14 Months Old

I feel like I could write a post almost daily with all the new things Baby Girl is learning.  Just yesterday she repeated "teeth" when her daddy said "let's go brush our teeth" and in the morning she repeated "shoes" when I told her I needed to put my shoes on.  She's making logical connections that I didn't think possible--she's starting saying "woof" at all dogs, whether they're cartoons (Brian on Family Guy...lol), stuffed, real, or real in pictures. 

Of course, she's also making connections that we don't necessarily want to encourage.  We've been telling her the oven is "hot" and that she shouldn't touch it (which, of course, turns into a game some nights).  So I was blowing on her food and she wanted it and I told her it was hot.  Now she thinks all food is hot and won't eat it without a 5 minute argument and us telling her it's okay.  She doesn't seem to understand the word "not".  So when we say "it's not hot" she just says "hot".  It's amusing for awhile, but gets pretty frustrating!  We're working on it, though.  And it *is* adorable to watch her try to blow on her food (she's actually sucking in air) to cool it off.

Just this week the sitter has started giving Baby Girl her milk (still breastmilk, thankyouverymuch) in a sippy cup and she also tried to move her to one nap.  We'll see if it sticks.  At home last week she was very happy to take two 1 1/2 hour naps at 9:45ish and 2:30/3ish, but yesterday (9/27) she took one nap 1:30-3:30 and had quiet time on her cot until 4.  We didn't see any ill-effects at home, so we'll see how she continues to do.  My guess is that she'll still take two naps at home on the weekends.

Baby Girl is a bit confused about both possessive words (Mommy's nose, Daddy's nose, etc.) and who Mommy and Daddy each are.  She'll get it--it's just funny to watch her.  I ask where Baby Girl's nose is and she points to mine.  I ask where Mommy's nose and she points to her daddy's. 

She is definitely starting to know her body parts, but it comes and goes.  At some point she has successfully identified: head, hair, nose, ear, eye, mouth, tongue, knee, belly, belly button, fingers, and toes.

Baby Girl is starting to learn animal noises.  She growls at a picture of a tiger in a book that she has and woofs at dogs.  I've been told she moos, but I've never heard it.  I'm a little surprised she's never quacked with how much we do it at home!

We're starting to see bits of separation anxiety, but find that she is fine once we leave and we haven't had any actual meltdowns (knock on wood), just a bit of whining and clinginess.  The sitter is really good at grabbing her and saying a happy goodbye to us, then engaging her as we walk out the door.  By the time we pull away, she's either hanging out in the sitter's lap or already on the floor playing with a friend.

The kid still loves love.  She will hug any kids she can find and apparently tries to kiss many of them.  The sitter has had to enact a "no kissing" policy because she left teeth marks in someone's cheek (unintentionally, of course).  She's just so sweet!

Speaking of kissing, Daddy has taught her how to eskimo kiss.  He has been sick the past few days, so he didn't want to kiss her, so he taught her how to eskimo kiss.  You ask her for an eskimo kiss and she offers up her nose to you--it's adorable!  What's great is when she leans in for one unprompted. 

I am loving this age of exploration and learning.  She's testing some boundaries sometimes, but generally is a really happy, fun little girl.  I can't wait to see what the fifteenth month brings!!!