14 months!

Summer is creeping in on the wings of some humid weather and I'm pretty happy about it...in other news:

"I shan't sit!"

How old: 14 months.

Weight: still between 20 and 30 pounds…how’s that for specific? I would guess between 22 and 25 pounds is a good guess. The past week or so has brought a bit of a growth spurt, which I realized today when the pants she was wearing were way short on her {see the picture!}.

Likes:

• Sidewalk chalk! This is quite the hit.
• Playing outside in the plaza outside our building…we meet her friend Pablo there in the afternoons and his mom and I get to chat and wrangle babies and I’m loving this set-up since it gets us being outside in the warm weather.
• Walking.
• Music…I play a CD of kids’ songs we got from Grandma and Hanna Lu loves it. And, anytime we sing together at home she’s thrilled…The Itsy Bitsy Spider is a favorite, as well as the alphabet song but nothing seems to be as big a hit as If You’re Happy and You Know it.
• Berries!
• Cookies…I let her have a bit of a snickerdoodle tonight in honor of being 14 months old and HL made quick work of that half cookie.
• Quesadillas…and some other foods too, as long as she’s in the right state of mind {hungry}.
• Milk in a sippy cup…she can do ones that have straws and the other kind.
• Guinness the dog, as always.
• Playing with her soccer ball she got from her Great-Uncle Kevin.
• Curious George on the Netflix…though she loses interest within a few minutes and this is all ok in my eyes since it happens about once a week.
• Books…she especially likes “Dear Zoo” because it has flaps.
• Closing doors; I help her close the car doors and she knows how to safely do the ones in our apartment. The only trouble is that if she closes herself into a room, she can’t get out and then gets mad.
• Bubbles…though she can’t blow them herself.
• Playing with her crayons; drawing a bit and taking them out of their box and then putting them back in again.
• Her ladybug ride-on toy Grandma and Zaide gave her for her birthday:

Notice those sweaty bangs from today's mugginess.

          her legs have even grown since then so she can actually use them to propel herself and not just 
          push outward/forward with her tummy which was her first technique.

• Playing in her bath…she was standing up for a few weeks and would sit down when I ask her to, but this week the standing up has been at a minimum.
• Sitting in her green chair.

Dislikes:

• Diaper changes…there’s a lot of anger at this several-times-a-day activity.
• Being asked/made to do something she doesn’t want to.
• Too much time in the car, especially if it’s warm; I don’t blame her.
• Grass…but it seems as though she’s getting over it so – yippee!

Communication:

This girl is so verbal! I’m trying hard to incorporate Spanish more but it’s hard when the kid is so good with her English. I’ll keep trying, though. Some new words this month:

• Adding in the names of a couple of friends from daycare, as well as her daycare provider.
• She identifies her eyes and belly button but hasn’t mastered any other body parts.
• Just today I noticed some attempts at making a tune? So she's trying to sing? Hanna might have inherited her parents' inability to carry a tune, but this was pretty adorable.

Milestones:

• Baby’s first spring BBQ with friends; she loved their dog.
• Hanna “ran” her first 5k with her parents at my school last weekend; 

           she was cute, chatted a bit, and just relaxed for the ride.

Sleep and eat:

Hanna Lu is on a good schedule this month, bed is between six and seven, but the unfortunate part is that she’s been on a 5:30 wake-up and it’s not fun for her parents. But I think if we maybe work towards getting her down a bit earlier that might help her sleep longer {so the books say} so hopefully I can try to do that this week. On weekends her nap schedule is kind of crummy. I think I’ll need to consult with her daycare lady regarding the nap schedule during the week so I can maybe mimic that since what we’ve done on weekends is usually a nap after being awake for an hour or two and then again later in the morning and then early afternoon and I think our babe is growing out of that schedule.

Baby is eating less and less baby food, hardly any actually, and eating a variety of grown-up foods in small amounts. The girl houses several full sippy cups of whole milk each day.

Miscellaneous:

• HL has the same clothing and diaper sizes as last time and her microfeet are making it challenging for me to find some good sandals that have grip and are waterproof {any suggestions, internet?}
• There are currently seven teeth in Hanna’s mouth but she’s been drooly and grumpy for a couple of days so maybe some more are pushing through.
• She is a blast each day, even during those grumpy times, and we love our girl so much!