Hannah @ 14 Months - Walking, Walking, Walking!

Hannah @14 months!

Happy Spring! :-)

 

It's been another busy month! At some point this month we transitioned to walking some steps at a time to full on walking-all-the-time level walking! And it has certainly kept us on our toes! I was very excited for her to walk - particularly since a) she's been crawling since five months...so she has wanted to get down and explore for a really long time...and there are many public places that just aren't that friendly to let a baby explore b) She has been able to walk while holding our fingers...but we are all starting to get cricks in our backs from slumped walking around and c) I have this weird sense that she would "count" more in terms of getting to go places, do things, and play with the "bigger kids" and I was excited for that at this point.

But the challenges? Even though she can get down and explore...that doesn't mean I always want her to, lol. Additionally, just because she can walk doesn't mean she always walks the way that we need to go (aka, the way I want to walk). This has resulted in a) an extra dose in parental patience and b) adventures in redirection and child psychology.

Some Stream of Consciousness Stories from the Month -

We've had all sorts of visitors! Daniel went to California for a week, to do New Horizons (flying by Pluto) stuff at JPL (Jet Propulsions Lab) and Pam (Grandma) came to visit and help with Hannah since daycare is in the absolute opposite direction of my work. It was a different kind of week, Hannah and her Grandmother had a great weekend together.

When Daniel got back into town and was unpacking his suitcase Hannah grabbed his shoes, walked across the house with them and opened the shoe cabinet and tried to put them away. Really?

A different evening I carried Hannah into the upstairs bathroom and put her on the counter, where she found the bottom half of her peep chick toy. A minute or two later I put her down (standing) in the bathroom and she immediately dropped to the ground and started trying to crawl under the cabinet. When I looked underneath I discovered the top half of the peep chick toy (which had to have fallen that morning when she was with Daniel). How on earth did she know it was there from this morning?! Seriously?! I was impressed. Way impressed.

A little later I sharply blew on the chick bottom (like a beer bottle) and it made a high pitched sound. I then extended it to Hannah to try the same and she said "ooooooo" and matched the pitch of the peep. It was an impressive evening. She never ceases to surprise me!

We enjoyed our annual visit from Natasha and also our annual trip to Wine in the Woods and happily combined them into the same weekend! Hannah enjoyed the people watching, wandered around, and napped in the stroller and we had a great time too.

Wine in the woods with one of my college besties, Natasha!

Wine in the woods take 2

Her attention span is definitely increasing, she can settle in and ask me to read thirteen books in a sitting, can be enamored by Sesame Street long enough for me to get coffee AND breakfast on a Saturday morning, and focuses on ordinary objects with such intensity and concentration it's amazing and beautiful.

I love this picture

Hannah's Favorites

Hannah and Holly love playing with bubbles. I blow them and they attack them.

Favorite Songs? Daycare says she loves it when they sing "Row Your Boat" and with me she adores the "Wheels on the Bus" and actually mimics the motions. When I sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" she mimics the finger and spider part and then says "Itsy" in an adorable voice. She also loves to sing "aaaaaahhhhh" with me when I sing the "Amen, Amen, Alleluia" song on our walks. She also loves to dance to "Bitch I'm Madonna". It's her favorite. Yes. I am aware of the potential problems of this.

She also loves the playground, particularly the swings and the bouncy things. And climbing backwards up the slide. She figured out that was a fun challenge on our first big trip to the playground. Sigh.

Checking out the playground

 

When Grandma (Pam) came to visit she picked up a little foam chair for Hannah while she was out and about and OMGoodness...it's her favorite thing! It's her special throne and she is obsessed with it - it's so adorable. She takes such delight from getting to do "adult" things and mimicking us.

She LOVES this chair!

My cutie at bathtime!

Didn't you know! Bibs make great capes and gift bags are wonderful toys

She still loves her books

Communication

The "official" words haven't increased all that dramatically, but her understanding of what I say is uncanny. I can say it's bath time and she walks to the downstairs bath tub - but I can say let's go up and take a shower and she climbs the stairs and climbs into the shower in the upstairs bathroom. It's a lot of little things like that, but it's uncanny for sure. She may not have a big vocabulary just yet, but we generally can figure out what she wants...and on occasion I realize that she is probably actually saying the word - just in such toddler speak that it's not outright noticeable unless you're looking for it. I have a feeling it is going to sky rocket any day though! We'll see!

Toddler

The OMG-I-DIDN'T-GET-MY-WAY tantrums have started and she crumbles to the ground and flings herself down in a full kowtow move when she's particularly upset. It's hilarious and annoying. Often both at the same time.

One day she was crying and threw herself on the floor because I would only give her cheerios in a munchie mug (cup with flaps that prevents cereal from going EVERYWHERE) instead of just a cup or bowl. I wasn't caving, I was just letting her cry for a minute or two while I got my coffee, hoping she would just pull it together. Daniel walked in picked her up, looked her square in the eyes and firmly said "Hannah, stop it" and put her on the couch in the neighboring room and she instantly pulled herself together. ...I think my jaw was on the floor. Evidence # 1 that Daniel has a knack for toddlers.

This picture made me think of all the ways she is like her daddy! See the next pic!

I'm not sure where she learned this expression - but she tried it out for size for one weekend. It was so bizarre.

 

Silly cutie!

Sleep
Getting better and better! AHHHHHH! It's been awesome, although I'm still really tired...but I think that's because I have a full time job, a baby, keep my house running, and never sleep in on the weekends so I never catch up. Earlier this month she was sleeping through the night about 50% of the time, and if not waking up once. Now we've headed towards 75% of the time and gaining! It's been amazing!

Nom Nom Nom
Still eating well - I feel like every few weeks her appetite increases just a bit. I am super excited to say that a) I am still nursing morning, afternoon and evening and b) Hannah awesomely is fine with enjoying whole milk during the day and I have abandoned pumping at work. Not worrying about dragging everything to work and all the breastmilk rules (how long it lasts, etc) is awesome. And I honestly don't feel guilty - she still gets the benefits of nursing when she's with me. It's the best of both worlds for both of us. If she could she would live exclusively off of dairy, fruit, and carbs. We're working on the veggies and meat, but her favorites this month are avocados, strawberries, green grapes, Greek yogurt, and fresh mozzarella cheese.

All that was left of an apple core when Hannah was done...

Growth and Appearance?

Steadily getting more hair and it definitely still has some red in it! Eyes are still a beautiful hazel! They are a remarkable darkish green with distinct brown streaks. It's beautiful. She's in 18-24 month pajamas because I like them to be loose on her (fire safety be damned, the "true to size" ones fit so tightly she looks miserably uncomfortable). I found very soft, breathable pjs through leveret on amazon that have been the latest faves. She's seems to be slowing down a bit in terms of growth...but is steadily inching up. She's in size 5 shoes now, wearing some 12 month clothes, but mainly 18 months.

One of the clearest pictures of her eyes! Very hazel!

I adore those crossed feet!

Quite a dimple

The red in her hair is starting to really show!

The Puppies

Our pups have been so happy lately! They are really enjoying the weather and our yard and increasingly, Hannah's company. They are also adjusting to the fact that Hannah can walk (she actually can chase them in circles around the house, trying to grab their tails, while giggling hysterically...it's amazing). But, Holly increasingly appreciates Hannah's ability to play with her by throwing toys and Chance is allowing more snuggles than ever. I've also started jogging them on some of our walks and they love it!

Hugging her Chance!

Daddy

Is doing quite well! He had a great trip out to California - they visited Goldstone again, did a bunch of work with New Horizons (flying by Pluto around Bastille day!) and even managed to get tickets to see a live taping of Conan! (Conan O'Brian). He was out there with a large crew of folks and had a great time.

I have been continually amazed at how great he is with Hannah lately - whether he knows it or not, he is definitely skilled at dealing with a toddler and I have been very grateful to learn from him and observe some of his unique approaches to the way he handles various situations with Hannah. They are awwwwdorable together.

Daddy and daughter bowling!

Cuteness!

Mommy

Doing quite well as well! Work has been going really really well - very busy, but very good. I feel like I have spent a while getting to know the school, faculty, administration, students, etc and have now made some recommendations for future improvements and am now taking on several grand-scale long term projects that I am hoping will greatly benefit the school. I'm really excited about all of it!

I feel much more like myself, more so than ever before...and yet feel nothing like myself at the same time. Once I dropped even one of the two pumping sessions I felt like my immune system was starting to come back. Once I dropped the pumping sessions at work all together and essentially went from the equivalency of six sessions to three I was amazed at how much different I felt. More energy, more clarity of thought, and when Hannah got the sniffles and a mild cough I felt like I had bad allergies for a day and that was it. YAY! I have missed my immune system more than almost anything else. I'm sure it's a combo of her sleeping and me decreasing sessions, but it's awesome.

I feel like we've been on an extra *oh-my-gosh-we-are-getting-sleep-most-nights* kind of high. I'm a bit dreading a crash...but it gets easier right? Maybe we can just really be that thrilled that it's easier, it's a beautiful beautiful spring and life is good? That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Oh! And I really enjoyed my second Mother's Day. Daniel and Hannah brought me breakfast in bed, I got a whoe, long uninterrupted shower, Hannah was delightful, and I met up with another mom for a ladies mid afternoon out and had fun.

Me and my monkey on Mother's Day!

So to recap - Hannah is walking constantly and on the go, go go! We are steadily experiencing and checking out all the exciting things we can do now that she is walking! Lots of adventures ahead! :)

Hannah, on the go at 14 months!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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