Sprout is Seventeen Months Old!

Today Sprout is seventeen months old!

What a busy month it's been.  Let's dive right in...

-The Bean has been home with us the past full month, and it's obvious that Sprout just adores him.  There's a lot of monkey see, monkey do going on at our place these days.  Very silly.

-Because The Bean is home, we've officially switched Sprout to one nap a day.  She's exhausted by noon(ish) when I put her down and usually falls asleep within 15 minutes.

-Nighttime sleep is still a bit precarious.  We're following the same dinner/bath/stories/bed routine, but now do stories in The Bean's room before bed.  She usually nurses for at least half an hour, and falls asleep around 8pm.  Lately she's been waking up a few times during the night, my suspicion is that it's those darn molars.  She usually goes back down without being picked up if I just lie her down and rub her back for a minute.  She's up for nursing around 4am and sometimes goes back into her pack'n'play, but sometimes doesn't.  We had a few glorious days of 6:30 and 7:00am wake ups, but recently it's been more like 5:30am.  Ugh.

-If I wrote this update on the 24th (when I should have) I would have said her two bottom molars were very close to coming thorough.  It's the 28th and I both through now.  Thank the gods.  (Though I suspect we still have a few more rough days ahead while these ones finish errupting, and if history can be used to predict the future, I would also venture to say that we have several more months of teething hell while her other nine teeth come in.)

-Maybe because of the teeth, but she's been nursing more frequently recently.  Instead of just nursing when she gets up and goes down, she's also been asking for/demanding a mid-morning "snack."  I'm not thrilled about it, but I also feel like she's been eating less and figure maybe she's added the extra nursing session to make up for missed calories.

-The language development is still coming along.  Other than "please" no new words spring to mind immediately, but she will often try to repeat things we say to her.  She's also started this pointing and guttural talking thing.  Like she doesn't want to make the effort to say the word.  I just realized it was going on, so I'm trying to be more diligent about getting her to say what she can rather than just piecing together meaning from her actions.

-She's becoming quite bold in her gross motor movements.  She likes to go up and down stairs on her own now.  She's not entirely trustworthy, but when she's got her mind made up about it, she'll push your hand away.  We hover nearby.  She also LOVES the trampoline.  We were at Jen's parents' place and their neighbours have one and Sprout was having a blast running across it and "jumping" on it.  She also spinning in circles.  Much like her brother did at this age.  She's also a climber... ladders, onto the couch, over the foot board of her brother's bed...

-She's still a super-snuggly girl and manages to worm her way onto your lap if she decides that's where she wants to be.

-Her favourite toys are still her "babies."  She carries or pushes them in a stroller all around the apartment and will ask for her special baby (a small Waldorf doll) when she's going down for a nap or to sleep.   She also really likes balls and has recently gotten into sand toys.  She loves throwing sand.

-She actually loves a lot about the playground these days --the sand, the swings, the slide.  She can go up and down the slide on her own, but will often ask for a hand going down.  She has no fear of stairs, even very steep/high ones.  She also loves being pushed really high in the swing.  We get shocked stares from other parents at the park.

-We spent a week at Jen's parents.  She adores them.  Aside from grandma and grandpa, me, Jen and The Bean are her favourite people.  She's very affectionate.  The other night she even ran back into The Bean's bedroom to give Jen a goodnight kiss.  Too cute.

-Food is about the same.  She's taken to wiping the food off her tongue if she decides she rather not be eating it.  She's a pretty good eater though and a huge mooch.  If you're eating something you can count on her coming over to check out whatever it is you have.

-Her toddler-ness is really shining through in that if she doesn't get what she wants she's taken to pitching a big fit.  Sometimes I give in, sometimes not.

-She maybes seems a bit taller.  It feels like she's outgrowing her sleepsacks.  I also think her feet may be growing.  She loves shoes and it seems like ones that were fitting her well last month are starting to get a bit snug now.

She really is such a joy to be around.  It's hard to believe that she's going to be one and a half next month.  The days are flying by and we are doing our best to enjoy every one of them.