Well folks! She keeps on a-growing! It seems all-too-fast, but what can I do about it? She's SO much fun right now. She has the warmest heart, the sweetest cuddles, and the biggest melt-your-heart smile imaginable. Yeah. She has us ALL by our little fingers.
Here's what she's up to now.
- She's walking well now days. She finally prefers walking over crawling (yay!) and it's so fun to watch. She still has that little waddle/toddle walk that's so adorable with babies.
- She still loves to be chased. It's fun to go after her and watch her try to "run" while she is giggling the entire time. It's infectious.
- She loves purses. She'll find them, put them around her neck or over her arm, and walk around the house.
- She also loves shoes. She loves to bring them to me to put on her feet.
- Along with shoes, her next favorite item to wear is a jacket. She'll also bring me her jackets and ask me to put them on her. I'm guessing that she also knows that jackets mean we go "bye-bye" and that may be part of the "love" of the jacket too.
- She loves anything with a lid that she can remove or pop open (toothpaste, lotion, hair gel, hand sanitizer, etc.). She thinks it is fun to pop those lids open, but then she also thinks it fun to try and suck out the contents. That is NOT fun for mom/dad and at that point she usually has to relinquish the item in hand and she proceeds to get a little mad.
- And, speaking about the little mad part . . . . She is starting to get REALLY frustrated when she doesn't get what she wants. If we take something away or won't let her have something she wants, she'll scream quite loudly. Sometimes she'll even break down into an awful cry and melt into the floor while doing it. Silly little tantrums. :) The great thing about babies at this age is that they get over it SUPER quickly and move onto something else in no time.
- She is a hit-and-miss eater. Some meals she is a champ and eats SO well. Others, she barely picks at her food and then just wants her bottle. She still loves her bottles and drinks a ton of milk. Another funny thing with Addie is that she'll just spit her food out when she's done with it. This happens when she doesn't like the food, or when she's chewed the good parts and doesn't want the "bad" parts (like when she chews cherry tomatoes . . . she'll eat it all, but spit out the skins), or if you happen to put something in front of her that she wants to try right away . . . she'll just spit out whatever she's eating to make room for the new option (heaven forbid she just finishes and swallows what's already in her mouth). This gets tricky if we let her "snack" while not in her highchair because she'll seriously just spit stuff out wherever she is. It makes for some crazy messes sometimes.
- She still hates to be tied down or locked into anything. (This is part of the eating problem some days. She just doesn't want to be stuck in the highchair.)
- She is still a little cuddle bug. She'll just walk over to me or Beau, hold out her hands for us to pick her up, and then she'll just sit in our laps. We both will NEVER get enough of that. I hope she wants to sit on our laps forever . . . even when she's all grown up.
- She also loves to hug and cuddle with Evie. She'll just go up to Evie and wrap her arms around Evie or snuggle up right next to her. It's so darn cute! Sweet sister love!
- She LOVES to wave and say hi or bye to people. She also knows the social queues for when someone is leaving. If any of us put on shoes and a jacket, she'll start waving and saying "bye" before we can even think about getting out the door. It makes us smile.
- She loves to go down slides! She'll kind of play on other playground equipment, but the slide is, by far, her favorite.
- She's still not talking in words. She'll attempt to say "hi" or "bye" as she waves and she'll say mama or dada occasionally, but usually she'll just babble, grunt, and/or point when she's trying to tell us something. Heck, it works and we can usually decipher what she wants. The words will come soon, I'm sure. That all being said, she understands the English language very well. I can say, "Addie, go over there and get your bottle and bring it to me." She will look over at the bottle, walk to it, and bring it right over to me.
- She recognizes prayers/praying. She doesn't have the arm folding down, but she'll clasp her hands together. When we say, "Amen" she smiles bigger-than-life. And, before meals, she'll sometimes put her hands together to remind us that we need to pray.
- She tries to comb/brush her own hair. And, speaking of hair, it seems to be growing in fast and thick. It's beautiful!
- She did have a cold that lasted nearly three weeks this past month. I'm happy to report that she is healthy and well at the moment. Hooray for healthy children!
- When you ask her what a dog says she'll stick out her tongue and pant. :)
- She loves driving our Cozy Coupe car. We say, "Brrrmmm, Brrrmmm, Beep, Beep" and she smiles or giggles all-the-while.
- She is starting to feed herself with a fork and spoon. She is quite good with a fork if she's picking up easy stuff to stab (like hotdogs). For other things, we'll load her fork or spoon for her and then hand her the utensil. She'll gladly take it and feed herself with it. She loves doing this.
- She still takes two naps a day (most days). This girlie loves to get her sleep. :)
Needless to say, she's coming right along and is such a joy. I still kiss all the day long and can't get enough of her sweet cuddles.
