Sprout is Nineteen Months Old!

Today Sprout is nineteen months old!

Maybe I say this every month, but this past month has really flown by.  After the last update I thought it would be a good idea to write some of the changes in Sprout's development down as I noticed them.  I was a bit neglectful... six bullet points is as far as I got.  Of course, there have been many other changes.  I will do my best to remember and make note of them here...

-Perhaps one of the biggest changes is that Sprout is now spending (most of) her nights in a crib in the kids' room.  This feels life-changing.  And while I miss having my baby right beside me during the nights, the truth is that I think we are both/all sleeping better now.  I felt like I was never falling into a proper sleep, always listening to her toss and turn and wondering if she was going to wake up and want to nurse, or be held, or whatever.  After spending a few days away in a hotel, we were able to test out how the kids did sharing a room.  Sprout's nighttime cries didn't seem to wake up her brother, so rather spontaneously (if you can call something you've waited over a year to do spontaneous) we decided to put her in the crib in the kids room at home.  She was really tired the first night, so it went really well... she didn't wake up until 5:30am, at which point I brought her into our room and I nursed and cuddled her until a more reasonable wake-up time.  Since then she's been waking once or twice before we go to bed, but settling back down fairly easily, and then waking up any time after 4am to join me in our room.  She still naps in our room because she's a frequent nap waker and I really, really don't want her disturbing her brother's naps.  That time is too precious to me.

-As I mentioned, we went away for a few nights.  Jen's parents treated us to a stay at an indoor water park out their way.  It was very fun and solidified Sprout's love of the water.  She may have said "splash" more than she said "mama" while we were there, and that is a lot.  ;) 

-She's continued to add new words and sounds into her vocabulary.  Ball, man man (for Spiderman), hop, and cluck come to mind.  She's also started putting two words together, sometimes three even.  No examples are jumping to mind immediately, but things like "more milk" and "hot blow" (the food is hot, blow on it) and "baby in" (put the doll in the stroller) come to mind. 

-She definitely knows her own mind.  She often requests "help" or "hand" when she wants you to do something.  As I think I mentioned last month, "no" is another big word.  "Mm Hm" is her usual affirmative response.  And when you ask her a question, she will adorably tap her chin and say "Hmmm."  I have no idea where she picked it up, but I love it. 

-I said about her knowing her own mind --two notes in that regard
1) She really wants to figure out this potty thing.  Often when I take off her diaper she will go sit on the potty.  She likes to stay naked on the bottom and run back and forth to it, sitting for a few minutes, then getting up to play.  She gets quite upset when I try to put a diaper on her in this situation.  However, she has yet to have a "successful" potty trip and really is not aware that she has to pee until it is happening /has happened.
2) She is determined to dress herself.  This can be such a battle when I am trying to get us out somewhere, but mostly I am trying to just let her figure it out or help her to the degree which she deems acceptable.  The result is often waist in the leg hole of her shorts, things on backwards, etc.  but she's one and a half and we're at home, so what does it matter?  Right?

-Like her brother, she's been getting really into dancing to music.  It's pretty adorable as she tries to copy many of his "moves."  We took her to a couple of live shows this past week and she had such a good time running around and dancing. 

-She can jump!  She actually gets airborne for a half a second.  She loves it.  She's also taken to leaping onto the couch from our ottoman.  I'm just waiting for a crash.  Hopefully we can avoid any ER visits.  

-She is still totally obsessed with her babies.  

-She also LOVES airplanes.  She'll point and bounce and call out "pane! pane! up! fi!" when she sees one.  Which is often.  We live relatively close to an airport.

-Her favourite books are Welcome Summer and other touch and feels, Zoe's Snowy/Windy/Sunny/Rainy Day, The Carrot Seed, and Hop on Pop which she calls Hop Pop.  She listens to a lot of The Bean's longer books since I read to both of them together before naps, but she seems to prefer the books meant for younger ones.  Which makes sense, but I still find notable.

-She is both a shy, snugglebug and an outgoing silly billy.  I had to use the above photo for this month's update because it shows what a goofball she can be.  She has the best, best smiles, but mostly saves them for those she's the most comfortable with.  She's also a big joker.  We get a kick out of her.

-I know many of you don't know her name, or her many nicknames, but she will point to herself and say her name, and she will also call herself "B", which is a part of one her nick names... the one The Bean most often calls her.  I think it's adorable.  (Of course, I think about 95% of what she does is adorable, so maybe I'm not the best person to comment on this!)

-She is still a frequent nurser.  It's been a while now that she just nurses before going to sleep or when she wakes up, but she sometimes asks in between those times.  Often I distract her, occasionally I nurse her.  I'm so, so happy to have this relationship with her.  It's exhausting, but it is also so nice to be able to hold her and stare at her and feel her little body relax as her breath changes and she calms down and falls to sleep.  It's a privilege.  Though I sometimes think that it would be nice for my body to be my own again, and to get a full night's sleep would be oh so amazing, I am not wishing away these moments. 

-Food is about the same.  Sometimes she's a bit finicky.  I think she gets pretty significant pain with teething, and although I haven't noticed any new teeth trying to push their way through, I wouldn't be surprised if sometimes when she doesn't want to eat if it's because she's in pain.  Again, knowing that she'll nurse and get the nutrients and calories she needs makes me much less concerned about missed meals.

I think that's pretty good for now.  Hopefully I keep up on all the progress over this current month a little better than I have been.  Mostly she continues to be a loving, silly, joyful little bug.  It's so wonderful to be her family.