Hannah @ 16 Months! Willful, Mini-Me, Little Miss Helper!

Hannah happily walking the trail like a big girl

Hannah @ 16 months

I finally fell so far behind that I am posting both the 15 and 16 month blogs at the same time - so if you like to read in sequence - Hannah @ 15 Months :)

Hannah's personality shines more than ever this month as she continues to amaze us.  What's so beautiful to me is that Hannah's "default" setting is happy.  Super uninhibited, smiley, playful, belly laughing happy and makes my heart swell as though it may burst.  The other tendencies that have really shaped this month is her overwhelming interest in mimicking nearly everything we do and her adorable interest in "helping."  She has also steadily started communicating more and more and more this month and her vocabulary (while unrecognizable by some) has increased significantly.  My favorite Hannah trick is asking her "what does a *insert animal here* say?" and enjoying her adorable, now quite verbal, responses.  She also responds to "what does a *insert animal here* do?" and physically moves to mimic a trait of an animal.  Freaking adorable would be a major understatement.  We also continue to barrel into the "I don't know how to verbally communicate my frustrations without screaming and crying" phase and the "I don't understand that I can't get everything I want, even when it is dangerous or impractical" phase which has led to some pretty impressive tantrums, and we continue to up our game in the art of redirection department and are trying to develop consistent responses.

There's the toddler scream we all know and love...

Stories from the Month...

I actually left Hannah, Daniel, and the puppies and attended the ISTE (International Society for Technology & Education) conference in Philadelphia for three nights for work.  I was nervous for Daniel, (I never doubted he could do it!), but knew being fully on duty for three nights and three days with Hannah and the puppies would be tough...and he'd never put Hannah to bed before.  Yeah.  He hadn't.  But!  Daniel rocked it, I had a really great time being on my own in Philadelphia, and all in all it went really well.

I was at ISTE from Sunday-Wednesday and then Thursday night our dear friends Chris and Natalie flew into town to visit us over the long Fourth of July weekend!  We hung out around town and caught up on Friday, got a babysitter and hit downtown Silver Spring on Friday night, had a cookout on the Fourth of July and caught up with the Kunkles, and then attended the Capital Fourth concert and fireworks in downtown DC on the capital lawn.  Our guests met with family and attended a wedding on Sunday and then headed out Monday, but we really loved catching up with both of them! Attending the concert was really neat to do, but we waited in line for nearly four times the length of the concert and from the moment we stepped onto the metro to head to the concert I started coming down with a nasty stomach bug that hit right in the middle of the concert and kept hitting through the evening while we were stranded out at the capital and making our way back on the metro.  I think the guards at the capital and the folks on the metro thought I was a drunk (hadn't had a drop).  It just wasn't my finest hour (hours).  Even worse when Natalie came down with the same bug on Sunday night.  Overall we had a great weekend with our friends, but we could have done without the extra tummy challenges for sure.

Hannah playing with her star spangled necklace as we waited in the security line at the Capital building

Hannah-Beth photo bomb one of Chris and Natalie's many selfies

Capital building with the dome under all that scaffolding

Hannah's 4th of July (2014, almost 4 months and 2015, almost 16 months)

We also caught up with my sister, Aunt Ali, who was working a summer camp in Silver Spring and stopped in for the evening bearing a gift of "slime."  Hannah wasn't sure what to do with it at first, but  she found it increasingly comical and steadily warmed up to the mysterious substance.

New Horizons!  This month was the official Pluto Flyby!  Daniel is actually one of the three engineers on the Ground Software team supporting the New Horizons mission.  The weeks leading up to the flyby were increasingly exciting as they received photographs and information that was more and more epic.  Daniel has also been tethered to work/conference calls from home/late meetings  with increasing frequency as we got closer and closer to the Flyby date (July 14th) and each weekend - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the weeks leading up to the event, Daniel had a 4:30-5:30 pm conference call that he had to lock himself away for (and not in the basement where he gets next to zero cell reception, but of course in the very echoey, very sound-carries-way-too-well parts of the house).  ...Hannah, the puppies, and I frequently found ourselves heading out on a walk or to play in the yard during this time.  Fourth of July weekend was the anomaly event that occurred as they were trying to load the epically important command code up to the space craft that would be used during the prime days of the fly by.  ...We were all waiting anxiously as Daniel entered an emergent meeting at 4 pm on the Fourth of July (when we were supposed to be bound for the capital lawn).  The meeting lasted a while and then recommenced around 7 pm - while we were waiting in line for entrance to the Capital Fourth concert (and just as I was coming down with the stomach bug and could have really used a second parent to help parent).

The week of the official Flyby event was truly amazing and the excitement was so palpable.  Daniel had to work insane shifts from 1 am Monday morning (Sunday night) to 5pm-ish Monday, only to come home for a few hours and to head back in at 1 am on Tuesday morning (Monday night).  On Tuesday (the day of the actual Flyby) he worked from 1 am - noon ish and was at work when New Horizons officially flew by Pluto,  came home and took a 2.5 hour nap and walked the dogs, and then headed back around 4 pm and was in Mission Control as they anxiously (anxiously is an understatement!) awaited signal acquisition that would confirm the the space craft had safely cruised by Pluto, had collected all the data it was supposed to, and was "healthy" and still following directions (which happened at 8:52 pm).  From that point they had a champagne toast, participated in a press conference, and Daniel made it home around 11 pm only to turn around and be back in at 4 am.  It was grueling, but an incredibly exciting week.  That was the craziest of the shifts, but the bizarre hours continued through Thursday.  By Friday, Daniel dropped Hannah off at daycare and then came home and crashed hard.

New Horizons team

TV screen shot - do you see my handsome husband standing in the back center of this shot?  

New Horizon's Ground Software Engineers!

July 14th - the Google animated image was of Pluto and New Horizons!

Waiting up to see if New Horizons "phones home"!  (She crashed about thirty second after this...)

What did I do this week?  ...If Daniel goes in at 1 am, he can't exactly bring Hannah to daycare, so I was on "single mom" duty.  I was waking up early, walking the dogs, getting myself and Hannah ready, driving Hannah 25 minutes North to daycare (beside Daniel's work), driving 1+ hours South to my school in DC in the heart of rush hour traffic, etc.  On Tuesday (the day of the Flyby) I also had to handle picking her up as well because Daniel had already gone back into work for the evening.  It was a crazy-all-hands-on-deck week, but it was very exciting!  I loved hearing the inside scoop and stories of what was happening and was so excited to see Daniel so enthralled and engaged in the whole process.

This was the best pic I could get - Daniel's "pit crew" or "support staff" cheering on the New Horizons event from home!

But back to Hannah -

Hannah really missed her daddy!  

This is them catching up after the crazy week!  She also loves these Malamute puppies!

Hannah's Favorite Things (and accomplishments)...


Hannah can pretty much run (or at least walk extremely fast).  A few weeks ago she could only walk on grass that was cut short.  Now, she can walk deftly in thick grass.  Just before she hit sixteen months I was across the street with Hannah on my hip and Holly on the leash.  I put Hannah down to scoop up after Holly (I didn't think Hannah would get very far on a steep hill), but Hannah literally went bounding down the hill with impressive agility.  Geez.

She also LOVES to be outside!  The downside is that the mosquitos here are atrocious and the reactions she has to mosquito bites are even worse - makes for a terrible combination and even when we are super crazy careful, it never seems to be enough!  

Our little diva singing with Sesame Street

She loves music, loves to dance, and sometime she even sings!  She likes to sing the "I love you" part at the end of the "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family" song and she also loves to sing some of the "all around town" part at the end of "Wheels on the Bus".

Pushing the grocery cart, like one of us

She imitates us like crazy!  That has been the biggest theme of the month by far!  She loves to play with the Keurig, in the shower she pretends to apply shampoo and body wash, she even takes my shower poof and tries to put body wash on it before she proceeds to wash herself, she loves walking the broken dog leash we have for her around the house as if she is walking the dogs.  She wants to eat like an adult - requiring that we give her an adult fork, that she can drink from her own regular (not sippy) water cup, a napkin to wipe her hands and face, etc.  She only eats apples when she can eat them like an adult and nibble at whole apples.  She also loves to help by throwing away trash.  I frequently give her a wrapped up dirty diaper after a changing and ask her to throw her diaper in the trash and she will walk out of one room, across the house, and open the trash can and toss her diaper in.  We actually have to be careful because she has started assuming a wide variety of objects are trash and will voluntarily toss things in to be "helpful".  Haha.  This similar skill is put to work as I do laundry (and she helps pull things in or out of the dryer) or as we unload the dishwasher.  When she spills water on the floor I also show her how to wipe it up with a towel and she gets to work!  She's been an adorable little helper!

She has an obsession with buckles lately - the plastic kind that click into place and are very difficult to undo.  One of the quickest ways to constructively occupy her time is to get an unbuckled buckle in front of her.

Our little multi-tasker

She loves to look at books and talk at them as she "reads" them to herself, quietly practicing the animal sounds and her words.  When she was doing this with an Elmo book and go to a page in which Elmo was upside down she actually looked at it, and then cocked her head to the side as if to mimic being upside down.  Adorable!

She has also developed the ability to twist things, as in she can open bottles and twist the caps off and on of things.  It's another "favorite" thing to work on in terms of fine motor skills.

Playing in the flash flood waters on our sidewalk

She has also been super social.  On our wedding anniversary I was walking the trail with the dogs and Hannah and she kept walking straight up to people on the trail, asking them to hold her hand and giving them different objects from the sidewalk.  It was very sweet and she caused more than one old lady to swoon.

And last but not least, (as Pam Hals would say) she has quite a "sense of order".  I was cleaning up with her one late afternoon and tossing the legos and beads into a basked and she made a squealing sound and dove into the basket and pulled out a farm animal.  She then fervently walked over to the barn she has and put the farm animal away in the barn where it "belonged."  She has so much personality!

Communication 
While there is a lot of babble going on - a lot of it is very intentional.  Just because I can't understand it doesn't mean she isn't saying something!  When I went to Hannah's fifteen month checkup, I asked the doctor "so what really counts?" (when it comes to "words" and how many things Hannah can say).  And he said "any sound that consistently represents a concept/object counts as a word.  With that knowledge, I have totally lost count of what words Hannah can say - she may not be super clear yet, but not only does she really understand us, she also says far more than I think we fully give her credit for.  I noticed it most startlingly after being gone for three days - the first time I had been away since she was born.  I felt like her vocabulary had jumped leaps and bounds in the three days since I had left and then realized - had it actually expanded?  Or was I just listening more closely?

We took several videos of her telling us what different animals do/say - 

this one is my absolute favorite!  :)

Some of her cutest sounds (that equate to words)?  The "ch" sound for cheese, "sss" sound for cereal, and "kee" sound for keys.  I adore when she tells me what sounds a monkey would make or a snake or an elephant, tiger, bear, parrot, (etc) too!  She also squeezes her arms tight to her chest when you ask her what a koala does (because koalas "hold you tight!"), bounces up and down for kangaroos and frogs, and waddles for penguins.  :)

Sleep

Still doing pretty well.  The week of the New Horizons Pluto Flyby was brutal - on top of everything else she was teething AND her dad was getting up at all hours of the night to head to the lab, so she was very quick to wake.  Once we got past that week and back into a quieter routine around here, things improved quite a bit.

Growth and Appearance

Getting taller and taller!  Still steadily growing hair and starting to don a molar on her upper left side and right sides!  We are really edging out of nearly all 12 month and 12-18 month outfits, 18 month outfits are hit or miss, and some 24 month outfits are a good fit!  Her shoes are all size 5.  Yikes, Hannah!

Look at those beautiful curls!  :)

The Puppies

Sweet, loving, frolicking, they're just the best!  Chance and Holly were so excited to see Chris and meet Natalie.  Holly plays with Hannah more and more and both pups have been so delightfully snuggly lately!

I came downstairs one evening to find that Chance had snuggled up with my phone - is he imitating us too?  Or just trying to figure out what all the fuss is about?  Or is it just a bah humbug commentary on our obsession...

Some sweet, snoozing puppies

Chance united with his buddy Chance

How we roll on the trail!

Daddy 

Quite the amazing month for Daniel!  He managed Hannah and the dogs for three nights and three mornings by himself!!!  Can we say Rock Star?  AND!  Then he weathered and rocked the crazy crazy week during the New Horizons Flyby!!!  Many things to be proud of this month!

On a sweet note, when Daniel picks Hannah up from daycare she now leans in for a cheek nuzzle/kiss.  (which I think leaves Daniel feeling quite smitten).  He gives me credit for teaching all three of our furry/human children how to snuggle and I take it as a tremendous compliment - it's a pretty amazing thing to teach everyone to enjoy!

All smiles as she plays with her daddy in the park by our home

Mommy

Hannah loves to come up to me, outstretch her arms, and step onto my feet so we can "dance".  :)

This month marked my first nights away since Hannah was born, and I will honestly say, I really enjoyed them.  Three nights was just long enough to feel like I had gotten away without getting to the point where I missed Hannah achingly, but was also long enough that I was really excited to come home to my family again.

On my own, exploring Philadelphia - at Penn's landing park

Reflectively, at this point there are two things that I have noticed (an I am not embarrassed to mention these semi-negative things, because if you read the rest of the blog you can tell how much I love my sweet Hannah), first, I am very cognizant that my frustration/impatience with Hannah rises most quickly and intensely when I have other things to do - the more I had to do/the less time I have to do it/the more important or complex the task - the more frustrated/stressed I feel and the more I have to fight being snappy.  It's all a balancing act, knowing when to ask for help, not signing up/agreeing to do more than is reasonable, budgeting more time than I ever think I will need, etc, and sometimes it is unavoidable (like getting out the door to go to work).  But, being aware of how all of these factors affect me and influence the way I interact with Hannah, is important and also helps me try to strategically plan so I can limit the times I am torn between her and everything else - or at least enter into a "pressure cooker" scenario.  I hate when I catch myself being impatient or snappy, so I have tried to step back and really analyze what factors cause me to become "short" and impatient.

My favorite times with Hannah are when I have nothing else that I "have" to do.  At this point I try to compartmentalize as much as I can and pretend I have "nothing" to do when I'm with her so we can truly enjoy our time together.  It doesn't get much better than this.  :)

My only other frustration, that seems to have surfaced with increasing frequency this month, is the fact that with the adorable desire to imitate us incessantly, I pretty much cannot do anything around Hannah quickly/without possible consequences.  She wants my phone, my water, my pen as I write a grocery list, my snack, etc. and that basic lack of freedom or ability to do anything without consequence is a stifling adjustment for sure.  If I was a stay at home mom I think I would die of thirst.

Enjoying a beautiful Saturday with my sweet girl!

I hesitate to share the negatives, because some of you are probably like "well, duh!" and I certainly never want the negative observations to outweigh all the positives (because in my life, they don't at all!), but I also feel like I have a responsibility to share because I know there are other mommy friends out there who are nodding their heads in agreement and thinking "yep, I totally understand that, I'm glad it's not just me!"

Team Hals

My sixteen month old daughter is amazing.  Her inquisitive nature, determination to mimic and learn how to "do" and act like an adult are so interesting and awesome to observe and I cannot believe how inherently driven she is to "help."  We are steadily adjusting and strategizing as to how to handle the toddler tantrums, but as always we strive to do our best.  It's been a big, busy month for team Hals, but I'm very proud of us!  :)

Hannah @ 16 Months