15 months!

Hello summer!!!!!!!!

How old: 15 months.

Weight: about 22 pounds.

Likes:

• Being independent…this child is all about being her own person.
• Putting on a show; if we laugh at something she does, Hanna will repeat the action to elicit another round of laughs. This is adorable until it’s not ;).
• Berries of all sorts.
• The toys and people at daycare; they’re all so much more fun than home!
• Swimming…she’s gone several times in the past month and even had her first “swim lesson” tonight and our girl is a total fish.
• Sitting in her green chair.
• Going “SIDE!” {outside}.
• Dogs, all of the dogs.
• Balls.
• Her CD of nursery rhymes…recently I realized she’s “singing” along and it’s soooooooooooo adorable.
• Seeing her daddy, especially when he comes home in the evening.
• Curious George on Netfilx, though she loses interest after the opening song so it seems like it’s the music and singing that appeals to her.
• Being mischievous…getting into Guinness the dog’s food and water ranks high on her “fun activity list”.

Dislikes:

• Getting her diaper changed.
• Since several days ago, Hanna Lu freaks out at sitting in her high chair. Sigh. So, I figure she’ll get over it soon enough and the compromise is that she sits in her green chair for meals.
• The high chair fear has also included a dislike of her bath. Ssssiiiiighh. I can get her to get in a bit so that’s good enough and, again, I figure she’ll get over this.
• Having things taken from her that she wants to hold onto and having an activity stopped before she wants it stopped – in other words, transitions are hard for this girl without some finessing, all of which I think is age-appropriate. Plus, with the recent visitors and travel, she's all out of sorts and I think that's normal.

Communication:

There is so much going on here I might not be able to remember it all…:

• Singing along to songs with words and “humming” with songs that have no words.
• Saying “more” and signing “more” at the same time.
• Different sounds for when she wants something, doesn’t want something, or is scared.
• Being aware of when she’s being cute or funny and playing it up.
• Very clear new words, though her permutations sound a bit different: outside, ball, dog, woof, beep-beep, binky, about {from the Hokey Pokey song}, Curious George, Guinness, toot-toot {from a song on her CD}…and there are more I’m sure.
• There are many times, despite all of these new words, when Hanna can’t tell us exactly what she wants and that frustrates her to no end. Hopefully with the more words she learns the less frustration she’ll feel and hopefully we’ll get better at interpreting her sounds/words/motions.

Milestones:

• Baby’s first swim lessons!
• Another plane trip which isn’t new but now that she’s walking and much squirmier than before, this was kind of new.

Sleep and eat:

Kind of the same as last month!

Miscellaneous:

• Our daughter is hilarious and challenges us anew each and every day…we can’t get enough of this little nugget!

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!

13 months!

Life has certainly gotten the best of me; it’s been so long since I posted anything and despite being so celebratory for her first birthday I got nothing jotted down for Hanna Lu’s 52^nd week or her 12^th month…oh well! Here goes 13 months as well as a slightly different format; this kid will have on whatever she has on on the 18^th of the month and will hopefully pose nicely enough for us in the “Hanna” chair. I hope I’ve talked about how much we adore this seat and it’s so funny because Hanna seemed to fall in love with it just tonight – she reluctantly ate dinner and then wanted nothing but to get down and get back into her chair. Anyway:

 

How old: 13 months.

Weight: between 20 and 30 pounds.

Likes:

• Getting on the ground.
• Playing with a scooter that is at daycare; the toughie is she needs someone to hold her on it.
• Calling Guinness the dog up to our bed when she’s getting her bedtime routine.
• Holding my keys and Guinness’ leash {not together}; I have to come up with a diversionary tactic each time I need to take away the keys from her. I think she likes feeling useful and doing what the grown-ups do because if I let her have the keys after I get her out of the car, she’s very eager to swipe them in front of the key pad that lets us into our building.
• Playing with other kids and being around other people; she says “hi” to everyone unless you ask her to in which case it’s a blank stare.
• As of last weekend, strawberries and blackberries; yum!
• Trying to feed herself with a spoon. Or maybe it’s just playing with the spoon she loves.
• Having her teeth brushed, though it might be just the itty bit of toothpaste. We have a little thing I put on my finger with soft bristles on it but I think we’ll get her an actual little toothbrush soon.
• “Curious George” on the TV, though this doesn’t happen very often.
• All sorts of new things…it truly is amazing the new changes we see each week; saying new words, obviously noticing when I changed up the decorations on a wall, asking for “up” when she wants it, and liking our “green” smoothies, to name a few.

Dislikes:

• Transitions; poor thing seems to have a tough time with changing from one activity to the next when we need to, especially if it’s going inside after being outside {we’ve been hanging out in front of our building with a group of other kiddos/moms/dogs after school on nice days and HL digs playing on the ground and watching the big kids run around}. I honestly think it’s just her personality coming out/frustration because she can’t do everything she wants {because she’s one year old}/not being able to communicate well paired with being tired – when are kids not tired?
• Food/eating. I had high hopes for Hanna’s life-long weird eating habits that her pediatrician has always said are just Hanna-being-Hanna to go away and maybe they still will but I’ve battle a baseline of frustration each day regarding our child’s disinterest in eating/drinking. There are some things she likes {see “berries” above} and she loved baby food/baby cereal for a while {but one cannot live forever on purees} but there’s rarely gusto and it’s a constant concern of mine to ensure she’s hydrated and not cranky because she’s hungry. I’ve taken to giving her a pouch of applesauce or something else to eat on the way home because it’s a nice way to get things into her but it also helps with the transition {also, see above} of leaving daycare which was never really something that bothers her up until a week or so ago.
• Green grass! We first noticed this last week when we thought it would be nice to sit on the grass at a park because it was really nice out and little girl clung on tight to either me or Michael, whoever was holding her. She was seemingly really nervous about the grass below our blanket. She also kept motioning to a large bronze tiger nearby and making a kind of upset sound. We tried taking her near it and baby was UNINTERESTED in that bronze lion. I’d like to let her know how great it is she is letting her feelings be known!

Communication:

Hanna seems to be coming up with new words each week. We haven’t been very good about pushing the Spanish or sign language but we try here and there. No matter what, though, our child certainly is communicative. She has a very specific set of noises she makes for things she doesn’t have words for yet; one for telling us to look at something {it includes a pointing motion}, one for wanting to nurse {along with pulling down my shirt which is unfortunate if we’re in mixed company}, and a delightful one for things she doesn’t like {a screech that definitely isn’t crying and is a sound she’ll repeat until we make things right again – see “grass” above}. Here are her current words, though obviously her iterations don’t always sound that clear:

• Ma
• Daaa
• Up
• Bye
• Hai
• Non-verbal head shaking
• Guinness {our dog} {she usually pats the bed or couch or whatever we’re sitting on when she says his name because she’s trying to call him over…when he comes, then she says “haiiiii”}
• Train
• Zee Zee {my grandmother’s dog}
• Kai {a friend at daycare}
• Teeth
• Hush {from “…an old lady who was whispering ‘hush’…” from “Goodnight Moon; she accompanies this with one finger to her mouth}
• Non-verbal “more” {fingers from both hands together} and “bath” {rubbing fists on chest as if scrubbing}
• Uh-oh
• She responds to: Where's Hanna?  Where's your: belly button/nose/mouth/eyes? What does the old lady say? {"Hush" with a finger to the mouth}.

Milestones:

So many!

• First ice cream and a taste of an ice just today; both were a hit.
• First cow’s milk and strawberries and honey and all three were also a hit, though the berries the most.
• Walking more and more though she’s still quite shakey; I remember she crawled early on but it took her a long time to get really fast at crawling so I’m wondering if it will be the same for walking.
• Her first birthday and party; both went quite well and baby girl certainly likes her frosting.
• Hanna got her first Easter basket on her second Easter and enjoyed some new shoes as well as her first set of crayons; she needs to be closely supervised with them because she likes to pop them into her mouth still but other than that the drawing portion of her childhood has commenced!
• I’ve started to attempt getting back into running in a more serious manner than my prior dabbling and this means that HL has been logging some good jogging stroller time. She manages pretty well though I sometimes feel bad for the bumps in the road. It’s awesome because we have several local playgrounds on decent running routes and it breaks up these runs but she gets so upset when we leave and needs so much supervision still since she can’t really walk all too well I don’t do the playground routes but hopefully in a few months we can reincorporate them when I’m not working and have more time and HL can move better on her own.

Sleep and eat:

Things got a bit off due to moving/a welcomed slurry of visitors/being sick/a lax spring-break schedule so HL’s sleep hasn’t been as fabulous as it could be – she’s been waking once a night between 2 AM and 4 AM and we’re so pooped we just bring her back to bed with us for a bit. We’re currently on day/night three of trying to break this habit and hopefully things will get better.

Eating wise, please see above. I’d really like to get our daughter on mostly if not all “human” food and no more baby food or cereal but that’s still the quickest way to get food into her so it’s been challenging.

Miscellaneous:

Hanna wears 12 to 18 month sized clothing and could be a size 3 or 4 in diapers though she is wearing her cloth diapers all the time; they are open to the middle button length-wise and around her waist there are either three to five columns of buttons visible. 

Hanna Lu has tiny feet and is just fitting into a size 2. 

She has two teeth on the bottom and four up top with one more up there maybe trying to poke through.

We are loving on this girl so much and have the best times with her. Watching her grow up is a true privilege and we look forward to each day with her!

51 weeks!

Michael and I just finished cleaning up after a little sick baby...hopefully she just ate too much too quickly at the end of a long day and that we're not staring down the barrel of a whole-family-stomach-extraveganza...and in some happy news! Hanna Lu...

• Had a well-baby check today and is doing quite well on all accounts...no longer anemic {she was borderline at nine months anyway}, above average in height {?!} and weight, and a great baby...woo hoo! She'll start drinking cow's milk this week and can also have her first taste of peanut butter and eggs...such little luxuries we post-first-birthday folks take for granted!
• Is very talkative with her words as well as gibbereish..."zeeee zeeee zeeee zeeee zeeee" for any dog {it's the name of my grandmother's dog whom she met last December and she just recently dug it out and uses it for all dogs", "ayne" for "train" whenever she sees or hears it, "dada", "mom", "hi", "bah" {for "bye"}, and a few others I'm sure. She also has a couple of non-verbal sound cues, there's one for "look at this" and another for "I'd like to nurse". And in terms of communication, the child points.
• Cut another tooth and seems to have a few threatening to do so up top.
• Will do five to six steps unassisted and still seems to prefer crawling when she wants to get somewhere quickly.
• Loves perching in her chair and peeking out the window at the trains.
• Gets a kick out of Guinness the dog and her father...I love seeing her so happy to see them.
• Had a handful of new foods this past week though I can't recall what exactly.
• Has one more weekly update and a first birthday coming up next week!

50 weeks!

Oh goodness this kid has been such a ham this week! Hanna Lucy...

• makes a scrunched-up-face smile all the time; cheese!!!
• tried string cheese for the first time - loves it.
• has been putting down blueberries since yesterday; I smash them a bit so they're not little throat-lodgers.
• is taking independent steps everywhere.
• gives us a constant stream of babbles...and sometimes they're whispers under her breath, especially if she's working hard to do something like pull her self up or get at something. I realized today this seems like a small detail but it's super cute to me and not one I want to forget.
• loves hearing and seeing the train from our apartment or in the car. "ayne" or "nayne" means "train".
• searched and called for her "daa" yesterday when we stayed home due to ice and he went to work.
• has been getting SO excited and squirrly about seeing said father when he gets home and it's adorable.
• makes a really funny "zeee zeee seee seee gee gee" sound, especially when we get her up from a nap and she seems frantic. Why this sound at this emotion is beyond me since "zee zee" is my grandmother's dog's name.
• "swims" in her bath; she loves this so much and also dips down to get a drink of water ever minute or so. Gross.
• is very interested in playing in our kitchen cabinets. I have two set aside for her that have some special "Hanna" kitchen "toys" and thankfully those keep her occupied for quite a while but when she starts to get interested in Guinness' food area or trying to open the garbage can it's time to move out of the kitchen. But then...
• she throws a mini-tantrum/fit --> is this a portent of times to come? Isn't it too early for this? Just this week if I tell her I'm picking her up and it's time to put things away, then motion down to get her, Hanna will quickly turn her back to me and hide what she's holding or she'll scurry away. The tears after doing what she doesn't want me to do don't last for long but ugh, I thought we had more time.
• is saying "hi" to many people, especially passerby in public places {some even say "hi" back} but never on command.
• waves "bye bye".
• either loves a sippy cup {water or milk} or hates it {she tosses it to the side with a disgusted sound}. 
• caused some trouble in our playroom upstairs because she had a toy another child wanted. This happened a few times yesterday and it wasn't a "let him/her share" sort of situation but rather the other kids were feeling possessive. But it got me wondering/thinking that we have to broach this topic at some point and I seem to recall hearing/reading about two approaches? Let the other kid take the toy or explain to that kid that my kid is currently enjoying it so he/she can wait? Blergh; we still have time.

Another one for good measure!

Let's hope that this week's upcoming predicted snow is not that bad and that Spring can be sprung and Miss Lu can celebrate her first birthday with a nice day out!!!xoxo, natty ♥

49 weeks!

Gah it’s cold still but the weekend after next brings Day Light Savings Time and then certainly Spring can’t be too far behind.

So, Hanna this week…

• Has turned into a chatterbox! It’s a constant stream of sounds but she alluvasudden has three distinct words she loves: train, Guinness {our dog, not the beer}, and Dad. I love hearing this. Now, to the uneducated observer, these “words” would be sounds but we know what she’s saying and she definitely copies us when we say the actual words. There are no surprises here, obviously, considering she adores her dad, LOVES staring at the trains from her chair looking out the window, and things Guinness is hilarious. She does say “mom” and “mama” but not quite as often and usually when I’ve abandoned her in the high chair for too long.
• Took a couple of five-ish-step-long walks on her own. One was at daycare when I picked her up and each time she takes steps on her own she has this look that she knows exactly what she’s doing, she’s just choosing to crawl most of the time because it’s faster.
• Has some great new foods…mashed carrots, adult oatmeal {plain with frozen berries added in} eggplant/spinach/feta pizza {my fave!}, and a few other things…yum!
• Is quite the mermaid in her baths; Hanna Lu has taken to getting on her tummy and pushing up with her hands {a la upward-facing-dog or Ariel on the rock in the Little Mermaid} and kicking her legs – it’s a good thing there are some swim lessons in her future! She will also still play along with “running” {splashing} away from me when I say it’s time to get out of the bath.
• Hung out with some pals in town last night and adorably tried to feed their little guy {five months older than ours} some snacks the kiddos were sharing. He patiently sat there and let her. Swoon!
• Is enjoying her toys with gusto these days; we cleared out a bunch into temporary storage to maintain less clutter and give the babe a chance to enjoy what she has and then enjoy some “new” toys later on when these lose their sheen.
• Will be one year old quite soon; we should get on that party-planning bandwagon shouldn’t we? Though I suppose I should make a mother’s promise of never giving our March 18^th baby a St. Patrick’s Day themed birthday party. She might very well have parties that just happen to be green themed since that’s what might be on sale {or even Valentine’s/pinks/red/hearts…I hadn’t even realized the timing}…have a great week folks and stay warm!

11 months.

Only one more of these...though I might try to keep up with the monthly ones post birthday since I love looking back at these and it'll be easier not doing it each week, right? Anyway, here's what Hanna's up to this past month.

How old: 11 months.

Weight: about 20 pounds.

Likes:

• Food.
• Playing.
• Crawling.
• The playroom in our building.
• Guinness our dog.
• Peering out the window while sitting on her chair.
• The trains outside our window.
• Her bath.
• The push-walker toy that is in the playroom.
• Other kids as well as her daycare provider.

Dislikes:

·         Being placed on her back for a diaper or wardrobe change.

·         Having something taken away from her, though she gets over it pretty quickly.

Milestones:

·         This kid has taken about five steps on her own but has yet to really go for it…walking seems imminent.

·         Another tooth came in the past month and several others are threatening to do so as well.

·         Had her first Valentine’s Day…we didn’t do much for her; sorry baby.

·         Enjoyed several snowy days and is still experiencing some frigid cold.

Sleep and eat:

·         Sleeping is the same as last month; 10 to 12 hours a night depending on when we put her down. She might have a night where she wakes up once and we just let her put herself back to sleep, unless she gets loud and upset, which is rare.

·         Hanna expanded her palette and tried a bunch of new foods; spoon-feeding her baby food remains the quickest way to nourish this child, though.

Miscellaneous:

Hanna is in 12 to 18 month sized clothing, size three disposable diapers, has one “long” row unbuttoned on her diapers and three to four rows around her waist unbuttoned…if you know the Bumgenius lingo.