a great kid who listens well and does what is asked for her but every now and then, I have a pure terrible two toddler on my hands!
Random
Potty Training-Ugh, I dread it. I hate hearing about it. There's so many concepts, so many other mommies talking about it. Honestly, I hadn't given it much thought until some peeps were discussing it on Facebook and posting pics. I immediately went out, got a potty and bought some Pull-Ups. Um, yeah, the Pull-Ups are still in the box, haven't been touched. The potty on the other hand, gets a lot of
Preschool-Speaking of, this August, AR will start two-year-old preschool! She doesn't have to be potty-trained so no worries there. She's only going to go on Wednesdays from 9-2 so my MIL will take her. I have to pack her lunch which I think stresses me out more than anything. I know I'll send a fruit, probably carrots or a bell pepper, water, and then I'm thinking maybe crackers/cheese/meat? Since she doesn't like bread, that kind of eliminates the major sandwich thing in most lunches. I guess since I work FT, it's not like I'm going to have separation anxiety so I'm not worried about that, just food-go figure! I wanted more of a learning atmosphere for her and I thought this would be a good introductory into a "classroom" setting although I still think it's more free play than anything. Plus I think I stress/fear having to "teach" her everything so this helps me out in that area too.
Diapers-I'm still squeezing her into a size 3 diaper although she sleeps in size 4. She's only 25 pounds but I'm also having to change her more frequently so next time I purchase diapers, it'll be a size 4.
Clothes-Ugh, with the weather, we're in this weird transition stage. Most of her winter clothes were 12-18 months. I'd bought all 2T for this summer. Since we leave in the oddest climate ever, she can wear 2T one week and be okay, little big on her, and the next I'll have to squeeze her into winter clothes which results in her belly hanging out or her ankles showing. For this matter, we've been wearing onesies under sweatshirts so her belly doesn't get cold. Size 5 shoes are a tad too big and I wish it'd warm up so we can start wearing summer shoes and put away the size 4 Nikes I keep cramming her foot into! For the most part, I let her pick out her own shoes and she always chooses these boots in the pic above, her cowboy boots, or her black dress shoes. I've wised up and give her choices between two shoes, we do the same with clothes. Although, she'll pick one and I'll say, "Okay, this one" holding it up and then she points to the other-oye!
Whew, so this is a super long, AR info dump! Basically, I have your typically almost-two-year-old toddler, that I still call my baby. She's still my whole world and I'd do anything for her. It's crazy how much she's changed in this past year, shoot, just month to month. I want her to stay my baby girl forever but I know she's growing up, right in front of me! Two...my sweet baby will be two in less than two months...I can't even believe it. I'm thankful for every moment I've had with her and look forward to continuing to watch her grow into a little lady.
1 comment :
She is seriously so adorable and so sweet. i love all the smiling photos you get. I don't think Mac has smiled for a photo for me in 8 months. I promise he really does smile and is very happy! :) I'm excited to hear how she does in preschool. I was thinking about enrolling Mac this fall, but everything I've read says that we shouldn't do big changes until 6 months after a new baby, so maybe he'll start in January. We're also implementing time outs now. No fun. Toddler drama is hilarious and horrifying.
Post a Comment