Weekly Update!

Hi everyone!

Happy New Year! We didn't do much this year in the way of celebrating, but we did have a really fantastic week. Brad worked but not too much, and we had some really great bonding time as a family.

On Saturday we had our annual Maggiano's dinner with our church group. We lucked out and got a private room, which was PERFECT for families with young kids. We ate an enormous amount of food and had a really wonderful time.



















We stayed out late and had a really great time with some very good friends!



L is now 16 months old. I know it's hard to believe right?!

I thought I might update you on some things that she's doing so that I can remember too!

Words L can say:

• Hi!
• Uh-oh
• Mama
• Daddy
• Moo
• and either Jack/James or Cat.  It's definitely something but we don't know what yet.

Words L can sign:

• Hi
• Bye
• Milk
• Eat
• Cheese
• Banana
• Airplane
• Light
• Cat
• Train
• Sleep
• Brush Teeth
• More
• Yes (nodding)
• No (shaking head)
• All done

I never realized how great yes and no can be.  It's fantastic to have her answer a question when you ask!

Some other things we're doing at 16 months:

• L goes to time out now and she's actually beginning to "get" it.  She'll sit for 30 seconds  and actually put herself in time out earlier this week.  I'm just happy that it seems to really be helping to snuff out some of the less desirable habits we've developed (hitting).
• L is eating bigger bites now and actually chewing a bit of her food.
• L helps clean up her own spills.  I like to think this is my excellent modeling.  :o)
• L does not help clean up her own toys, yet.
• L can point to her nose, eyes and belly button (and to your belly button too!).
• L will ask to be held (holding her arms up) and then point to where she wants us to go.
• L is 100% a daddy's girl.  I'm alright if he's not around, but if he's in the house she wants to be with him.
• L has 16 teeth.
• L is still a daredevil.  She will slide or jump off anything including the couch.
• L eats with a plate and fork most all the time.
• L love love loves sitting in chairs, whether they are just her size or a lot bigger, she likes chairs.
• L is obsessed with buckles.  She can't connect them yet but she is working feverishly on doing so in her carseat, in a shopping cart, in a stroller in someone else's carseat...

Foods that L currently likes:

• cheese (favorite)
• milk (another favorite)
• bananas
• spinach pancakes
• waffles
• apples
• pears
• peas
• mandarin oranges
• quesadillas
• bread
• sunbutter (sunflower butter)
• cereal bars (we call these crack bars because the child is hopelessly addicted to them.  she sees the box with the grover on it and points to it and signs eat ferociously)
• goldfish
• sadly... french fries... where did I go wrong? oh yeah, it was when I gave her french fries!

There aren't a lot of foods that L doesn't like.  There are definitely those she prefers over others.  She doesn't like cold cuts very much but she'll eat them if nothing else is around.  L does not like carrots or broccoli, although I think that's as much a texture issue as anything.  I'm going to try to give her carrot and broccoli purees and see if she'll eat those soon.  She's not crazy about veggies other than peas, spinach and potatoes, but she'll eat them if they are on her plate.

Brad and I are just constantly shocked by how much L has grown and changed and so I thought I'd write it all down to help us remember.  Before long she'll be grown and like a lot more food and say a lot more words and just be all grown up and I'll need help remembering!

Have a wonderful week and we'll see you soon!