19 months

So the 18 months post got skipped because of all the laptop issues, but I am determined to get 19 months done before it is too late! N was 19 months on the 15th and has been home with us for 4.5 months now.

I've been down and out the last week with a stomach bug. Which is even less fun, I found out, when you have a healthy and active toddler to care for the whole time. I can't imagine what it would have been like if she had gotten it, but neither her nor her daddy did, so she was active and ready for attention and her daddy was off being swamped at work and travelling and all I wanted to do was lay down and be still. But I made it through somehow. The scale says I lost 8 pounds. My clothes don't seem to reflect it, but it's given me the same answer for two days now so who knows. Toast and Pedialyte...the new Atkins.

I've been pretty much off food all week, but this afternoon I developed a rather serious craving for a Coca Cola, and since I don't keep them around the house any longer, I finally decided to get dressed and go get one.

As soon as she saw me get my purse, N disappeared and came running back into the kitchen carrying these:

That's right, Mommy's little mini me. She is very observant and copies me quite a bit. That is an 18 month outfit my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Steve sent. She is still very much in 12 month clothes, but she can wear 18 month in some brands. She's 26 pounds now and 30 inches. When we brought her home 4.5 months ago, she was 19.5 pounds and 28.25 inches and wearing 9 months clothes. She has grown so much!

She also likes to wear my shoes and cruised back and forth in front of the living room windows in them yesterday.

She is getting a little pickier with her food now. She still eats everything she used to eat, and really loves her peas and carrots, but if she isn't in the mood for something I put in front of her, (usually Cheerios or a cereal bar) she will let me know about it. I'll be glad when she learns to ask specifically for what it is she wants. Now she just points in the general direction of the kitchen or pantry and whines.

She has also started really getting into taking off her socks and shoes, something she didn't much do when we brought her home. (I don't suppose that was tolerated at the baby home.) She started playing with her shoes pretty quickly, taking them off and wanting me to put them back on, but now it can be a challenge to keep her feet clad for more than an hour if I am not persistent. Since it has been cold and we have mostly hardwood/tile floors, I am not a fan of her running around barefoot, and while I have been sick she has been in her footie pajamas or tights over socks all day because as determined as she is, Mommy is even more determined.

She has gotten really into her books. She likes to turn the pages more than listen to the stories, so mostly we just try to point out objects on the pages as she flips through. But when she is on a roll, she can look through books for a long, long, long time. I will admit that I have resorted to putting them out of reach occasionally to avoid the constant onslaught.

When she hears the garage door at night, she points and says, "ayee, ayee, ayee" which seems to be her word for Daddy. She has occasionally sat on my lap and pointed to me saying "ama" and my mom told me that when I was gone once, she walked around a bit saying "aaaaammmmaaaa" over and over. Maybe she does have a word for me. I was beginning to wonder.

In addition to her nose, mouth, the floor, a table, a fan, etc. she now knows her foot and her belly. She understands us quite a bit...understands "are you hungry?" and if we ask her to go get something like a ball that just rolled off, she understands that. She knows what a lot of her toys are...ball, puppy dog, computer, cow, etc. She's really stuck on animal sounds. The cow still says "moo" and everything else still says "ack, ack". She does make a sort of high-pitched "ooo-ooo" sound, though, when she sees the rooster in her farm animals book. She understands when we tell her to lay down or get down. She is really good at saying "all dah" (all done) and I have one of her more emphatic ones on video that I need to upload. "ee ee" is "the end" and the other day when I was singing "twinkle twinkle little star", she started saying something that resembled "inka inka". She really likes to say "uh oh", and instead of "bye-bye", she says "yea" and gives her little pageant/Queen Elizabeth wave and blows kisses. Adorable. She does some pretend play...pretends to eat or pretends to give us things. She is still rather oblivious to her dolls and stuffed animals, but she is very attached to her Lovey Bunny (I have four and they are all fair game for her) and calls it her "lalalalllalllallal". Or something like that. It's a sound we can't even imitate.

She has a cow toy shape sorter and has mastered putting in all four shapes....circle, square, triangle and star. The star was the last to master, but she has them all down now. She has a toy laptop she loves to play with and she can be found sitting next to me on the sofa with her laptop on her lap, tapping away like Mommy. It has games on it that she is too young for, but she loves to work the mouse anyway.

I need to find a toy broom set because she is completely infatuated with my broom and her "help" isn't usually all that helpful. You don't see toy brooms around much, though. I'm going to have to look at Toys 'R' Us because they don't' have them at WalMart or Target. You'd think that would be a common toy!

I try not to let her watch much TV, but I became really dependent on it for the last two weeks while I was sick. Her favorite cartoon by far is The Wonder Pets. She is mildly interested in or neutral to everything else, but The Wonder Pets has completely entertained and infatuated her from the very beginning. It's fascinating to us, frankly.

She loves to give and get hugs and kisses and her newish thing now is to go between Daddy and me on the sofa, getting a kiss from me and a kiss from him and then a kiss from me, and a kiss from him. etc. etc. If we ask for kiss she will readily turn her cheek for one and she loves to climb into my lap, straddle my waist, and give me a hug and a snuggle. We also have a game where I make kissing sounds and she runs over for a kiss. She walks away, watching me, and when I make kissing sounds again she runs back for another kiss. Over and over.

When I turn off the shower, she will run over to give me my hair towel off the hook and then once I get my hair up, she will give me my towel (C and I use different colors and she knows which is my color). She still loves to sit on the little little ledge outside the shower and stick her hand through the door. I've caught her practically sticking her whole head in, but I discourage that since she gets all wet. She LOVES water and is constantly trying to shake water out of her sippy cups onto her hands. If she gets any, she rubs her hands on her face and in her hair. She loves it when we pour water over her head in the bath. Most kids I hear of hate that, but she absolutely loves it and she will try to pour water over her own head with her little bath toys.

I have some video of her doing a really good job with a spoon. Most mornings, I let her have a spoon for her yogurt that she can dip in and then put in her mouth. Most of it still makes it into her via my spoon, but she is getting quite good at maneuvering her own little spoon.

Attachment wise, things are going VERY well. Me being able to stay home with her has really paid off, we think. She is very attached to me. I cocooned with her for several months, really limiting how much she has been around other people, and now we are starting to branch out a bit. Before I got sick, I took her to her first Kindermusik class and at first she was a bit clingy and stayed in my lap or touching my leg, but by the end she would venture away from me, then grin and run back to me. She never went to any of the other mommies for attention or comfort or to be held, although she did decide that one mommy needed to have all the cars and took all the ones she could get to her, LOL! She will explore in my presence, checking back with me as she does so. I missed a class with my back issues and C took her for a make-up on a Saturday and there were A LOT more folks there. He said she was very clingy with him and a bit overwhelmed. Our regular class is very small, with three other mommies and children up to age 3. N is the youngest. I missed again this week with the stomach bug, so we are taking her tomorrow for make-up. This is quite a change from the little girl who wanted everyone in the Moscow airport to pick her up! She has a very outgoing personality, though, and makes friends everywhere we go. We get lots of comments about how pretty she is and she will smile and wave to people when she is out with me at the grocery store or doctor's office.

When Grandmom and Grandpa came over a couple of weeks ago, she clung to me very much at first and was shy with them, but after I encouraged her to go to them, she opened up and by the time I left for the doctor's office, she waved bye-bye and asked to get in her high chair. Sometimes when either C or I leave, she will get very upset and cry for a few seconds, but she recovers quickly and if the one staying behind gives her attention and makes sure to have her wave bye-bye, she can say good-bye without a meltdown at all. Daddy often comes home to visit and then goes back to work, and he is so much fun when he comes home, it can really upset her when he leaves, but she does recover quickly. She still loves to be swung around upside down and tossed on the bed and generally rough-housed. At 26 pounds, that is Daddy's job now...Mommy can't do it for long at all and it just upsets her when I have to stop so soon.

She is still a total monkey and will climb up on anything if we let her. She does understand when we tell her to stay down or get down and we have to say it a lot because there are things we let her climb up and lay or sit on that we don't want her standing on. She can reach up on some of the counters now, and will go for anything she can get her hands on. She will also step up on the edge of a shelf or drawer handle or chair rung to reach up higher on a counter or table. She's into everything.

Just this minute as I typed that, she brought me her baby powder off her changing table and I have NO IDEA AT ALL how she got to it. Sigh. I can only guess she somehow climbed halfway up on the shelf and used that as a step? Time to fasten it to the wall, I guess. For such a tiny little girl, she's certainly creative.

Wow, I can't believe how long this is! This is as much a journal for me, though, as it is an update for y'all. I need to start her scrapbook soon and get this all down in writing!