Tuesday, December 6, 2011

14 months (a little late)

Olive is napping and I'm trying to have some nice quiet time. I woke up a bit on the impatient side of the bed. No idea why, I got plenty of sleep and feel rested I was just feeling a bit on the edge when I woke up today. The last few days Olive has been extra needy. While I love the hugs and snuggles sometimes you need a break. She has been in need of constant entertainment the entire day. I'm good for a few hours then I need a little break. I mean I'm only human. No super mom here. It makes the days long and exhausting. Of course this is just another phase and she will go back to more independence in no time. Thing is as soon as we are not at home she wants nothing to do with me. I try to be out as much as I can but you can only do so many things with a wild toddler with eating and sleep schedules. We're managing but it's just crazy how one week she is one way and the next she is totally different. Ah the life of a toddler.

We are having fun playing and she is more interested in playing with toys for a little bit longer. We spend a lot of time stacking her blocks (which have animals on them) and once she stacks them really high she walks around them and we point out all the animals. She can make the noise of a lion now and I taught her to make a hand gesture with it (like a claw) It's more for my entertainment for sure. She makes a fish noise and I just taught her to pound her chest like a gorilla yesterday which is a total crack up. Then once she has had enough she knocks every last block down and we do this over and over till she is bored. Along with her books which we still spend hours reading she loves her elmo that dances and her yo gabba gabba boombox. We spend a lot of time throwing the ball and running after it and she loves to be chased and scared when I jump around corners. We're really into rolling all over the ground now. I showed her that I could do a cartwheel yesterday and her little mind was just blown. She kept signing more. I am way too fat to be hucking myself around. After like 3 of them I thought I was going to have a heart attack. She attempted her cartwheel which was just her throwing herself on the floor and rolling around but she was satisfied with that.

I'm still teaching her a little bit of sign but nothing crazy. She can sign please, thank you, and food which makes me very happy and helps out when she wants something. She has learned to combine more and please together when she wants something so she is putting things together. She has been talking like crazy. A lot more babbling and trying to say things. As I mentioned last month (but there may be a few new ones) her words include dog, cat, duck, ball, up, more, bath, mom, dad, ya, bye. She will repeat something when I say it but it's kinda a one shot deal. She is really in a copying phase where if she sees something she will try to do it. Like if I kick the ball she will kick the ball or if I put my hands in the air she will do the same. It's pretty fun to watch her try so many things and understand so much. I can talk to her and she understands most of it except no. I mean she gets it but she is so so so stubborn. If I ask her to do something like put the toy back, get a book, jump, get her shoes, or name something specific she gets it. She can locate all of her body parts now and her favorite is her belly button.

Her newest favorite thing is to put on shoes. She will choose a shoe and ask me to put it on and then I'll ask her to get the other one which she does. Then after she walks around for a few min she wants to put another pair on. She is very specific about which shoes and it changes daily. If I ask her if she will wear a certain shoe and she says no you better believe it will not be getting on her foot but if she is cool with it she loves having her shoes put on.

I'm still slowly weening and we are down to 2 feedings a day. One in the morning and one at night. It's nice not to feed her during the day anymore and she only asks in the later afternoon around 4 or 5 when she is getting grumpy and saying no is hard but she is learning. I need to drop another feeding but it's a lot harder than I thought. I like our nightime routine but at the same time selfishly I would love for Blake to be able to put her to sleep. The morning one is going to be the hardest because I bring her into bed and it's super easy so I'm thinking of dropping the night feeding and keeping the morning for a little longer. I could bf forever but I just feel like it's time to let go of it.

My favorite thing which happened the day after thanksgiving is she gave me her first neck hug. She gives plenty of snuggles and hugs but this was a hands around the neck hold on tight and squeeze hug. It was the most magical thing ever. It took her a few days to give Blake but he agrees it is the best thing ever. She usually gives me a few during but mostly at night time when she is getting sleepy. I'm pretty sure motherhood is all about neck hugs. 


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