Lillian is a true toddler these days and is a BALL OF ENERGY. Like, really full of energy… like too full of energy to nap… but more on that later.
(Below: Lillian's latest 'fave' place. Huck's bed. Yuck. You'll also see her do this in the video below.)
She is super vocal these days but it hasn’t been until the last week or so that we’ve been able to understand a few of her new words. These days she is saying:
- “Mama” and “Dada” (still)
- “Woof” for dogs and lots of other animals
- “Quah Quah” for “Quack” and this is also pretty much what she ‘calls’ ducks
- “Hiss” for snake
- “Bubble” which she also sometimes uses in place of “Ball”. She also calls balloons balls and goes nuts when she sees them!
- Just this last weekend she said “Papa” “Nana” and said “Pa” after making an “O” shape with her mouth for “Opa” (her great-grandpa).
- She has said “Shoes” and “Eyes” a few times, but not consistently and once she said “Let’s go” after we said it, but has yet to repeat that! Of course!
- “Crawk Crawk” for “Rock Rock” when she’s rocking in a chair.
She is still signing (and NOT saying) “please”, “dog”, “more”, “milk”, “eat”. She also waves hello and goodbye like a champ but still won’t say “bye bye”. She gives great high fives!
She’s pretty funny to watch these days as she burns up all that energy that she has...
- If she hears music that ‘strikes her’ – it’s hard to say what it is that gets her going exactly – she begins dancing… standing, in her highchair, in her car seat. It’s adorable and her smile while she does it is contagious.
- She also does this ‘fast dance’ jig kind of thing right now where she runs in place basically. It makes me want to sing “She’s a maniac, maniac,…”
- There is lots of climbing, a lot of it to get into chairs (big chairs, little chairs, etc.)
- She tries to get things into the chair with her (books, dolls, larger toys) which makes the climb up interesting.
- Loves rocking chairs and regularly sits in chairs that don’t rock and tries to.
- Can make laps for hours around our living room and through the kitchen pushing any number of her toys that she loves to push – cars, strollers…. things without wheels like her rocking chair!
- Also loves to carry things much larger than her and will scream in frustration if she can’t get it to where she wants.
- If she gives you a hug (just to love on you) or if you’re comforting her she will ‘pat’ your shoulder – this is one of my favorite things she does!
- Bangs on the fridge and signs for either “eat” or “milk”
- Loves wrestling with daddy. Running into him and laughing and falling over.
- And she loves ‘horse’ rides on our legs or belly. If you lay on the floor, she WILL come over and sit on your stomach and bounce until you give her a ride.
(Below: Lillian dancing to One Direction... and then bonking her head.)
(Below: After a quick recovery from above head-bonk, we are back at it.)
In other news, Lillian is a champion night sleeper, sleeping through earaches, molars, eye teeth and more like a champion. She typically sleeps from 8:15 or 8:30pm to 7 or 7:30am. During the day however, this month has seen a great departure from sleep with naps being few and short. I believe we’re in process of dropping our morning nap but as I write this Lillian is hardly getting 1 to 1 ½ hours of sleep during the day, which makes our wakeful time challenging some days.
She has all of her teeth except for her eye teeth, but the bottom two should break through any day now. Her hair is longer in the back with little curls the way Michael’s was when he was little and by far, she still looks the most like her daddy. At her 15 month appointment she was 31" tall and 24 1/4 lbs. On a side note, she LOVED the nurse at her appointment... so much that she cried when she started to walk away AFTER she'd just given Lillian her shots! Nurse Susie said "Now THIS never happens!"
She still loves baths and walks, but likes her car seat a little less. She’s still a pretty great eater but particularly loves raisins, Cuties, black beans, avocado, eggs, pancakes, peanut butter, apples, pears and asparagus. She likes chicken, salmon and other fish but is sometimes funny about beef. Other than that, there is very little she won’t eat although like any kid she has her picky meals.
Her comprehension is tremendous so we’re both really looking forward to her vocabulary catching up, but we are still enjoying how interactive and funny she is at this age – her little personality is just shining through more and more!
