16 months

My dear sweet Reese,

You are now 16 months old. (Well since this post has taken me a while to complete, as of today, you are only 11 days away from 17 months!) I can't believe how quickly you are growing up. It's so exciting and so heartbreaking at the same time. I love watching you learn new things, but a part of me is so sad that time is passing by so fast.

Lately you have been a little sponge. You remember and pick up on things so quickly and you have an amazing memory. For example, several months ago we were in Lowe's and there were some birds flying around in the store. I pointed them out to you and said "Look at the birdies, tweet tweet!" and now whenever we go to Home Depot or Lowes, you always look up and point and say "tweet tweet!" You can tell when we are driving to one of your grandma's because as we get closer, you say "gaga, gaga."

Speaking of grandma, you absolutely love both of your grandmas! And grandpas too. You almost always cry and reach for your grandma when it is time to leave one of their houses. I'm so glad you love your grandparents. I hope you are always close with them. Almost everyday you will point to your coat and say "coat" and then you'll say "gaga" while reaching for the door. You know that a lot of the time when we put your coat on and leave the house, we are heading to grandmas.

It seems like everyday you are saying new words and phrases. I have a feeling you are going to be a little chatterbox, just like your mama was/is. Some of your new words and phrases since your 15 month post are:

• here you go
• step (you love to go up and down steps and lately you want to hold our hands and go up and down the steps like a big girl)
• key
• blanket (it comes out like game-pet. so cute!)
•  mar mar mar (which means "march march march" (when we were teaching you to walk, we would hold your hands and say "march march march." You say "mar mar mar" whenever you want to get down or go outside.
• cup
• nana (banana)
• wa wa (watermelon)
• all better (when you get hurt or bonk, I always kiss it and then you say "all better"
• yeah (yes)
• hot dog (every morning you point to the tv and say "hot dog" because you want to watch the hot dog dance on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
• open
• down
• up
• diaper

 Some other fun and cute things you are doing right now...

• Whenever you see my mug of water, you point and say "ahhhhh" because you want a drink. You always want my mug of water over your sippy cup of water. You must have learned that from your dad because he is always drinking my water instead of his own. :) You almost always say "ahhhhh" after you take a drink of something. It's so cute!
• You absolutely LOVE animals. Especially dogs and cats. You love looking at the window and saying "woof woof woof woof" whenever you see a dog. You almost always make a kissing sound when you see a dog or cat. Sometimes I think it's because you are trying to get them to come and other times I think it's because you want to give them a kiss. When we go to the zoo, you make a kiss sound when you see the animals there as well.
• Speaking of kisses, you give kisses all day long and I love it! You will just randomly lean over and make a kiss sound and want a kiss. I love how sweet and affectionate you are.
• You have an obsession with babies! At church you are always trying to get to all the babies and give them loves and kisses and rock their car seats back and forth while saying "bye bye bye bye" which is how you say "rockabye." I can't wait to make you a big sister because I know you will be so sweet to your siblings.
• Whenever I ask you a question, like "Should we go for a walk?" or "Should we go see grandma?" you almost always answer by saying "YEAH!" to any question I ask. If you are sad and I ask those same questions, you will usually say "no!"
• You are a total mama's girl and love to be held, especially in the mornings. I love that you always want me the most because I know someday you may not want me by your side all the time.
• Even though you are a mama's girl, you absolutely love your dad! In the mornings you usually walk around the house looking for him while yelling "dada." You also point to the door or window everyday and say "dada" because you hope he is coming home from work soon. No one can make you laugh as hard as your dad does. You have got him completely wrapped around your finger.
• You know the actions to "Five Little Monkeys," "Patt-A-Cake" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider."
• You love music! You are always pointing to our phones and ipods because you want music on. You love songs from Frozen - especially the "Frozen Heart" song that the men sing at the beginning. So funny! You love the Sofia The First theme song,The Hot Dog song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Supercalifragelisticexpialidocious.
• You are obsessed with being outside. I'm glad the weather is warming up so that we can be out there as much as possible.
• You are a little daredevil and try to climb up anything and everything. However, right now you are afraid of going in the swing. I hope you overcome that fear soon because we just put a swing in our tree out front. 
• You love bath time and cry whenever the bath is over. I can't wait to take you swimming this summer. You love water.
• You have nine teeth with more coming in. You have handled teething like a champ and we have only had a few rough days and nights because of it.
• You have been going through some picky eating phases lately, but for the most part you always love any type of fruit, milk, yogurt, pancakes, cooked peas, olives, pickles, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese and spaghetti.
• You are very social and love to be around other people and especially other kids. You are sometimes shy at first, but you warm up fast.
• You are such a happy girl. You rarely cry, and even when you do, you calm down very quick. I love that about you.
• You are very tough. If you bonk your head or stumble, you cry for only a short time and I kiss you and then you say, "all better" and go back to doing whatever you were doing. You even fell down the stairs recently and you recovered so quickly.
• You are very curious and busy. You want to get into everything that you possibly can and you love to explore new places. Lately I have been trying to teach you to stay by me and listen and a lot of the time you obey.
• Whenever I put on chapstick or lipgloss, you always want some on your lips so I put a little on your lips as well. 
• When you know you are doing something naughty, you shake your finger and say "no no no no no" but you usually still end up doing the naughty thing anyway. 
• When you eat something you like, you always say "mmmmmm" after.
• You go to bed around 8-8:30 each night and sleep until 7:30 or 8 the next morning. I'm so grateful you are such a good sleeper. I know you are happier and healthier because of it.
• Lately you love your blankets. You like to take all of them out of your drawer and drag them around the house.
• This past week you rediscovered your binkys that you haven't used since you were seven or eight months old. I think it must feel good on your gums with your new teeth coming in. 

 

 

Reese, I could go on and on about how much we love you and all the things you do. You are the greatest joy of our lives and we are SO lucky to be your parents. You are our whole world!!