BecKyle: Baby B is 16 Months Old!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Baby B is 16 Months Old!

My baby isn't really a baby anymore! I guess I should say she's officially a "toddler", but whatever you call it, I'm loving this age! She adds something new to her vocabulary almost every day, a little piece of independence becomes obvious, she's constantly wanting to do something which forces me to be creative, and she's climbing on and around everything!

I heard somewhere that the average 1 year old knows 3-5 words, but Brielle and most of my friend's toddlers know 15-20 (or more, depending on the day)! It blows me away to read about my friend Megan's baby or hear about my friend Brandi's child in comparison to Brielle, they are all so advanced! They're all so unique, funny, smart and beautiful. I never would've guessed, in a million years, that I would enjoy this age so much! It's twice as much fun when I have friends experiencing it with me, with their own children. Whoever told me that having children means sacrifice was right to an extent, but the joy they bring far outweigh whatever "freedom" I'm giving up. I know my friends feel the same way and I find that so incredibly encouraging.

Bean has added baby, puppy, cookie, "top" (stop) and drink (pronouced girsh - with lisp) to her vocabulary. In fact, almost everything is cookie: toys, food, books, pacifier.... It's amazing how much more clear she pronounces words and how quickly she tries to emulate what we're saying.

She's doing very well in following directions. For example, every day she "helps" us feed the dogs by laying out their dishes and "helping" us put their food in it. When we tell her to give a treat to Quigley or Marley, she does (and she says his name, but it sounds so much like mommy it's hard to tell the difference). After breakfast we read a book together, or right before bedtime. We'll tell her, "Go pick a book!" and she'll come back with a few of her favorites.

She's blowing me away with her ability to recognize pictures in books as well as pick out a particular favorite. With every book she reads she's looking for two things: puppies and a ball. It's adorable because she's starting to ask questions by raising her voice and putting her palms up. "Baaaa?" and once she finds it, she points to it and exclaims "BAAAA!"

Her "trail of books" but what is most amazing about this moment is that she kept saying, "booooo" ... I finally figured it out: BLUE! She recognized the color blue! Yay Bean! Good job!

Lately she has not been interested in playing by herself so I've been coming up with activities galore to keep her busy, I was pleasantly surprised how well this one went...

Decorating for Christmas was so fun with her. The ornaments were "baaaaaa?" (ball) and the lights were so "pre-pre-pre" (pretty, always whispered) and she wore them as a necklace.

Her favorite games are patty cake and chase...

Patty Cake, my favorite is how she rolls it up...

Patty Cake, take 2...

How she runs away from me cracks me up, arms up and down or behind her, LOL.

For the last couple of months she has been yelling at the poor dogs by telling them to get down "Doooow!" It's absolutely hilarious. BUT now she's using it for daddy and I as well when we pick her up and she's upset about it, what's worse is that she actually sticks her bottom lip out when she says it. Oy. We're working on it, and what's worse is that even though she's being a stinker, it's so stinkin' cute!

I swear this girl is going through a growth spurt because one day she'll eat 2 pancakes and an egg for breakfast and sleep for hours during the day! I wish I was kidding on the fact that this girl eats us out of house and home. I'm blown away by how much she eats! And then the next day she doesn't want to eat anything, it's so strange and frustrating.

She LOVES climbing!

When I write in my thankful journal she wants to join me, so I give her a little book and pencil. I just love her little scribbles. Definitely keeping this book.

A few funny/amazing stories:

I started singing, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands..." and Brielle disappeared to her room and grabbed her If You're Happy and You Know It Elmo book! Amazing.
Daddy was getting a hair cut and as she watched his hair fall to a pile on the floor she stated, "Uh Oh!" and then wanted nothing to do with him! He got down on the floor and began playing, inviting her to join him, so it didn't last long.
As we were playing patty cake, she walked over to Marley and grabbed a hind paw and a front paw, expecting him to play too! Marley did not appreciate the attempt, but we all thought it was hilarious! Thankfully (despite his obvious dislike for the game) he handled it well.
When daddy was holding Brielle trying to convince her to "let" him go to work, I grabbed her explaining it was time for daddy to go bye-bye. She signed "done" and said "DUH!" (I guess she was done with me, lol.)
I ordered a couple of shoes for her and when the box arrived I told her it was for her. She gasped as I opened it and kept saying how "pre-ahhhh" her "boo's" where. (Translation: her shoes are pretty.) Of course, she insisted on wearing them.

A few of my favorite pictures:

Favorite game of peek-a-boo! "Where's Bean?"

"There she is!"

I watched these adorable girls one day and as I was preparing lunch I noticed things were too quiet. When I went to check on them, they were reading books together. How cute!