Sprout is Sixteen Months Old!

Today Sprout is sixteen months old!

It was actually a few days ago, but we were away and I wasn't really keeping track of the dates, and then I thought we might as well wait until after her fifteen month well-baby check (oops), but Sprout is Sixteen Months and Five Days Old doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

It feels like this little one is growing up much more quickly than her brother did.  She's bridging the gap between baby and toddler, with more of the toddler side being evident everyday.  She wants to talk and move and do so many things herself.  But she also wants to be picked up and nursed and snuggled a good bit too.  I miss many of the "baby" things, but it also so fun to be able to do new things with her.

-She is having a huge language explosion.  I feel like the past few months have been pretty remarkable in this regard, but right now she is repeating tons of words and using about one new word a day.  You have to be around her a lot to notice that's what she's doing, but I still find it pretty amazing.  New this month are some animals noises --like an elephant trumpeting, a horse's neigh and a sheep's baa which sounds like a laugh when she does it.  (I noticed it for the first time when I took her to Riverdale Farm and she was looking at the sheep --too cute!)  The doctor said that she should have at least ten words by now, but my guess is that she's somewhere between 50 and 100.

-And again, her comprehension is great.  Her best listening "trick" is that if I tell her she needs her diaper changed and ask her to come lay down she does!  She doesn't always do it for Jen though.  Another pretty good one is when we say something about going outside and she literally runs over to the closet to get her jacket and shoes.  We actually have to be careful not to say anything before we're ready to leave because she gets upset if we make her wait!  She loves going out and really loves being outside.

-Her walking is still a bit wobbly but improving and her bow-legged stance is getting less bowed.  She tries to run and jump, which is pretty cute.  She loves running/jumping/rolling around on the bed.  She also thought the neighbour's trampoline that we were able to get her out on last week when we were at Grandma and Grandpa's was pretty awesome.  She loves to dance and this moth figured out how to turn on the spot.  She also had lot of opportunities for climbing at Grandma and Grandpa's.  She's fearless around stairs, which is terrifying, but I've been trying to get her to sit and bump down them rather than just taking a huge step into nothingness and tumbling head first to the bottom.  The results have been mixed.  If I should her name I can usually distract her long enough to run over and grab her hand.  Going up isn't really an issue, though I still like to stand behind her and spot.

-She's come a long way with her eating.  At this point I would say she's a pretty good eater.  She nurses in the early hours of the morning, so she doesn't want breakfast right away and our current go-to breakfast for her is an over-easy egg cut up into small pieces that she mostly feeds herself.  She's also pretty happy with cereal.  Lunch and dinner she often has what we're having.  She loves rice, noodles, cheese, soft vegetables, chicken, lentils, hummus, bananas, crackers/cookies (rice rusks or animal crackers).  She seems to prefer savoury foods, and likes a little bit of spice but won't turn down a cookie (fruits and yogurts don't get that same reception though).  She mostly drinks water and loves to drink out of a glass with help.

-Sleep is more or less what it has been.  I chalk up the particularly brutal nights to teething, but she still has never done more than about an eight or nine hour stretch.  Usually she's in our bed from about 4am on, though lately I've been remaining alert enough at that wake up to nurse her and then put her back in the pack'n'play for another hour or so.  I think Jen and I are both ready for her to move into the other room, but we don't want to risk having two children awake at 4am.  I'm hoping by 18 months we're able to make the switch.  We've switched her to one nap a day and she seems to be doing better.  She consistently sleeps from about 12:00pm (when she is EXHAUSTED) to 2:30pm, but wakes up twice during that period and needs to be nursed or rocked briefly before she'll go back down.

-Since I mentioned teething I'll also note that she got her top right molar shortly after the last update, but it is still working it's way down and that she got her bottom left lateral incisor a week or so ago.  It seems like there are many more teeth (molars) on the way.

-No notable size change lately.  She's been in size four diapers forever now and is mostly wearing 12-18m clothes.  She's stretching out a bit, but not gaining much weight these days.  The pediatrician confirmed that she's 23.4lbs and 32.1in.  75th and 90th percentiles respectively, according to his charts.  It's strange to look back on old photos and see how chubby she was.  I had kind of forgotten.  She still has an adorably round belly.  Exact same shape I had as a baby.

-Her toys of choice these days are her "babies."  She loves carrying around dolls and stuffed animals.  Strollers and the shopping cart are also pretty popular.  She also loves dressing up.  Beaded necklaces, hats, shoes, you name it.  She found the Halloween costumes and spent a few days in a horse costume and another few days wearing a kitty hat and crawling around saying meow.  I felt sort of bad putting them back away.  Balls and finicky things like the pop up bugs are still big too.  We've been playing outdoors a good bit and she will try to mimic The Bean and play soccer, hockey, t-ball and golf.

She continues to be the happy, strongly opinionated and strong willed child she has been from the beginning.  It's such a joy being her Mama.