Lenore at 22 Months

22 Months Old

What she's up to this month:

• She's in school and loving it. She's made a few friends in class and knows her way around the playground, according to her teachers (read: she's wild). She does get a little sad when I leave her in the morning, but I know it will get better/easier. She will see me in the hallways during the morning and say 'Mama!' but not run to me, which I think is pretty good for a not-quite-two-year-old. Her teachers keep saying she cracks them up, which I take as a good thing.
• She thinks her name is Sissy.
• She's very big about knowing where everyone is and what they are doing. As we are driving to school, she will ask where Dada is, where Bubba is, etc. She's always checking in on her little family flock. Even when we are just sitting at the dining table, she will go around and say all of our names.
• She's also started saying 'my' cup or 'my' whatever. And she'll say Dada's cup, Bubba's cup, Mama's cup, etc.
• She loves/is obsessed with Dinosaur Train. I turned the TV on PBS one day when it was on, and she's been hooked ever since. 'MY DINOSAUR!!!' is her request.
• She has started walking up and down the stairs with more confidence the past few days. Walking upright on her feet instead of scooting down on her bottom. She will still scoot if there's no handrail or wall to hold onto for support.
• She is still napping well, but we have had some time crunches with school starting. On days when she goes to school and I go to work (W/Th/F), we get home around 12:30 (or a little past). I try to feed her lunch and get her down by 1, but she doesn't always fall asleep right away. Most days, she is still sleeping at 4 when I need to grab her to get Lewis from the bus stop. I hate waking her up, but I can't leave her (though the thought has crossed my mind!). 
• She's still showing interest in going potty but hasn't gone yet.
• She continues to express what she wants, either verbally or physically. She will grab your arm or pant leg and pull you to where she wants you to go if you don't listen to her the first time. :) 
• As I think about it, she's really a lot more verbal this month, and we are communicating both ways, which is always helpful. I get what she is saying, and she (mostly) listens to what I am saying.
• She is wearing 2T and a few 3T clothes.
• Current tooth count: still 20.

Lenore at 21 Months

21 Months Old (in my outfit from 1983)

RIP Old Dog. You're officially MIA. I contacted the owner of the condo we stayed in on vacation, and he contacted the other people who had stayed there since us, the property manager, and the cleaning staff. The dog is gone. :(

What she's doing this month:

• She likes to sit at the computer and 'take notes,' I will call it. She takes a piece of paper and un-caps a highlighter, then makes dots all over the page. And sometimes on her outfit, too. Pen on her arms. I thought highlighter would wash out easily--turns out I was wrong.
• Mealtimes are a mess. She likes to move things from container to container. Or the other day at lunch, it was from the table to the floor. Bread, cheese, turkey, methodically dropped on the floor, piece by piece.
• She has a particular way of eating sandwiches...traditional ones and sandwiched cookies and sandwiched crackers. She opens them and licks the contents (making a huge mess). I keep showing her to take bites, but it's not her natural instinct.
• She does not like being told No. I could see it going one of two ways...either she'll be tough and won't take No for an answer, or she'll be a brat. I really hope she isn't a brat. Can I say that? I just did. I can just see it going that way, and I hope it's just a phase.
• She is in an I-can-do-it phase. For instance, she can climb up on the dog bowls, reach the banana tree, pull off a banana, and open it. She will do that a few times a day, but she only ever eats about half of one banana--the rest she tries to give to me (and I can only stand so much banana/day). She just does it because she can, not out of hunger. At least bananas are cheap.
• Kind of along those lines, I noticed that she has started relying on Kevin and I to carry her down the stairs. Once I realized I was doing it, I stopped, and we've had some battles. She has stood at the top of the stairs screeeeaming for many minutes. Eventually she will come down, either enticed by going outside or to the basement or to eat or drink something.
• She continues to be fearless. She will run up to me full-speed and expect to be swooped up in the air (which I do). She will confidently step off of things (stairs, tables, fireplace, etc.) into my arms, fully expecting that I will be there to catch her. I guess I have been there, up until now, but she could really take a fall if I'm not there or not paying attention. Definitely keeps me on my toes. I am still planning to get her into some sort of tumbling class this fall because I think she'd really enjoy it.
• Speaking of fall, she is starting school in a few weeks! We decided to go ahead and put her in the Twos class, even though she misses the cutoff by 29 days (cutoff is October 1, birthday is October 29). The director said that most of the other Ones are quite a lot younger than her, so we are skipping Ones. She will do Twos (starting when she's almost 2), Threes, Fours, Pre-K, then start Kindergarten (in public school) when she's almost 6. We were also going to just do two mornings a week, but we've decided to do three instead. She does so well there, and we love it, and I know she loves being with the other kids.
• She continues to show some interest in the potty, but she hasn't gone yet. She has asked to sit on it a few times and mimics Lewis's standing-to-pee posture sometimes.
• She loves SHOES! She tries to put her own shoes on and loves to try on other people's shoes, too. She also loves bracelets, purses, sunglasses, etc. and has started playing dress-up a little.
• She has been showing some interest in dressing herself. We went shopping the other day, and she got some PJs and a swimsuit. Immediately, she had a leg through the PJ bottoms and her head through the swimsuit top. A budding fashionista, for sure!
• Along with that, her love for Minnie and Mickey continues to blossom. She picks them out of a crowd and just stares lovingly. It was a set of Minnie PJs and a Minnie swimsuit that I bought for her because she was SO excited and she caught me in a moment of weakness. ;)
• We've been seeing a LOT of Monkey See, Monkey Do this month between Lewis and Lenore. The good, bad, and ugly.
• Current Tooth Count: still 20, but I can feel her two year molars way way in the back! They're on the move.
• She's currently wearing 2T and even a few 3T items.

Lenore at 20 Months

20 Months Old

So many funny/notable things about this picture, which are totally indicative of how life is going these days:

a) WE LOST THE DOG! The dog I sewed for Kevin, the dog that we've taken all of these monthly pictures with, has disappeared. We didn't look super hard, but it isn't in any of the usual spots, so I'm calling it lost. I'm sure it will turn up tomorrow. 
b) This picture is late in the day (post-bath, pre-bedtime) because we had to wait for Kevin to get home to use his phone to take a picture. The Apple people fixed my phone (it had a twitching screen), but they also broke my phone (the camera and flashlight aren't working since the fix). And, yes, I could have used our camera, but that, too, was broken the last time I tried to use it. I think it got sand in the lens mechanisms on last year's vacation, if I remember correctly.
c) I guess that's all. We are definitely still getting back to our routine since vacation last week.

What she's up to this month:

• She and Lewis are going to camp this week at preschool. I wasn't sure how she would handle a longer day (5 hours vs. the usual 3), but she has been doing well! They eat lunch there, and then she goes right down for nap after I pick them up. It has made her naps a little later (2-5ish), so bedtime has been a little later each night this week. I still put her down by 7:30, but she's been up chattering to herself until 8:30-8:45ish. We'll get back to our regular nap schedule next week (1-4ish).
• Otherwise, it has been much of the same! There aren't many new things happening this month.
• She does say Thank You (her version of it) after I give her something (i.e. her water bottle, usually). I didn't realize she was doing it until she'd been doing it for about a week.
• Her fits have been getting stronger (emotionally), when they occur (which still isn't very often, but they do occur). I had forgotten how utterly helpless/frustrating/angry/etc. I could feel until she threw a huge fit the other night over a tortilla. I'm talking 30 minutes of screaming/crying/needing held/throwing herself on the ground/etc. All while I was trying to finish dinner and end the day without losing my #$@^. I hadn't felt that way since Lewis was around this age, I guess. Hopefully we all make it through as peacefully as possible.
• She did great at the beach! She loved to sit in the shallow water and let the water come and go around her the first few days. Mid-week, she would walk around holding a hand in the slightly deeper water. Then, as the days went on, she got more and more comfortable and liked going out in the bigger waves (in my arms) to get splashed around. She did well in the sand, too--she wouldn't stay still for too long, but for a little bit.
• She started sleeping with a small pillow at the beach--I'd packed one for the car, in case her head was falling to the side, and she took to it as a comfort item for her crib. She's never slept with a pillow until now.
• Wearing mostly size 24 months/2T now (some of her 2T cotton shorts are snug in the waist).
• Current Tooth Count: Still 20!

Some outtakes of her advising me on what she'd like me to do, as per usual. She wanted the footrest up for her pictures, so the footrest went up:

 Put the footrest up!

Stinker Queen Lenore, on her throne

Lenore at 19 Months

19 Months Old

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UPDATED 6/1: She still has a small perforation (hole) between the left and right atrium of her heart, but it's pretty small. That is the Atrial Septal Defect portion of her issues. The doctor said that we should come back to have it checked in another year, and he's hoping it will have closed itself up by then without having to do anything to it (which is what he said a year ago). He said that they usually close up by the time kids are 2 or 3 years old, but it just depends.

He also said that her pulmonary valve looks great (so no more Pulmonary Stenosis, which was the report last year, as well). And her heart is normal-sized, which is great. He said we shouldn't be concerned, but of course I'm a little disappointed it wasn't an all clear report.

I thought of a few more things she's doing this month, too. She legitimately helps me unload the dishwasher. Primarily the silverware--she'll hand it to me, one-at-a-time, as I put it away in the drawer. She will grab a few other dishes, too. Such a little helper.

She also has started announcing her poops, so I have a feeling potty training will be a lot easier with her than it was with Lewis.
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What she's up to this month:

• She has sass! We have known this, but she's really asserting herself this month and has opinions on things. She might shake her head and say 'Nah nah nah!' Or steal a toy and take off running (from Lewis) like her life depends on it. It's usually funny. Occasionally, she doesn't want to get dressed and bucks and screams, but that's not very often.
• She LOVES to be outside. She loves to walk the dogs with me (riding in the stroller). She loves to walk the mower down the road. She loves to walk down the neighbor's driveway and into her backyard (only rarely).
• She loves pointing to the parts on her face and my face. Nose, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, etc. It's usually when we're saying goodbye at nap time or bedtime. I'll get down to give her a kiss in the crib, and she'll stick her finger up my nose and start through her list of parts.
• She loves the same books, over and over again. Her favorite this month is one that Kevin actually got her for Christmas, I am a Bunny. We found it in on the bookshelf in the basement a few weeks ago, and she instantly fell in love. It's fitting because her class at school was the Bunnies, so it was meant to be. She has nibbled the corners and the cover has fallen off, but it's still readable.
• She has really clung to comfort items this month for nap and bedtime. She sleeps with I am a Bunny and a Winnie the Pooh book, plus two stuffed animals, and a couple of pairs of her PJ pants. She will drag one of the stuffed animals (a hot pink monkey) around the house sometimes, too, and even wanted to take it to dinner the other day. (Lewis never took to comfort items, really.)
• She will say 'Ooo-ooo-aah-aah' like a monkey, too, which is adorable.
• Naps and sleep are going well. Twelve hours at night, plus a 3 hour nap (most days). We will be able to have a more consistent nap schedule this summer with Lewis out of school, which is good. She was starting to have trouble taking a late morning nap because it was too early.
• She notices when I paint my toes a new color, so I painted hers for the first time last week. She sat surprisingly still in the stroller while I put on one coat. In the time it took me to run inside to get the dogs to walk, she had smudged a couple of them, but not bad for the first time.
• She is much stronger on going down the stairs safely this month. She slides down on her belly, and I feel like I don't have to be right on top of her now. I still like to be below her, just in case she misses a step, but she's had no incidences so far.
• She is still wearing a few 18 months clothes, but leaning more towards 24 months.
• Current Tooth Count: SO MANY! She got 8 new ones, finally, so I guess the total is 20.

Lenore at 18 Months

18 Months Old
(and ready for nap)

Her stats (from the pediatrician's office):
Height: 32 1/4 inches [66th percentile]
Weight: 27 pounds 7 ounces [94th percentile]
Head Size: 49.2 centimeters [98th percentile]

She had her 18 month check-up this morning, which went pretty well. We did have to wait a really long time, but Lenore checked out ok. Her iron level was up into the 'normal' range, which is great (she's been taking a vitamin with iron the past few months). It's still on the low end of normal, but on the way up. She did well through the finger prick process, but she was pretty sad about her vaccination.

What she's up to this month:

• She is starting to say more and more words. BYE! is the newest, and she says it very loudly and very twangy, which is adorable. She also says 'UH OH,' but not always at the appropriate time. Like the other day, she said a pre-emptive 'uh oh' and THEN pushed her spoon on the ground. Lewis used to do that, too.
• She continues to eat and sleep the same as last month. She IS finally drinking milk, sporadically (hooray!).
• She is finally pretty sure-footed on the stairs, but I still stay with her in case she misses a step. She will fly up them on her hands and knees and scoot down them on her butt. 
• She is tall enough to reach door handles and things on countertops/tables/etc. now. Not quite tall enough to turn a door handle, but tall enough to pull on them, and we have quite a few doors that just pull open. There was also a flipping-of-Lewis's-Cheerios-bowl incident before school a few weeks ago. And I worry about her in the kitchen while I'm cooking--a couple of times, she's walked by the oven door and grabbed the handle and tilted it open a little. Nothing has happened, but I have to be  extra careful that she doesn't reach up and burn herself on something on the stove or otherwise. On the bright side, though, she can put dishes in the sink for me.
• She 'gets' so much. I can tell her to do something, and she'll hesitate for a second while she processes it, then she's off to do the task. It's just little things, of course, but she seems proud of what she's accomplished, and I'm happy to see her being more and more independent.
• She is crazy-brave when it comes to climbing on things. Like from a chair to the tabletop to swinging on the light fixture, in 10 seconds, flat. The only time I am at peace is when she is napping or at night. I'm looking into tumbling classes for her to get out and harness some of her energy.
• She is wearing mostly 24 month clothes now.
• Current Tooth Count: STILL 12, but she has 4-8 of them so close to coming in. We had a week or so of having to use Orajel around the clock this month, but now she doesn't seem to be in pain anymore.

Here she was at the doctor's office this morning, trying to unlock the cabinet with my car keys while we waited:

The cabinet was actually open, but I thought it was cute that she tried with the keys. It wasn't so cute after she started opening all of the drawers over and over, but I was able to hold them closed with my leg.

Lenore at 17 Months

 

Happy Girl at 17 Months Old

What she's doing this month:

• She continues to know what she wants, and she will get her point across, no matter what. She points and grunts, mostly, until we have answered her.
• She has started to vocalize more, overall. She babbles, but has also started repeating words. For instance, she loves putting on her socks and shoes, so I've started saying sock-sock-sock when she brings them to me. She'll say 'dock-dock-dock.' Or shoe-shoe-shoe is 'djoo-djoo-djoo.' She hasn't really said many new words, but the repeating words back is new this month.
• She's also remembering her animal sounds this month! Last month was just 'boof boof' for the dog's bark, but this month she's doing her best chicken (bock bock), cow (some sort of moo), and bunny (hop hop).
• She continues to be a good little helper. If I'm yelling at Lewis to get ready, she will get his shoes and deliver them to him, without even a prompting. :) She loves to help carry a water bottle or Lewis's lunch or someone's jacket when we are going out the door, too. She'll also go under the kitchen sink (which is/was locked/childproofed, but she's broken through it), and gets a spray bottle and washcloth and walks around to clean up. She doesn't know how to spray, of course, and it's just vinegar/water, so there's no worries of her doing great harm. It's just too cute, the way she's taken to mimicking certain tasks. She's a blossoming little mama's helper.
• She is a bowl bandit. She 'gets' that we put our food into bowls, so every time I offer her food, she runs over to the kids' cabinet and gets a bowl. That is fine, but then 3-4 more bowls make their way out by the time snack/the meal is over, and before long, we have no clean bowls. She, like Lewis, insists on having a separate bowl for each food, as well.
• She is getting better and better at feeding herself with a spoon. She still makes a mess of her shirt, but I'd say 70% makes it to her mouth.
• She loves to pick up tiny pieces of trash and either give them to me or put them in the trash.
• She loves to get a piece of paper and a pen/highlighter/marker/whatever she can get her hands on, and she'll pretend to draw/write. Lewis was never into putting pen to paper, so it's neat to see how they are different.
• She is tough! Currently, she has a scratched knee and nose (how did that happen?!) and a bruise on her cheek (from falling off the couch and hitting the coffee table). She pulled a play kitchen down on herself at open gym yesterday and didn't react much at all. She just laid still until I came over and picked it up off of her, and she got up and played with it again. I'm sure being around Lewis has helped.
• She looooves to be outside. At some point, though, she will decide to walk into the road or onto the neighbor's driveway (and then down said neighbor's driveway and into her backyard), so then playtime is over. She thinks it's funny, of course, to run away from me, so I'm doing my best to kibosh that action. Until we reach that point, though, outside time is good.
• Sleep is still going well. She sleeps from about 7:30-7:30 at night, plus a 2-3 hour nap during the day. The 2nd nap has gone away this month, and her midday nap ranges from 10:45-1:45 or 1-4, depending on whether we have to pick up Lewis at 12 or 2.
• She has also just started sleeping with snuggly items this month. She has a seahorse that lights up plays music for 5 minutes or so, and she has a monkey that my mom got her at the zoo. Last week she was also snuggling with an extra pair of pajamas, Lewis's (clean) underwear, and a John Deere hat. I got rid of those, though, and just stuck to the stuffed animals. ;)
• She is still in her 18 month clothes, inching ever so closer to her cache of 24 months.
• Current Tooth Count: STILL 12. She's been gnawing on her finger on one side the past few days, so maybe they're on the move again. Or maybe not! Maybe she'll have 12 teeth forever. ;)

She's pretty darn sweet! (Minus the fussing and demanding for food she'll pull occasionally.)

Lenore at 16 Months

16 Months Old

Today is Lenore's 16 month birthday, and it dawned on me the other evening that she normally would have to celebrate such an occasion on March 1. Today is Leap Day!

We started the day/week out at the pediatrician's office this morning. I was on the fence about whether to take her in, once I realized her thick, yellow-greenish snot has been around for two weeks. I decided to take her, and it turns out it's just a cold. :( Her ears had a little bit of fluid but no pus, and a strep test came back negative. The doctor said since it's been so long, we could try antibiotics for a sinus infection, but I decided to just wait it out and see if we can clear her up with saline and the NoseFrida (snot sucker). Unfortunately we had to wait in the room for an hour before seeing the doctor, so it's kind of a crummy way to start our week, but oh well.

She weighed 26.5 pounds [75th-90th percentile] and was 31.5 inches tall [50th to 75th percentile] this morning.

What she's been up to:

• She's had this runny nose for a few weeks now, and before that, she was in a lot of teething pain. I still haven't seen any new teeth, but they're apparently on their way. Must be those terrible, awful molars coming through.
• She is sleeping well (probably from feeling crummy). She's still going between one to two naps a day, depending on the day. If we have to pick Lewis up at 12, I keep her up until after lunch. On days when he stays until 2, she'll take a mid-morning nap that is usually 10:30-1:30ish, and that's it for the day. If her morning nap lasts 3 hours, that's all we'll do, but she's had a few days of napping 1 1/2 hours in the morning and again in the afternoon. She is clear with communicating her napping needs, way more so than Lewis ever was.
• Her appetite has been a little puny from the snot, but she continues to eat pretty well. She HAS started to throw food on the ground once she's finished, which is super annoying. She has also started gagging herself at mealtimes, which I remember Lewis doing as well. I haven't seen her do it since last week, so hopefully she's forgotten about it.
• At certain times of the day, she might point to a banana, go to the pantry and grabs raisins and bread, and wants in the fridge. All at once, in that moment, she wants it all (though she rarely eats much of it, she is very demanding). She eats way more than Lewis does, overall, though he drinks milk and she still doesn't. 
• She's getting better at feeding herself with a spoon. She's got the scooping part down pretty well, but then she flips the spoon over and dumps out its contents half of the time. She's getting there, though.
• I might have said this last month--she loves to pick up little pieces of trash, dog hair, etc. around the house and take them to the trash. She loves to 'clean up' with a wash cloth or paper towel--she'll wipe her face and her body, wipe off her high chair, clean the floor. 
• She is back to waving. The other day, I was at the computer and she was playing next to me (we were by the front window), and I saw that Kevin was pulling in the driveway. I said, 'Who is here?' She looked out the window and started full-body waving like crazy, saying 'Dadadadadada!' The cutest thing.
• She doesn't say much beyond an occasional Dada, Bubba, or Mama. She has started trying to say Peter and Hattie--she'll point to one and say 'Buttah' for Peter or '___' for Hattie (I forget). She's got shrieking down pat. Otherwise, she gets around pointing and grunting at us. Oh, she also says 'woof' when reading one of her peek-a-boo books. Two cute, little 'boof boof' and that's it. 
• She looooves to play outside. I keep having to wipe down her shoes because they're constantly covered in mud. Or her socks or pajama feet. I did find some outdoor shoes for her over the weekend, so we'll try to keep those as the designated muddy shoes. I'm definitely looking forward to consistently nicer weather because Mama loves being outside, too!
• In clothing, she is still wearing 18 months for the most part (a few sleepers are getting snug). She has a few smaller 24 months/2T pieces that are working, too.
• Current Tooth Count: still 12, but I expect some molars to make their grand entrance soon.