14 Months ~Amelia~

Following in mommy's footsteps?!?

Luckily this month has slowed down slightly.  Work has still be crazy but we’ve been so lucky that Matt has been working close to home still and we haven’t been as busy on the weekends.  Both kids have been thoroughly enjoying the warmer weather.  Every afternoon when we get home we unload and spend some time outside playing.  Grant likes playing baseball and riding his bike and gator and Amelia is never very far behind like a little shadow.

Growth:

Amelia’s monthly estimates…

Weight:  22 lbs

Height:  32.5”

She is in 12-18 month and 18 month items.  Diapers are size 4 and shoes are size 4. 

Mobility/Coordination:  The last month has been a month of building and fine tuning her mobility and coordination.  Her latest favorite activity is climbing… on the toy box, on the fire place, on small inanimate objects.  She enjoys playing outside and dancing by twirling in circles.  She has also shown more interest in coloring and scribbling. 

Language/Communication:  Amelia’s communication has really grown over the last month.  She understands more and more simple commands/requests such as come eat, find your shoe, put that away, etc.  She points at objects (with her middle finger) she wants and says “da.”  She knows the sign for “please” and says “Hi!”  There was also one day when Matt was leaving for work and clear as day she said “Bye da da.”  And if anyone is wondering, she still hasn’t said “ma-ma.”  Although, she will occasionally babble “Mmmm” so that “m” sound is in there somewhere! 

Personality/Amelia-isms:  Amelia can still be a little fireball and will let you know when she isn’t happy.  She walks around squealing and still sports the scrunchy smile quite frequently and it is absolutely adorable.  She has unfortunately started to occasionally follow in her brother’s footsteps and become a biter.  This week has been a good week but the last couple of weeks she has come home with at least 3-4 incident reports a week for biting at daycare.

She is one smart cookie too I tell ya.  Last week Amelia came into the kitchen while I was preparing supper and grabbed a towel off the oven door.  She walked back into the dining room with it so I followed her.  Low and behold she had gotten the dog food scoop out of the dog food, dunked it in the dog water, dumped the water on the floor, and came to get the towel to wipe up the mess. 

Sleep:  Amelia’s sleeping habits are all still about the same.  She is hanging on to that morning 30-60 minute nap, an afternoon nap and bed around 6:30-7:00 on most nights.  She normally only sucks her thumb when she is relaxing or falling asleep.  Lately it never fails that when we check on her before we go to bed her feet/legs are through the crib slots.

The biggest sleep related change we have noticed is that when we lay her down for the night for bed she cries.  We’ll pop back in, check on her, pick her up and cuddle her then lay her back down and she will cry again briefly.  It seems she is suffering from a little separation anxiety and it only takes a minute or so and she settles down and falls right to sleep.   

Eating:  Amelia’s appetite has been very hit and miss lately.  Breakfast is usually a breeze and she eats well but her appetite seems to diminish through the day.  She still enjoys chugging her cup of milk right away.  She’ll throw it on the ground the minute it is empty and then nibble on her food and cry and sign for "more milk."  We usually limit her milk intake to one refill and then water.  When she gets her cup back with water, she’ll usually take one sip and throw it on the floor again. 

Teeth:  We have officially hit 5 months without the emergence of a new tooth.  I will say that it appears her lower right lateral incisor is finally about to cut through.  Give it the next couple of weeks and she’ll have at least that tooth if not more. 

Check out those chompers!

Illnesses/Owies:  Amelia took a pretty bad spill in the kitchen just as we were walking out the door.  She was being silly and walking around with a blanket over her head.  She tripped and fell and couldn’t break her fall.  Her lip tie that holds your lip to gumline ripped all the way up and I thought for sure she’d end up with some loose or deadened tooth nerves from it but she didn’t.   

She also had a bout with hand, foot and mouth this month as well.  We got a call on a Monday saying she had a fever.  Matt picked her up and that night we noticed she had some ear drainage so we thought for sure it was an ear infection.  She stayed home Tuesday and was back to normal and at daycare Wednesday.  That afternoon at pick up we were notified 3 kids had HFM in her room.  I immediately ramped up the essential oil usage (Thieves, Oregano, and Purification).  She went to daycare on Thursday with no spots/blisters and we got a call by lunch saying she had one on her thumb and a couple on her feet.  That was the extent of Amelia’s case.  We were very surprised because the teachers had indicated it seemed like a pretty bad strain based on how severely some of the kids were breaking out. 

Brother/Sister Moment(s):  Anytime Amelia is corrected on her behavior (sit down or don't do this) Grant is always sure to point out the fact the he is sitting or behaving appropriately when she isn't.  Amelia is Grant’s shadow.  She loves to follow him and play with him and it is so much fun to see them learning to interact and play together.    

Firsts:  Amelia got her first chance to meander around breakfast on the farm.  She loved the baby goats and petting zoo area as well as baby cows.  The breakfast itself was a hit and she inhaled some eggs, sausage, watermelon, cheese, and milk.    

Likes:  shaking the  clapper ~ throwing things away ~ carrying around a blanket ~ sitting in Grant’s gator ~ putting her cup in a cup holder ~ opening the DVD player ~ turning her baby monitor light on ~ Reading books and turning the pages (big change from previous months where she wouldn’t sit still long enough to read even a very short book)

Stealing a seat on Grant's gator when he isn't looking :)

Dislikes:  pineapple ~ an empty sippee cup

Toddler Moment(s):  We are definitely seeing Amelia’s desire for independence grow which means tantrums and more of them.  She wants what she wants when she wants it and she wants it now.  When she is done eating at dinner she will cry/whine until we let her out but we often make her wait until we are done.  If her sippee cup is empty, she slings it onto the floor.  If we put water in her cup and she wants milk, she slings the cup on the floor.