Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Miss C is 15 months old today!

Holy cow! 15 months, already?!!

Besides the standard statistics update that you already got (see last entry), Miss C is doing great.Let's see:

1. Gross motor skill development: Miss C is running and now trying to jump! She twirls when she dances (DH showed her how and boy does she love it!). It is also very cute to watch her walking backwards (she does this with an audience, of course!) and dancing while holding on to her Fisher Price Kitchen or the handle to the freezer drawer (and, no, I have no idea where she came up with that one!). She can also climb onto virtually any couch or chair she sees, something we really have to pay attention to since she forgets that she can also fall. We have avoided having her fall off but the chance is always there.

2. Fine motor skill development: Miss C brushes her teeth as well as those of her dolly, frog and us, given the opportunity. She is also very adept at getting her pants on (really surprised me on that one, but she figured that one out and showed us last night). She has almost mastered getting two of her pairs of shoes on (they are simple velcro shoes, the pair we put on her for school most days have a tongue that gets threaded through a holder so they are more of a challenge). She can also put on and take off her bib (another trick I would prefer she hold off on most days!:)).

3. Vocabulary: Talk about expansion! Miss C is putting together coherent thoughts and vocalizing them regularly. For example, when we take her into school, we usually try to carry her in from the car (avoiding the normal am rush of people and cars and all that). Sometimes she is fine with that but more often than not, she tells us "mama, down, walk" and signs it, just in case I missed it. Too cool. She does the same with DH. She can also tell you what practically any animal says (yep, she still uses her cute rbbbt for frogs!) and points out the birds on the lights in both words and signs on the way into school. DH and Miss C have been working on "who lives where?" For example, if you ask her "who lives in the trees?" she will reply "birds" and sign it too. I love that! I am eternally grateful for Alphagal's encouragement about baby sign. We were all for it from the beginning but never truly realized how much Miss C had absorbed until her teachers commented on it!

4. Fun. Miss C loves to go "out" and "play." She collects "flowers" and "walks" in the yard (the quotes represent the words and signs we see all the time!). When she wants to be cute, Miss C will try to trick you by bringing you something only to give it to the other person (when DH and I are sitting next to each other, for example). We went to a friends house for a get together recently and Miss C played that "trick" on countless folks.

Ok, so the only real concerns I have at this stage:

1. Miss C has not taken a bottle at school in about 4 months but still takes an am and pm bottle here. We are working on getting her to take all of her milk from a cup but she tends to drink about 1/2 of what we give her that way and will only drink more if we put it in a bottle. Thoughts? Suggestions?

2. Very recently (read: just the past few days), Miss C has gotten incredibly clingy with me. I mean, DH is home and if I go to the bathroom, Miss C follows me. If she looks up and I am not in her line of sight, she cries and absolutely has to find me. Is this normal? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Ok, so that's the most recent stuff. Sorry I haven't posted as many pictures as before. We are still taking them, I just have recently forgotten to charge my camera battery so I can't upload! Drr!

Hope you all enjoy these updates!

2 comments:

Cat said...

That's awesome! The fine motor skills (and pants & shoes- that's fine and gross motor!) are REALLY impressive at her age.

Both of your concerns seem normal to me. The bottle thing is just a comfort that she doesn't want to give up, and it's a lot easier to drink a lot at once from a bottle than it is from a cup for a little person. It's up to you whether you want to fight that battle or just let her have a bottle at specific times of the day. It doesn't hurt anything, but it might bug you to have to make a bottle instead of giving her a cup. It's won't translate to wanting a bottle at school, I'm sure-- she's obviously capable of differntiating "mommy's rules" and "school's rules" by now.

Along with intermittent sleep problems, the clinginess thing seems to be one of the most universally frustrating problems for moms around this age. It's hard on dads too, because if mom's around, he's simply not an acceptable substitute (if she hasn't started that yet, hold tight-- she will). It will pass, usually by around age 2. Just in time for stubborn defiance, potty training, and night terrors. Or so I've been told...

Still, she's a delightful girl and I'm so glad you're keeping track of all this. You'll love looking back at it someday.

LizardBreath said...

We think we may have solved the sleep mystery. I finally got Miss C to let me check out her teeth and it turns out her lower left first molar broke through. At this point I think we have been extremely lucky because the only indication we have seen that she has been bothered at all is the intermittenet sleep issues. I gave her a little tylenol to take the edge off and think that might help her sleep better.
Thanks again for the insight! I will continue to try and get her to drink more out of cups but when it comes to the last milk of the day, for now I am accepting the bottle. Pick your battles, right? :)