15 months

B-bug is 15 months old today!

Okay.

It is time, I guess.  

Time for me to admit that I have a toddler.  She is no longer a babytoddler.  

I think what has made me finally come to this conclusion is that she RUNS everywhere.  Sometimes it takes me a second to actually catch her....she is fast!  

She has learned so much this month.  It amazes me how much she knows.  It just proves that she picks up on things constantly.  

A few new things this month....

She has a book with pictures of animals in it.  She can pick out the cow, horse, chicken, owl, pink flamingo, dog, rooster, cat, and fish.  If I point out and name five or six things from a book and then ask her where one of them is, she can pick it out.  She loves this book.  She would be happy if we just sat all day and pointed to the animals and made animal sounds.  I like the book because they are pictures of real animals and not cartoon animals.  The animals are also separated so I fee like it helps her to remember them?  I got it from Ama.zon and it is called My Big Ani.mal Book.  

I can't believe the things that she understands.  For example, she got a suitcase/backpack for Christmas.  The other night she picked it up, turned to us, said BYE-BYE, and walked to the front door!  I was shocked!  She obviously noticed that we pack that up when she goes to Gran Di's on Sundays.  

New words: chicken (sounds like chi-chin) and turkey (sounds like tu-chin)

Teeth: she got her bottom right molar on 12-19...she probably had it for at least a week before I even noticed.  One day she opened her mouth real big (probably to yell) and there it was.  She got her top right canine tooth on 12-28 and her bottom left molar started coming in on 1-2.  

She has started nodding.  It is the cutest thing ever.  Sometimes she just nods for the heck of it but if she means yes then she nods more excitedly.  

She is trying to cut out the morning nap.  I will be so happy when she does.  We will be able to do so much more during the day.  As of right now she gets it about half of the time.  If she wakes up before 7 then she gets the nap or we have crazy toddler by 11.  If she sleeps past 7 then I try to avoid the nap.  If we go to the gym or do something else in town it is much easier for her to skip the nap.  I should probably just suck it up and cut it out completely but I try to avoid angry Blakely :)

She walks backwards.  I'm not sure when she started this but she does it a lot.  Usually it happens riiiiiiight before she turns and runs away from me because I am trying to get something from her.  

As I mentioned above she runs everywhere.  There is very little walking up in here.  It is cute but she absolutely does not watch where she is going.  She doesn't look at the floor (which is usually covered in toys) so there are a bunch of falls and trips.  Most of the time she jumps right back up like nothing happened but other times she gets the pouty lip and cries.  

She is loud.  Like really loud.  She runs around yelling most of the day.  I guess she just likes hearing her voice?  

She is so messy.  I feel like she needs a bath after every meal.  She is learning how to use a spoon and fork and mommy pretty much hates it.  She knows how to put it in her mouth but she just doesn't want to sometimes.  She wants to fling the food across the room because that is fun!  Maybe I will just feed her myself forever?  This is a short stage, right??  

She hates for me to wipe her hands and face after meals.  She covers her face with her hands.  It is a struggle every single time.  What can I say?  She likes to be dirty.  

Her favorite thing to eat these days is cheerios with milk.  She likes them when they get soggy and I think she would eat half of the box.  She definitely eats the best/most at breakfast.  Lunch is usually ok but dinner can be tricky.  When she wakes up from her afternoon nap, around 3 to 330, she is so hungry.  I give her a pretty big snack but she wants to eat constantly until bedtime.  We end up eating dinner around 530 and she doesn't eat as much of it as I would like.  Maybe she just needs a heartier snack in order to make it to dinner time.  

As far as I can tell, she is drinking about three 9 ounce sippy cups of milk a day.  At her one year check up he told me she needed to drink 16-24 ounces a day.  I think she is a little over that now.  I only give her milk and occasionally water.  She will only drink water out of a regular glass with a straw.  I am thinking I should giver her more water so she isn't just getting milk all the time.  I need to keep better track of how much milk she gets.  I know it is enough but can she get too much?   

This has been such a fun and fast month with our girl.  With Christmas, the Christmas countdown activities, the new year, Lonnie's birthday, and our family weekend it has just FLOWN by.  I can't believe I have a 15 month old.....