14 Month Stats

31 3/4 Inches
22.8 Lbs
18 Month spring/summer clothes, size 5 shoes, size 4 diapers
Tooth eruption seems to have halted-holding steady with 4 on top, 2 centrals on bottom

HEALTH: No problems.

NEW TRICKS:

• On Friday, 3/4, Harper just decided she could stand up! She pushes up on her hands and feet, then pops up and looks so proud of herself!! She kept doing this over and over that day. She did it for a few days, but now she acts like she's over it.
  
• Starting to enjoy walking holding onto our fingers. Also likes pushing her stroller around and can maneuver it around stuff.
• Can eat with a fork.
• Puts her finger to her mouth and says, "Shhhhhh."
• Pushes toys over to the couch and climbs up.
• Can climb up on the couch by herself (and the gate, and the drawer under the oven...)
  
• Identifies her ears, nose, hair, feet, belly button, and hands by pointing when we ask.
• Does okay only taking one nap some days.
• Drinks out of a straw.
• Tries to put her socks on and take her shirts off.
• Tries to wash her hair.
• BITES!
• Walks on her knees. I think she's afraid that the minute she tries to walk for real Brax will barrel over her!
  

NEW VOCAB:

• "hi"
• "gog" (dog)
• "bo" (boat)
  

FAVORITE FOODS:
Bananas, avacado, bread, mandarin oranges, waffles, meat sticks, cheese, noodles, frozen peas, broccoli... Honestly, I have yet to find anything this girl DOESN'T like! Like mother, like daughter...

FAVORITE BOOKS:
She is starting to actually sit still while we read books. She likes to sit in my lap facing me with the book to our side (instead of with her back against me with the book in front of us) and she watches my face as I read, glancing at the book from time to time. Funny.

FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES:

• Hands down, her favorite thing to do right now is to take a bath with her Bubba. As soon as we all start heading upstairs in the evening she starts screeching and kicking her legs. I put her in her crib while I get stuff ready and Brax runs out into the hallway, into our room, then sprints back to her crib and they both crack up. They don't really play together in the bathtub, but for whatever reason, she LOVES it.
• In the bath, she always wants me to put the washcloth on her back. She tries to get it back there herself which is funny!
  
• Eating. As soon as she sees food, she starts saying, "NUM NUM NUM NUM!" You can't eat in front of her without sharing!
• Singing/signing the songs "I'm a Little Teapot" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" after she gets out of the bath. She likes watching ourselves as we do it in the mirror.
• Sitting in things-toyboxes, drawers...
  
• Wearing any kind of glasses or goggles.
• Drawing on the Doodle-Pro.
• Pushing her stroller.
• Wearing Brax's "pit pass" lanyard.
• Putting on chapstick or pretend lipstick, combing her hair.
  

DAILY ROUTINE:
I LOVE WHEN DAYLIGHT SAVINGS ENDS!!! Basically, her entire routine shifted an hour later, which is great. Also, she is transitioning to one nap. It's not set in stone, but for the most part, if we want to get out and do something in the mornings then she is fine to hold off awhile and just do one nap. However, if we are just sitting at home, she makes it clear that she wants both naps!
7:30ish Up
7:45 Breakfast
*If we get out and do something, she can hold off until 12 at the latest for one long nap. Otherwise, she is ready to go down at 10ish for an hour or so.
*If we only do one nap, she has a snack around 9:30, then lunch at 11:00.
If we do two naps, her bottle is her snack and we do lunch at 11:45. 2nd nap is at 2ish.
Dinner at 5:30-6.
Up to bath at 7ish, to bed by 7:45.

FAVORITE SONGS:
Likes The Black Eyed Peas!

DISLIKES:
Having her diaper changed (this evokes a full-on tantrum sometimes), getting out of the bathtub, having her teeth brushed. Being told "no"--she gives you this sad face and whimpers, it's so cute!

MOMENTS I DON'T WANT TO FORGET:

• How she likes to cuddle against my chest at sleep times... When we're rocking, she turns around and faces me and tucks her little hands under her then lays her head on my chest. Sometimes she'll coo and sing and giggle, like she is just so happy to snuggle like that. I love it! I sniff her fluffy hair, and I feel like I just can't hold her enough!
• When we visited Nana this month, Harper loved Charlie. As soon as we got there, she was crawling around chasing him, "barking" at him. (It was a really quiet "woof woof" sound, like a whisper bark!!) So cute.
• How she makes a really awful noise while she eats. Like an engine hum sort of... the entire time she's eating. It's so annoying it's cute!
  

3 Yr/8 Month Stats

HEALTH: We almost made it through the month with no respiratory problems, but the last week of March he got it again (#8!). Controlled with breathing treatments.

NEW TRICKS:

• Knows the sounds of most of the letters of the alphabet.
• Identifies single digit numbers.
• Gets dressed by himself.
• Becoming very imaginative.
• Developing a sense of humor, tries to joke with me. (He'll put a ball of food in his cheek and with a funny, fake-confused look on his face ask, "What is this bump in my cheek??!!" Or he'll make a noise and say, "I think there's someone at the door, Mommy!")
• Knows what it means to feel embarrassed (which makes me kind of sad!)--I'll tell him to do something silly and he'll say, "But they'll laugh at me." I guess he doesn't understand the difference between being laughed at and laughed with yet.
  

FAVORITE FOODS:
Mealtimes are my least favorite time... he has to be reminded to continuously take bites! The boy just has better things to do than eat right now, but he is a beanpole so I battle this! He would eat crackers and cheese all day if I let him, but I try to get some protein in there too. He still despises peanut butter, bananas, and peas. He does love grilled cheese sandwiches and oatmeal squares cereal.

FAVORITE BOOKS:
His Thomas storybook Daddy found for him at Sam's--it's 6 books in one and has 24 different stories!

FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES:
Playing trains--specifically, he likes loading different types of "cargo" into the cars (beans, rocks, Nerf darts, small plastic animals, food--pretzels, fruit snacks, cereal, crackers...) and he recites stories from his books verbatim while he plays. He also loves to ride his bike, and is getting very excited about being able to play outdoors.

DAILY ROUTINE:
Up at 7:15-7:45, usually a nap at 1, to bed at 8. (Staying dry most every night now but I still keep him in a pull-up overnight.)

FAVORITE SONGS:
Likes "fast" songs. Listens carefully to the words when we're in the car, asking me what the song is about. Makes me realize what a negative influence mainstream music could be on kids. We only listen to K-LOVE!

DISLIKES:
Stopping to eat.

MOMENTS I DON'T WANT TO FORGET:

• Fun things we did this month--the KC Auto show (which he wasn't all that impressed with), spring break (we went to Nana's for 4 days-he kept saying how much fun he was having, Miss Noelle took them to a playgroup and the library, he had a date-day with Aunt Kathi and they went to the movies, and I took them to see a puppet show), the Train Expo (not as cool as what I expected, but he approved), going to see Toy Story 3 on Ice with our friends Miss Jen and her daughter Delanie, and Parents as Teachers' BlockFest.
  

BRAXISMS:

• Upon waking, "I can't go to school today, I've got gopher breath."
• I told him I was tired of reminding him to take bites at breakfast. He said, "You should go back to bed then."
• I was picking at my face in the mirror while he was in the bathtub. He asked if I was popping a zit, then said, "I wanna eat a zit." Appalled, I asked him to clarify. He explained, "You know, the zits that are orange and squares and have a little whole in the middle..." (He meant Cheez-Its!!!!)
• I asked him what I do all day. He answered, "You just love on me and play with me." I was so happy to hear that I almost cried! I had spent the day before cleaning, doing laundry, and grocery shopping so I figured he would say I clean all the time!!
• I came home from work one day and plopped down on the couch. Brax looked at me and said, "Mommy, what are you doing??!! You can't sit down!"
  

13 Month Stats

31 Inches
22 Lbs
Size 4 diapers, still fits in 12 month clothes but can wear 18 months too, size 3 shoes.

TEETH:

6 Teeth (This month she got E the 2nd week, then was sick for 2 weeks and the eruption halted. In the fourth week, she got D in.)

HEALTH: Got her first real bout of illness this month. Sunday, 2/13, she woke up just a couple hours after I put her down and was up most of the night with a fever and crying. She would sleep for a few minutes while I held her, but finally at 4am I just couldn't let her suffer any longer and I took her to Children's Mercy Urgent Care. Bless her heart, she was just so tired, but still whimpering. It didn't take but 30 seconds for them to check her ears and confirm a double ear infection.
Early on Sunday, I had decided to take off Monday because I had a bad cough. Then, I had taken NyQuil and Mucinex right before I went to be and was extremely loopy. I don't even remember the route we took to get back home from the hospital... Scary!
Thank goodness I was able to stay home Monday-all Harper wanted was for me to hold her. When we got home in the morning (6:30ish?) I fed her a bottle and put her back down-she was exhausted. She slept for about an hour and a half, then wanted me to hold her more. I was SO thankful Miss Noelle was here to help with Brax so I could give all my attention to Harper. While Noelle took Brax to school and filled Harper's script, we just laid on the couch and watched Fresh Beat Band and she fell asleep on my chest. It was just one of those precious moments I'll never forget. It was a wonderful Valentine's Day-to be able to "make it all better" for my girl.

NEW TRICKS:

• Tries to sing "E-I-E-I-O" when I sing Old McDonald.
• Gets on and off her zebra and rocking horse by herself; stands up on rocking horse.
• Cruises from one piece of furniture to the next.
• ALWAYS takes off her diaper if I don't have clothes on her. Brax NEVER did this... I am horrified at the thought of coming in her room to find her playing in poop during a nap.
• Points at everything. Wants to be held and navigate around the room while I name things.
• Throws tantrums--full blown flailing on the ground (while checking to see if we're watching) fits. Squeezes her eyes shut really tight as if to try and get out as many tears as possible.
• Drinks whole milk. (Cold out of sippy w/ meals, but I still warm it just a tad for bottles at sleep times... we are working on getting out of that habit!) Still using up last can of formula on her night time bottle. At first I mixed milk and formula to ease her into it, but after about 2 weeks she was on straight milk.
  
• "Shares" food and toys--likes to hand me things or give me bites.
• Tries to blow her nose if I hand her a tissue.
• I can't remember the last time she sucked her thumb. It's been months, it seems. She loves her "ni-nite" (paci) now though! I am relieved that she quit the thumb all on her own-it's easy to take away ni-nites! (I won't do that till 18 months, though)
• Jabbering alot more, becoming much more vocal.

NEW VOCAB:

• no
  
• Bubba (Brax)
  
• ca (car)
  
• pi-ty (pretty)

FAVORITE FOODS:
Likes pretty much anything! She always has a Kashi waffle and blueberries for breakfast. Still eats alot of Gerber meatsticks, but also LOVES rotisserie chicken from the deli! Also--YoBaby yogurt, diced frozen fruit (I get the bag of Dole diced strawberries/peaches/bananas), steamed broccoli and cauliflower (she INHALES this--I can't believe how much she loves it). Still LOVES noodles and veggies.

FAVORITE BOOKS:
She really enjoys looking at books on her own in the living room, but when I go to read her stories at sleep times she is really antsy. (I think it's because I still feed her a bottle at that time--she'd rather drink her bottle and go to bed). Her favorite book to "read" on her own is Millie Moo.

FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES:
Sitting her toy boxes, in the junk drawer; playing in the corner with her play food (she crawls into the picnic basket.)

DAILY ROUTINE:
Up at 6:30-7, breakfast
8:45 6oz bottle, to bed
**Not always taking great naps. Sometimes they're each only 30-45 minutes, but then some days they're each an hour and a half...
11 or 11:30 lunch
12:45 6oz bottle, to bed
2:30 or 3 snack
5ish dinner
6ish bathtime
6:30 6 oz bottle, to bed

FAVORITE SONGS:
Loves loves loves to dance, to anything! Especially loves The Fresh Beat Band on Nick Jr.! Dances every time they sing a song.

DISLIKES:
Getting out of the bathtub (especially if Brax is in there with her) and laying down to have her diaper changed. Also gets mad when we tell her "no."

MOMENTS I DON'T WANT TO FORGET:

• Her first birthday party was so fun. I so enjoyed planning it--we did a "LoveBug" (ladybug/Valentine's) theme. Harper loved every minute of it!
• Saturday 2/12. We had "a moment" while I was feeding her her bedtime bottle. By "moment," I really just mean that I took a second to really soak up the sweetness of my not-so-baby baby. I am guilty of always being in a hurry, but every now and then I remind myself to slow down and appreciate the moment for what it is. Nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary happened in this "moment." It was simply Harper and I rocking in the dark... her guzzling her bottle while I kissed on her sweet face, sniffed her Baby Magic smelling hair, whispered, "Love my baby" over and over... I want my future self to know that although life sped by, I really did stop and smell the roses sometimes.
• Laying on the couch the day she was sick while she slept on my chest. She hasn't slept like this since she was probably 2 months old, so I was savoring it! It made me feel so good to be able to make her feel better just by being there to hold her. Hands down, that is the BEST part of being a mom. (Conversely, the HARDEST part of being a mom is when you CAN'T make it all better!)
  

VIDEO-Harper Standing, and other funny stuff