14 Months

She's a happy kid, most of the time. She plays some by herself with different toys, or her blocks, or the tupperware drawer, or random things in my bedroom. She likes to be close by, and sometimes paws at my feet if I'm in the kitchen.


My little girl is learning new things every day. It seems like she's constantly trying to impress me with her vocabulary. In the last month, she's started using these words and phrases: Thank you: "gay-gah," no thank you: "ah-gay-gah," bite: "bipe," binkie: "bah-bahp," water: "wah-wah," juice: "doosh," bottle: "bah-bah," no no: "nyo-nyo," no touch: "ah tuch," bear: "beaw," ball: "baw," sunglasses or a hat is "coooo!" for cool.

She has two upper molars now, the crazy child. She still just has the two teeth on the bottom, so it's a little strange to me that she's already cut molars. And her hair is growing. It even looks a little mullet-ish sometimes.





And in the mornings, oh boy. She has quite the bed head.


Yes, her hair really looked like this. You can tell she's not always a morning person.

This is her fat look. She's pretty skinny as far as babies go, but obviously isn't starving, despite the fact that she's a picky eater.

Speaking of eating, we've been letting her feed herself sometimes. It makes for a much bigger mess at meal time, but she really enjoys using her utensils, and is starting to get the hang of it. She seems to have the most trouble with not turning her spoon or fork upside down before getting it to her mouth. But she's learning. She also really enjoys holding her sippy cup up for "cheers."



Chloë is not a good sleeper. She still would prefer to cuddle with one of us until she falls asleep. And sometimes we let her. Half the time she takes her afternoon nap on the couch next to me while I catch up on computer stuff.




But sometimes I make her nap in her crib. (This is her classic butt-in-the-air thing she does a lot these days.) I'm really trying to encourage the independent sleeping thing. It's just that she's so much fun to cuddle with.

She still walks along furniture and walls, and has even gotten to the point where she'll sort of lunge between the coffee table and the couch. But she doesn't seem eager to walk on her own. Which is really completely fine with me. And I'm not at all worried about it.





She is really quite the character. Sometimes so happy and cheerful, jabbering and giving kisses and just full of all sorts of sweetness. But sometimes she is a grump and fussy and winy, and I just can't figure out what is ailing her. And lately she's developed this defiant streak where she touches my laptop every chance she gets. She was so good about not touching it for so long, but for some reason has decided that it is just too much fun to mash the keypad. I usually see her from the other room, and start walking into the living room to give her some discipline, and she quickly moves away and acts oh so very innocent. It is so heartbreaking to flick her hand or spank her little thigh, but I know that "the rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame," and "chasten your son while there is hope, and let not your soul spare for his crying." And so we pray for her, we pray for wisdom in raising her, and we give her much grace and a little discipline.

We love her so much. In fact, the other day, Bryan wondered aloud how we could possibly love our next child as much as we love this one. I'm sure it will come easily enough. But boy is it easy to love this kid.