20 Months Old - Highs and Lows

Grace is 20 months old.  I have had a truly wonderful summer with her.  She goes to daycare Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  And this time has been really wonderful for me.  I can clean up the house, get gas, get groceries, do laundry, and she gets to play with her friends instead of accompanying me on errands etc.

So, because she has daycare 3 times a week, my mom and I have really been trying to make the most of our Tuesdays/Thursdays and weekends. We've gone to the zoo, the petting farm, blueberry picking, the pool many times, the park many times, to friends' houses, and to gymnastics every week.  But she still gets plenty of time in our beloved playroom so she can put her dolls and Bunny to bed!

Talking: Grace remembers so much and now can actually tell us about events. She can even answer correctly (sometimes) "who", "what" "where" type of questions. For example:
Me:  "Who was at the party Grace?"
Grace: "Bumpa, Gramma, Tondy, Sheeena, Aedan, Mommy, Daddy".

Me: "What does your shirt say?"
Grace: "Handlebar" or "Topsail Island" (depending on what shirt she's wearing).

This month's update would not be complete without her most talked about story: "Wolf! Wolf! Violin. Downtown. Stroller. Safe. Restaurant."
This link should explain that story.

She also has some really cute phrases: "I can't believe it!"  "I think so." "I guess so." that she clearly picked up just by listening to me talk.

I love how random memories pop up in her head and she'll tell me about them.  It's really interesting when she talks about a memory from over a month ago!  "Guitar. Uncle Brian. Aunt Vidhya. Music. Singing."  (Remembering when my brother played the guitar while we were in North Carolina).

Size: Grace is wearing size 18-24 months and also 2T.  I will probably buy all 2T clothes for fall and maybe some 3T as well.  It's a little bit sad, because she now she'll officially be in all toddler sizes, no more baby sizes.  She's wearing size 5 diapers.  She just outgrew her size 5 shoes a few months ago, and now is outgrowing her size 6 shoes. 

Skills:  Grace is really making progress with her jumping! She doesn't get any air really yet, but she knows to bend her knees and the general motion that jumping is supposed to be!  I love watching her try to jump.  Grace can now officially do the "big kid" slide at Allmendinger and Fritz Parks (and I'm sure at other parks too).  At gymnastics, Grace can hang by herself on the bar and on the rings without her feet touching the ground! It's amazing!

Food:
Yes, we're still nursing!  I'm proud and shocked that we are still nursing at 20 months old. I'm ready to wean, but she doesn't seem quite ready herself.  She eats plenty of solids (usually), and is drinking more daytime milk and water from a sippy cup.  I would love if she "self-weaned", but that doesn't seem quite likely right now.

Sleep:
Yes, we're still waking up in the night.  Sometimes once, sometimes twice, sometimes more but not usually.  Something has to change, because when school starts again, I won't be napping while she naps, I'll be running around like crazy in a classroom of 26 high energy 6 year-olds.  Hoping for a better sleep update next post.

Likes: 
- Bunny.  Bunny is still #1 in her life and comes everywhere we go.  Grace is such a sweet "mother" to Bunny.  At the zoo, when she saw something special (the monkeys, the jellyfish), she said "Bunny! Get it!" to me, and then she held Bunny up to the cage/tank to see the monkeys and the jellyfish.  She loves spreading blankets out for Bunny, and saying "Bunny night night".  It melts my heart how gentle and loving she is with Bunny.

-Panera. Grace loves Panera. She can say both "restaurant" and "Panera".  I give her half of my sandwich, which is chicken, cheese, tomato, and avocado, and she eats the whole thing!

- Daddy.  Grace is loving her daddy the most these days.  Which is wonderful, but also hard because he works long hours and every day of the week.  But when he has a moment to be with her, he takes it.

-Water Play.  We take her to Vet's pool, and she loves splashing around.  She loves splashing around in the sink (which she can now reach due to the step stool I put out).  When we went to Ludington in July, she LOVED splashing around in Lake Michigan with Brian, despite the water being cold!  One of her most favorite summer time activities right now though is playing in the hose!

Most water play (besides the sink), requires multiple outfit changes, diaper changes (into swim diaper), sunblock, sun hat, towels ready, snacks ready, etc.  Overall a big effort.  But to see her big smile, and to hear her happy shrieks, makes the effort all worth it.  I just wish we had a splash pad closer to our house.


-Books. She is our little reader, but still mostly preferring to have an adult read books to her, rather than just flipping through them on her own.  That's okay by me though, I love reading to her.  I want to show her how important books are, so I make sure to stop whatever I'm doing to read to her if she asks me to.

-The Park.  Grace loves going to The Park (which really can mean any park).  She loves slides, she loves swings, and she loves watching other people.


-Animals (especially dogs and cats).  She is still quite the little animal lover!  We went to the zoo, which was so much fun for Grace, my parents, and me.  In this picture, Grace had just fed the giraffe lettuce! She can say "Giraffe. Lettuce. Eat it. Hungry."

- Cousins.  Grace loves all of her cousins!  She had the best time playing with Dylan and Max when they came to visit us.  She likes Aedan, even though she isn't always nice to him!

Dislikes:  She doesn't like sitting very long for meals.  She doesn't like other kids or other people touching her items unless she told them to.  She doesn't like diaper changes usually (especially dirty ones).  She doesn't like when strangers try to touch her or talk to her before she is ready for it.  She doesn't like the dancing Elmo or the large costumed Elmo.  She doesn't really like costumed people in general.


Here is a short list of things I am loving about Grace right now:

- I love her laugh.  Oh how I love it.  She loves when I say "I'm going to get you!" She'll shriek and sometimes run right into my arms, but sometimes run and lay flat on the floor giggling.

- I love her sweet words.  She will say "I wuv you" if we say it to her first.  She will say "pwease" when she wants something (usually another book before bedtime).

- I love her tender side, when she takes care of Bunny or her baby doll, or another random stuffed animal.

- I love her determination.  If she wants something, she will ask for it, she will try to get it herself, she will make it happen (if possible).  This can be exhausting and hard, but it's a great personality trait.

- Most of all, I love how she loves me.  It's a love you've never experienced until you're a parent.  She doesn't know yet that I'm an imperfect person.  That my bedroom is always messy, that I procrastinate a lot, that I can only cook a few meals.  All she knows is that I feed her, I comfort her, I nurse her, I take her places, I show her new things, I cuddle her, read to her, and play with her, and that's her whole world.  I would do anything for her.  Someday, I won't be her everything.  But for now, this love that she has for me, it is truly the best thing I could ever imagine.  She is my whole world and I wouldn't change it for anything.

19 Months Old - Little Miss Independent

Grace is 19 months old.  She is turning into a full person.  A little person with her own opinions and ideas, an excellent memory, and a sweet silly streak.

Here are some updates with Grace:

TALKING: Oh my goodness, so much talking!  Grace basically has a stream of thoughts going through her head that she is starting to be able to verbalize.  "Bus. Susan. Mark. Gray Bumpa (Great Grandpa). Airplane."  (We recently flew to North Carolina, and from the plane, we took a bus to the rental car place with my uncle, cousins, and grandpa).

Grace likes to give directions.  "Mama sit down."  "Mama night night." "Close eyes!" or "Close the door" (which can mean zip up a zipper, close a drawer, close the fridge, or just close any door), "I get it".

The best part is, she can tell me what she wants and doesn't want.  She says "more" and "all done" all the time.  She can say the names of all her favorite foods, books, and stuffed animals, so she can ask specifically for what she wants.

Something really sweet she says is "hands", and then she grabs your hand to take you with her.  It is just the sweetest to know that she wants to hold your hand and wants to you to be with her.  She also has started saying "nex you", which means "come sit next to me".  Because, I'll say to her, "Sure, I'll come sit next to you"!  It's so sweet that I don't mind sitting on the hardwood floor in uncomfortable corners of the room, just because she said "nex you".

TEETH: I've honestly lost count of her teeth, she has so many, it seems like she has almost all her baby teeth.  Although, she still consistently has teething symptoms (drooling, sucking on her hand, randomly fussy, so more teeth could be popping up any time).
We had her first dentist appointment today (7/12), and they said her teeth look great, she is ahead of schedule when it comes to # of teeth, but still has plenty more to come.

SKILLS: It seems that all her milestones now are related to talking.  She can count to three (onetwothree), but I don't think she quite understands the concept of counting yet.  She can turn the pages correctly in books, and say simple words to describe pictures in the books.
She is still struggling to eat with a spoon and fork, but I try to let her practice as much as possible (despite how messy it gets).

She can run, but is still figuring out how to jump.

SLEEP: Grace goes to sleep around 8 pm, has one middle of the night wakeup, and wakes up for good between 7-8 am (except when we travel!  Then she sometimes stays up for hours in the middle of the night.  No joke, she will be awake for 3-4 hours in the middle of the night when I travel with her).
She still has one mid-day nap daily, that can be from 1.5 - 3 hours.  This middle of the day nap thing is amazing.  It really refreshes me to have a rest period and then feel ready to have a good afternoon with her.

SIZE: Grace is really tall.  When we see other kids at the park, she's taller than almost all 2 year olds we meet (and Grace is just over a year and a half).  I almost feel like I'm missing out on some baby time because she's gotten so tall so quickly and so verbal so quickly.  I assumed that her height percentile would be something like 95% because she towers over all kids her age!  But, the dr. recently said she's at the 75% for kids her age, which is perfect.


QUIRKS:
As Grace's personality is becoming more defined, we're noticing traits and patterns.  The most common behavior I notice is: Grace likes things to be a certain way.  For example, if our gate to the stairs is always closed (which it is), and one day it's left open, Grace will yell "close the door! Close the door!" because she knows it should be closed, and then, if we don't come immediately, she'll close it herself.  I love how she wants doors and drawers always closed.

But, she is also particular about who can touch what.  Now, most kids don't want other people touching their favorite toys.  But, Grace goes a little above and beyond that.  She doesn't want other people touching her favorite toys, her furniture, her books, or even her mama, or her mama's purse, or her mama's phone.  Not only that, she doesn't want specific toys touching her favorite toys or objects.  It's very interesting, and I'm curious to see if she becomes more laid back about this or more intense as she gets older. 

My Sweet Baby
Once again, I am blown away by how much love I have for this sweet little girl.  She is truly the light of my life and I am the luckiest mother in the world to have her.  I have been perpetually exhausted for 19 months now, and have had a messy house, messy car, and messy hair for 19 months now, but these have been the most special and happiest 19 months of my life, because I have her.

Family Photos 4/22/2017

It's so important to me that we document Grace at every stage.  So, I like to try to have family pictures taken at least twice per year right now, while she's growing and changing so much all the time!

In April, we had pictures taken by a local photographer, Amanda Dumouchelle, and I think she just did a wonderful job of capturing our little family.

 Oh this smile!  She is our perfect everything.

 Just a little bit of sass.

 Her smile and little legs in those tights and that white bow.  My little angel.

Right as this picture was taken, Grace was running, fell down, and burst into tears.  So, needless to say, this was our last picture.  But, I was definitely satisfied with all of the previous pictures we had gotten.  What a fun morning.

17 Months - New Words Every Single Day

Grace at 17 months is a handful, but an absolutely sweet, cuddly, curious, and smart handful.  She learns new words every single day.  And not just nouns, but verbs and two-word phrases as well!

Here's the latest with Grace:

Sleep:
Grace goes to sleep between 7:45 - 8:00 every night.  She wakes up once in the middle of the night (around 2:30), and then for good between 6:30 - 7:30 every morning.  She takes a solid 2 hour nap every day from about 12 -2.  I think it's a pretty good schedule, and I try to keep her to this schedule as much as possible.  I'm still pretty exhausted each day though, because her 2:30 am wakeup sometimes happens later, like at 4.  But I naturally wake up at 2, and then can't fall asleep and just sit waiting for her wakeup.  So, unfortunately, sleep isn't much better at a year and a half than it was at a year.

Food:
Grace is still breastfeeding about 3 times a day!  She drinks water and milk from a sippy sup, but really just takes tiny sips.
She is loving yogurt, chicken, raspberries and blueberries right now.  And of course loves her usual standbys of crackers, goldfish, and cereal.


Likes:
Grace's number one possession in this world is her bunny.  She is very attached to Bunny, she keeps track of where Bunny is at all times, she shows Bunny new and cool things when she experiences them, she only will nurse if she has Bunny in her arms.

She's had several meltdowns because I won't let Bunny in the bathtub (although Bunny once was thrown in), or because I won't let Bunny sit on the highchair tray while she eats her messy food.

Her favorite game to play is with Bunny, too. She takes baby blankets (or towels, or shirts), and lays them out on the ground, then she takes Bunny and lays him on the blanket.  Then covers Bunny with another blanket or two.  Sometimes she'll say "night night", and sometimes she'll say "shhhhh" to me after putting Bunny to sleep.  It is so sweet and it just melts my heart.

Grace LOVES the park (Allmendinger), down the street from our house, and she loves the swing we have in our backyard.  She can say "Park", "swing", and "stroller", so she is good at asking for what she wants.

Grace loves the swing.  She loves the big slide at the park (on my lap).  She loves books and one of the only ways to get her to sit still is to have her sit in your lap for a book.

She loves pointing out dogs and cats, but often doesn't want to get too close to dogs when she's given the chance.

Grace loves her cousins!  In early April, Colleen and her family came to Ann Arbor, and Grace went swimming with her cousins and to the Hands on Museum.  She can say "Max"(Maa") and "Dyl", and loves to FaceTime with them on the phone.

Dislikes:
Grace doesn't like the Easter Bunny!  We went to an Easter egg hunt and had chances to get free pictures with the Easter Bunny, but Grace very clearly said "No" and "Bye Bye" to the Bunny.

She doesn't like the texture of grass on her hands.

She doesn't like waking up from naps or in the morning.

This is an odd one, but she doesn't seem to like her cousin Aedan very much.  She cries almost every time I try to put her next to him for a picture.  It's the strangest thing, because he is just a smiley, happy, fuss-free baby.  I know they'll be great friends one day, but she's not ready for that day yet.

(She's upset in this picture below because she's being forced to be with Aedan AND because she's in the grass!)


Words:
Grace can repeat almost any sound we say.  Her list of words has grown incredibly long. It is amazing to have her be able to communicate what she does and doesn't want.




On Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I pick Grace up at my parents' house, sometimes my mom and I just sit for an hour or two in Grace's playroom (the living room) watching Grace play, playing with her, and chatting with each other.  Grace never seems to want to leave Grandma's house once I arrive, and I love being there with her myself!

I know how lucky I am to have this.  How fortunate, that to have so much time with my mom and my daughter and I all just being together.  It really is special and Grace seems to know it's special too.

Grace is truly everything I ever dreamed of in a child and more.  I am physically and emotionally exhausted at the end of every single day, but I wouldn't trade a moment with her for the world.  I can't believe what a special and sweet little girl she is turning out to be.

Looking Forward, Not Back

Every day I get a "Moment Garden" email, that shows me pictures and videos of Grace from exactly 6 months ago today and exactly one year ago today.  When this picture was sent today in my Moment Garden from one year ago, it just slightly broke my heart.

March 2016

How can I simultaneously be head over heels in love with my current toddler, and yet mourn actual tears for this baby who she once was?  This sweet sweet innocent baby who I just love with my whole heart.

My mind has already erased the hard parts of that time of life, one year ago exactly.  She was almost 4 months old, and she was sleeping for no longer than 2 hours at a time at night (3 if we were lucky).  Which meant she woke up at 10pm, midnight, 2am, 4am and then I had to get up for work by 6. I was working in a complete zombie state, and missing her every moment of every work day.  She got her first cold after only one week of daycare.

March 2017

That time of life was exhausting, and yet I ache to hold her as a baby just one more time.  I cannot believe how fleeting that year of her life went by.  How did each day seem to feel so long, and yet I blinked and and a whole year was gone?

So right now, I want to look forward.  Instead of mourning the passage of time, I want to celebrate it.  She will become a little girl and then a big girl, and there are so many good things to look forward to for that. So, I made a list of some of my favorite childhood experiences that I can't wait for her to have.  

What I'm Looking Forward To:

- sledding down Vet's hill, cross country skiing in Eberwhite Woods, or downhill skiing somewhere Up North Michigan, and then coming indoors with frozen cheeks, to warm up with a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows

- discovering new books, characters, series, and enjoy reading them together

- pulling Grace in a wagon

- jumping on a trampoline for hours on end

- making friends, being excited to see them, making up silly dances together, having inside jokes, exploring outdoors with them.

- lots and lots of cousin time!

- going camping, waking up outdoors, and sitting on a picnic table eating blueberry pancakes made on a travel grill 

- Capture the Flag.  This game was so thrilling for me as a kid, whether it was gym class, or summer camp, or around the neighborhood. 

- blueberry picking, strawberry picking, apple picking!  She already loves fruit, so I know she'll love picking it fresh.

- Camp Michigania!  It it one of my most favorite childhood experiences, and someday I would love for Grace to go there.

- being on a sport team, practicing and working hard, and experiencing what it's like to win with that team

- Mackinac Island

Then, there's some childhood experiences that I didn't exactly have, but I can't wait for her to have one day:

- Disney World!  (I went at age 2 and age 16.  I think Grace would appreciate it more sometime between ages 3 - 10).

- The American Girl store in Chicago.

- Ludington! The beach, House of Flavors, going on a boat on Hamlin Lake, watching the fireworks and then walking home to Grandma and Grandpa's house

- Taking mother/daughter/grandmother vacations

- Visiting her Uncle Brian and Aunt Vidhya in Chicago

- Being a big sister.  I don't know if this will ever happen for Grace, but if someday it did, I just know she would be a wonderful big sister.

I'm sure there are much more.  So, when I get my daily e-mails showing me what my sweet baby looked like one year ago, I'm going to think about this list and all the things I want to do with her. I cannot wait to see the little human she is going to become.

15 Months Old - Our Toddler

My baby Grace is seeming less and less like a baby every single day.
She has been a true walker for just a little over a month now.  She's solid on her legs and just a little mini person now.  She toddles all over our house, and now unfortunately has started climbing on everything she can.  (The ottoman, the stool, the highchair, boxes, anything left out in her reach).  She's saying all kinds of words, and "talking" all the time.

She's a busy and social little girl, always putting her toys inside other things (cabinets, drawers, purses, paper bags), always looking for more to explore.  She loves meeting new people, even if she acts shy sometimes at first.


Here's the latest with Grace:

Teeth:
I think 12.  6 on top and 6 on bottom.  Still a gap between her front teeth and her back molars.

Sleep:
Grace goes to bed around 7:30 pm every night.  She goes down with no trouble at all, and sleeps until around 1/2 am.  Then nurses, and goes back to bed around 2/3 am and sleeps until 7:30 am.

She naps daily from about 12 to about 2.
It's a pretty good sleep schedule (minus the middle of the night wakeup). 
She had about a week in February where she slept through the night, no waking up in the middle at all.  But, my body wasn't used to it and didn't know what to do!  I found myself waking up at 1am wide awake for 2-3 hours waiting for her to wake up also!

When she ever someday sleeps through, I really hope my body adjusts back at some point as well.  A solid night sleep is just such a foreign concept to me anymore.

Eating: 
We are still breastfeeding 3-4 times a day, but it really does seem like she is nursing for shorter and shorter amounts of time at each feed.  I'm wondering if this is the start of self-weaning? And she is still loving her solids. But, she's also a lot pickier with her solids now too.  Meal times are always hit or miss.  She does love a few foods though: cheese, cracker, cheerios, blueberries, and kiwi!

Sizes:
She is still wearing size 4 diapers.  She's now wearing mostly 18-24 months, but there are a few items from her 12-18 months size that still fit.
At her 14 month appointment, she was 77% for weight, and 94% for height!  We knew she was tall, because she's passed a lot of babies at daycare that are her same age or older.  It's interesting to hear the stats though.

Likes:
Grace still loves her Bunny.  Bunny goes everywhere she goes (except the bath).  It's really interesting to see how it's such a comfort item for her, a security blanket.  She kisses bunny (so sweet), and sometimes when she wakes up, she'll stroke bunny until she falls back asleep, or until someone comes to get her.  Bunny came on the plane with us to Florida, and came back covered in sunscreen and airport germs.  Then, Grace got a cold, and used Bunny as her Kleenex for a whole week.  So, Bunny went in the washing machine for the first time, and thankfully, came out fine!   She still loves all animals, especially kitties!
Grace still loves books!  I'm enjoying searching for new books for her based on ones she currently likes.  It will be fun when we can start reading longer books with more interesting plots together.  Grace loves fake cell phones.  She would love real ones, except I don't let her have those.
Grace loves climbing.  This is trouble, because there is truly no safe place for her to climb.  She loves both of her grandpas, and even says "Bumpa" now for Grandpa.
Grace still loves Peek-a-Boo, I'll be so sad when she outgrows it!  It's her way of showing people that she likes them and wants to socialize with them.
She loves opening drawers and putting stuff in them, particularly the bathroom drawers.

She loves being outdoors!  We had some unseasonably warm weather in February, and so we went outside after school every day for awhile. She loved going in her swing in the backyard and walking up and down the sidewalk on our street.  But now, it's been cold and fairly wet lately (snowy/rainy), so I've avoided the outdoor walks for awhile.  I'm definitely looking forward to spring and summer and taking more walks around the neighborhood with her.



Dislikes:
For the first time in her life, Grace had a week where she disliked bath-time!  There was one night where the water was too hot and then for about a week after, she refused to get in or stay in for more than a minute.  I bought a turtle "stuffed animal" that is meant to be used in the bath, hoping it would be something she could cuddle during bath-time.  At first she wasn't happy it was in the bath with her, but now she's warming up to it, and bathtime seems fairly pleasant again (thank goodness!  It's  vital part of our bedtime routine)!
She is also not liking her highchair much anymore.  She'll sit in it, but gets mad when I buckle the tray in.
She doesn't like when I try to do her hair.  I don't know how some people are able to put braids in their toddler's hair.  She barely sits still long enough for me to get a mini ponytail!
As she gets older, her likes and dislikes are becoming more and more clear.

Language:
Another big change for this age is her language!  I don't know if this is what they mean by "language explosion", but it certainly feels like an explosion of words to me. We've started a google doc here with all of her words, and my mom organized it by category for us.  Having Grace communicate through words is leaps and bounds better than all of her grunts and fusses.  It is amazing to see how quickly she can learn a word.  For example, I recently bought that stuffed turtle to help with bath time.  She learned quickly to point at it and say "tootle".  But then, a few days later, we're reading a book, and she sees a picture of a turtle in the book, and says "tootle! tootle!" Yes, baby girl, you're right!
Her favorite word currently is "Uppy!".  It means "up", "down", "help", "open this" and probably more.  My current favorite word of hers is "bumpa" for Grandpa.

Grace has some super sweet behaviors that just melt my heart.  I love when she takes a stuffed animal or doll, and wraps it up in a blanket (or random towel or whatever), and says "nigh nigh" to it.  I love when she blows kisses, or says "Byeee!", or kisses us. Grace can give some very sweet hugs.  They are rare, and only last for a few seconds, but when you get one, it's wonderful.


Every day I think about how lucky I am to be her mom.  When she calls for me, ("Mommeee"), I know how lucky I am to be the one to comfort her and hold her.

Brian and I have such a big task.  Brian wants to raise her to be hardworking, independent, and persistent.  I want to raise her to be kind, polite, and humble.  But no matter what she ends up like, she will always be perfect in my mind.

Family Trip to Florida

      At the end of February, we took a family vacation with Brian's family to Orlando, Florida. Being with family, and seeing Grace's joy being around her extended family was wonderful.  But, the word "vacation" is used very loosely in this term.  Traveling with Grace is not a vacation by any means, and was absolutely exhausting. 

The flight down was hard because she didn't fall asleep once until the plane started to descend.  That means she was awake for 2 full hours while we tried to keep her from pulling/pushing/grabbing/kicking the chair in front of us. It's literally all she wanted to do the whole way down. 

Max and Dylan are truly the sweetest big cousins she could possibly have.  They make her giggle, they run around with her, they look after her, they share their toys and their snacks, and bring her Bunny every time she calls "Bu-ee!! Bu-ee!" She is so lucky to have them.

Grace was a little apprehensive of the water, but she LOVED the water slide!

Agh it's so hard to get a picture with her! Still hoping to get a good mother/daughter picture someday!

Grace just loves her cousin Max! She talks about him all the time now that we're home.

This trip will always be a great memory for us!