16 Months Old

Raye is such a cutie-pie these days. She's:

*talking a lot. Lots of words that start with "b": ball (buh), bye-bye, bird (also "buh"), baby, and something that sounds like ah-ne, which we think means "another." I've heard her say "I love you" this month, too, which was really sweet. She says some other things, too...I'm just having a hard time remembering them at the moment.

*working on more animal sounds now: "oooooh" for a cow, "buh buh" for a chicken, "kah kah" for a duck, "baa baa" for a sheep, "nay nay" for a horse, and of course the ones she already knew. For an elephant she'll raise her arm in the air and make a squeaking sound, and for a lion she'll do a very quiet, low growl/roar sound. It's awesome.



*more picky about food this month. I think a lot of it is due to all the fruit we've been having...'tis the season for yummy, cheap fruit, and we have been enjoying it. And so has Raye. She always loves fruit, crackers, and cheese...it's actual meals she might not be down with. Honestly, she's still a pretty good eater and not too picky, but she gets really grumpy when hungry so if it's not meal time yet or we're out and she's a grump because she's hungry, well, I give her a snack. So she often doesn't want all of her meal. And so the cycle continues. Mama can't handle the crying. #thirdborn.

*very sweet when someone else is in trouble or just upset. She'll pat them on the head (she also loves our friends' new baby...she loves to give him kisses and hugs), give them a hug, or just break down in tears that they're so upset.

*saying, "oooh" when putting on a necklace or a skirt/dress, and "mmmm!" when she likes something she's eaten.



*picking up phones, pushing buttons, and holding them up to her ear and saying "heh-doh!" Over and over and over again. She'll also do it with things that are not phones...pretending already. This is one of my favorite things she's doing these days...it's too cute.

*loving books these days. She doesn't necessarily want to listen to all of them, but she loves to look at the pictures and point to things she recognizes, saying them if she knows the word. Her favorite book is this book about feelings, and there's a page with a girl who is grumpy who's saying "hmph!" Raye will grunt and make "hmph!" noises forever...it's so funny.



*finally back in cloth diapers! I'm so happy to not be going through packages and packages of diapers each month. Speaking of diapers, she likes to get a wipe when I'm changing her and wipe herself. And she's interested in the potty. This month she actually stopped going in her diaper once in order to go to her potty. She didn't actually go in the potty, but she knows what it's for, I think. It gives me hope that we'll have another one potty trained early and be done with diapers.

*climbing up and down stairs while holding onto the rail, up a ladder if the rails aren't too far apart, and practically running, although she's still a bit clumsy. She loves to slide and swing and just be outside.



*solidly in 18-month clothes. I think if she were in disposable diapers she could still wear 12-month onesies, but the cloth-diaper booty dictates 18-month onesies and bottoms. She's in a size 5 shoe.

*loving to dance. She'll look at my computer and start bouncing, which means, "come on, mom, turn on the music!" And then she loves to be picked up and bopped around, although she's also perfectly happy and capable of bouncing on her own. If she hears music while out-and-about she often can't contain herself and starts bopping up and down.



*learning more body parts. She can identify her hair, head, tongue, teeth, mouth (she either opens and closes it or she'll put her hand over her mouth and make that "uh-buh-uh-buh" noise that happens when you move your hand in front of your mouth), hands, ears, nose, and eyes. Oh, and don't forget the belly button!

*surprisingly good at following directions. She waves when told to "say hi." She'll take something to the trash can or go find someone's blankie, take a toy to another room, put her spoon in the sink, and so on. She understands a lot, even if she's still not saying too much.