Pick Up Every Pebble

I have started several blog posts in the past few months but haven't completed any of them-- I'm sort of stuck in a rut where I'm worried everything I write is annoyingly baby-related or an opinion I haven't fully formed and therefore am not entirely prepared to defend should people rise up in arms against me. Add that to the fact that I have hardly any pictures on my phone to share (since I quit it for lent and all that), and I'm a boring blogger.

In any case, Rosalind has hit another "milestone" with 15 months (um...a month ago), so I figured I would do a little update on here so that the 2 of you who read this and don't see her on the reg can be in the know. 

Okay. So like I said, Ros is about 16 months old now. She babbles nonsense all day long and is ALWAYS moving. She carries things from room to room and puts things where they don't belong. For instance, my earplugs in the trash and her rabbit in the dryer right as I started it-- but she knows they don't go in there, because if she put something where it's not supposed to be, and I don't notice, she will alert me so I can fix it. Also, if something is out of the ordinary...oh boy. I viciously cut my finger on the blender yesterday and she keeps making noises of worry and trying to remove my bandage (ow).

She is very good at following basic directions, like "go put those in your hamper" or "go put that in the trash" or "go find your bunny." Once, Sam was showering and I asked her "where's Daddy?" and she took me by the hand and led me into the bathroom. That was unexpected.

Ros recognizes letters and when she sees them she will start to "recite" them. She mostly goes "A, C, D, E, D, E, D, E, Beh, D" which I think is funny. She also know several body parts and will point to them when you ask where they are, but still calls everything "eyes" --although she says "ah" for head and hair (which I think is actually "hat"), and sometimes "mo" for mouth or mole (and she will find every blemish on your body and call it a mole; it really makes you feel good about yourself). OH and she calls belly buttons "billy-billy" which I think is adorable.

We are trying to teach her to call herself "Ros" instead of "baby" because technically she's a toddler now and therefore a big girl, but I think mostly it's just confusing her so far. She calls Sam "Didi" and I still don't really get called anything, but she does know who I am if she's asked. She knows a bunch of other words too, and will try things out if you tell her to say them: cheese, go, spot, sit, up, down, no, yes, all done, please, bib, hat, ball, koala, etc. Koala is my favorite-- she says, enthusiastically, "KOHL!" or sometimes, "goll" or "golla-kohl" or similar (she has a little bandana with koalas on it that she likes to put on her head and walk around in, I think that's the only reason she knows that word). Oh, and she says thank you. The way she says it changes, right now it's "die!" which I don't have to tell you is humorous when she goes around saying it all the time. She's starting to put words/phrases together too. On our trip, she was sick of being in the car, and Sam was grabbing her some dinner, so I was with her in the car reading her a book as a distraction, and as soon as I finished, she said "ah da, go-go?" (All done, can we go?). I was impressed.

She used to tell me when she was about to poop, but she doesn't anymore. She actually pooped on the toilet twice when she was doing that, but I wasn't anticipating it would become a regular thing. We are just in the subliminal messaging phase of potty training, and I don't think I'll start actively introducing it for at least another year. She can take her time (for now), she's still super young.

She's doing better with a fork and spoon, and somewhat better with a regular cup (we are starting with smoothies since they're thick), and is sort of learning how to pour-- when I give her the chance.

A couple funny random things: when she bathes, she loves it, but she hates having water poured on her head (understandably). But every time I pour it on her head, she splutters, drops everything, and immediately tries to evacuate the tub. Like pulling up in the edge and lifting her leg to get out within a split second. It's hilarious. Also, we've had the side off of her crib for a few months now, and while she pretty much has stayed in bed since day 2, she will sometimes (when she's not super sleepy), get out of bed and come to her door and bang on it. Then as soon as you open it, she will waddle back to her bed and lie down so you can tuck her in again, smiling all the while. I totally can't be mad about that, even on days she does it twice.

She also loves animals and gets very excited at birds, fish, cats, rabbits, geese, dogs, etc. Every dog she sees she calls "Spot" (Sam's parents' dog) now, and will tell it to sit, or tell it no (apparently we boss Spot around a lot...). We seriously need a pet.

She also loves to be outside. She loves exploring and chasing after balls (at a snail's pace) and putting sticks, leaves and dirt all over herself. Sometimes she will wander through the yard and pick up every minuscule dead leaf or pebble and hand them to me. We must clean up the yard!!

Things I wish she would learn: 

-How to get dressed

-How to blow her nose

-How to change her own messy diapers

-How to tell me why she's unhappy

Also looking forward to:

-Yogurt not being an ordeal

-Sending her to nursery in a couple more months

Anyway, I think that's about all. She's really quite a delight to be around when she's not starving or has missed a nap. She always makes us laugh.