16 months
16 months old and my girl is talking up a storm. I can’t even keep track of all her words now, as she basically repeats everything we say. She still doesn’t really string more than one word together - except for “all done”, “thank you” and something that I am pretty sure is “here you go” - which sounds like “he-go”. I have been trying to get her to say “I Love You” but all she says is “love” while kind of chewing on her tongue….She shows her love all the time though, she hugs mommy and daddy so tightly whenever we pick her up and gives kisses all the time. And daddy showed her how to give eskimo kisses too - it is too cute! She is less open with her love to everyone else, still prefers mommy and daddy - but she is warming up to Bubby and GiGi - and she still loves Aunt P too…
It amazes me every day how smart she is. She has gotten used to posing for pictures, as you can tell
and now she figured out that the digital camera shows a quick flash of the photo you just took on the screen, and after each picture I take of her - she grabs the camera, turns it around so she can see the screen - points at herself and says “baby”.
We had the occasion to dress up a couple times in the last month - and I enjoyed putting her in dresses - she is so darn cute! We went to cousin Emma’s naming ceremony - and she wore cousin Ella’s hand me down outfit (from Ella’s first birthday)
She was the belle of the ball - she was running around and being so cute - playing with her balloon ladybug and turtle - smelling the flowers (which she insists on doing whenever she sees flowers, whether it be in real life - or in books)
She was cracking up playing with her dad and his crazy balloon hat
and we all had a really fun time with family.
As cute as she is dressed up - she is even cuter naked I think - I have to let her have some naked time occasionally to keep her from throwing tantrums. Some days she really fights getting a diaper or clothes on.
These photos caught her doing one of her favorite things, dancing - she loves to clap, spin around and stomp her feet.
She doesn’t have the super chubby baby body anymore, she is really thinning out now that she is so active, plus she has already grown a couple inches since her birthday - she is looking and acting more and more like a little kid - rather than a baby.
She has such a funny personality and is constantly joking around and being silly. She started making this face lately
I call it her “popeye” face, she looks like she just tasted a lemon, but she is just making faces and trying to make her mom laugh - she is really good at that - she has me laughing all the time. She also loves blowing raspberries on my belly when nursing and poking at my “button” - and lately her funny nursing trick is to pull my shirt completely over her head and play peek a boo - as she goes from side to side. I have just recently started giving her cow’s milk to drink - she doesn’t really drink much - she just tastes a little bit from time to time - she still prefers mama’s milk. Though she has an annoying habit while nursing, where she insists on fondling, pinching, or otherwise playing with the opposite nipple. Needless to say, that is NOT fun, so I have been trying to occupy her hands otherwise - but it usually turns into a struggle where she is trying to pry my hand away from my other boob - and more often than not - she wins, she is so strong!
As far as eating - her favorite foods continue to be eggs, cauliflower, chicken, turkey, and she has been loving raisins and dried fruit (especially dried apples). It is frustrating though, because she will try something new (like kiwi, courtesy of my friend S) - and seem to love it - so I will buy a bunch of it - and then the next day - she doesn’t want to eat it. She is very specific in what she wants to eat, and will often go to the kitchen and stand in front of the refrigerator or cabinet and point and whine until I open it up, and she grabs or points to what she wants - or she will just come out and ask for what she wants, but I think most times she doesn’t quite know what she really wants until she sees it…
She has also been using the sign for “more” as her sign to tell us she is hungry.
She is pretty good at following commands and telling me things. One thing I am really excited about is that she has been telling me when she goes “poo poo” - she points to her chest and repeats the word. I am hoping this will really make potty training easier as she already has awareness of what is happening. She also is getting better at picking things up when I tell her to, and going to get things and bring them to me. The other day we were at Pauline’s house and Rosie was nursing and I was telling Aunt P how I thought Rosie was going through a growth spurt because she has been nursing a ton - and Rosie immediately stopped nursing and looked at me and stuck out her tongue! It took me a second and I started cracking up and realized that when I said “a ton” - Rosie thought I said “tongue” - so she was just following orders and showing me her tongue… so funny!
Her absolute obsession right now is Elmo. Every morning it is the first word out of her mouth. She grabs the phone - or “rome” as she calls it - and tries to call Elmo - she puts the phone up to her ear and says “hi”. She grabs the remote control for the TV and pushes buttons trying to find Elmo. She now has 2 Elmo dolls and one Elmo finger puppet - a couple Elmo books, and some obnoxious elmo musical toys - which she loves!
She also knows the other characters in Sesame Street and can say the names of Big Bird, Cookie, Bert, Ernie, Grover and Oscar. I think her daily dose of Sesame Street is really helping to increase her vocabulary and learning - the other day I drew a circle and asked Rosie “what’s this” and she said “circor” - close enough 
She is becoming a really good sleeper at night - goes to bed without a fuss at around 8pm - and usually doesn’t wake up until 6am - I still go get her and bring her in our bed to nurse and cuddle in the morning - but it means not much sleep for me as I have trouble falling back to sleep after that. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could get myself to sleep before midnight. Naptime is another story - she is still not a good napper. Today I spent 2 hours trying to get her to sleep and I think she got a grand total of 1/2 hour of napping in. She cries and cries when I put her in her crib to nap - even when I stand right next to her and rub her back and tell her everything is going to be ok. I can usually get her to sleep eventually - but she is always up after 20-30 min crying and then she usually doesn’t go back to sleep unless I lie in bed next to her and nurse her back to sleep. I am hoping by next month’s update we will have made some real progress on the nap front.
Maybe Elmo can help us.
