18 Months

It is hard to believe that Chloë is a year and half old now. She is such a big girl, and I know she is going to be a big help (or at least do her best trying) when the baby arrives.

She rarely walks anymore. But only because she prefers to run as her main mode of ambulation. She and her daddy made up this game where she stands by the couch, he asks "ready?" and she nods. Then he slowly counts to three, and then says "go go go!" and she takes off running into the kitchen, only to return a few seconds later to start the game over. She also likes to stomp and walk on her tip toes if she isn't running. And she likes to jump, or "dump," as she calls it. Since she hasn't figured out how to actually jump off the ground, this works best if she's on a soft surface, like a couch or bed, and she happily bounces.

She can be a very silly girl. Here's a funny face she makes sometimes.

And then the next one is what we see when we ask her to show us her teeth.

And then there's the classic silly-teeth-smile:


If we ask her where something is, and she doesn't know, she'll hold both of her hands up above her shoulders, palms up, fingers curled and shrug her shoulders. If she wants to know where something went, she asks "ah go??" She also picked up on our "be right back" when we leave the room. So she'll run off into the next room yelling "be back!"

She's put together her first basic sentences recently. Last week in the car, she was eating pretzels, and long after they were gone, I was searching around for her pacifier and found a half eaten pretzel. I held it up to see if she wanted it, and with great delight she exclaimed "Oh!! It's a pets-ul!!!!"

In the last couple of weeks, she decided she is skilled enough to handle eating with no help. I was hesitant to let her have the spoon with things like cheerios, but she sweetly asks "do it?" and she's really gotten pretty good at it. Bibs were a great invention.

She likes to be neat while she eats. If a drop of milk spills from her spoon onto her tray, she points at the napkin I likely have close by, and says "mess. Wipe?" Sometimes we'll let her entertain her OCD tendencies and wipe it up right away, but sometimes we want her to wait until she's all done eating, and have to reassure her that everything will be okay if we leave the mess for a few minutes.

Chloë has become quite attached to her Bear, blanket, and binkie. (I have to admit, I was secretly pleased when she started forming at attachment to the little blanket I crocheted for her before she was born.) If she needs a little down time, she'll get Bear and blanket (and binkie if we let her), and cuddle with them for a while. Sometimes she'll get a pillow and lay down on the floor and re-charge for a few minutes. Then she's off finding something to get into. Cupboards are fun to slam, chairs make a delightful noise when pushed across the floor, and Mama's makeup drawer has all sorts of great things in it.

She's still our cuddly kid, and is happiest falling asleep on someone's lap.


Chloë is becoming more shy, especially around adults, particularly men. She used to just eat up attention, and would be anyone's new best friend in a matter of minutes, but lately she is much more hesitant around new people. Especially if we're in a room of new faces, she prefers it if Mama or Daddy is holding her. Any time she wants to be held, she'll say "hoed you?" and reach towards the person she wants to hold her.

She does still enjoy getting out of the house, and likes exploring new places. We were at the bookstore last week, and she wandered a few feet away and grabbed what we thought was a good choice.

A true North Idaho girl, and certainly her father's daughter.

She just likes books, and usually spends a good half hour every day pulling books off the shelf and "reading" them to herself.


And then there's technology. She'll keep herself busy for a long time with an iPod or cell phone. (We may or may not have caved and gotten her a little toy cell phone for Christmas. I know she'll love it, but part of me is so ashamed of myself.)


I didn't know Chloë could beat box until yesterday afternoon. While driving to the store, the radio was quietly playing something contemporary in the background. I didn't notice. Chloë, on the other hand, decided it needed more of a beat: "Ppp, chhh, ppp, chhh, ppp, chhh..." in perfect rhythm. I couldn't stop laughing at what I was hearing. So later when we were home, I thought I'd see if I could capture it on camera.


We went to the indoor playground at the Eastside Marketplace last week. I've been meaning to take her ever since she's been able to walk, but we just needed a little encouragement from our friends Mary and Louella who were visiting.

Louella and Chloë in the canoe.

Chloë absolutely loved the slide. She climbed up the stairs, sat at the top for a second, and then spun around, flopped on her belly, and slid down. She thought it was fantastic.

She did it over and over, each time exclaiming "weeeee!" on her way down.

So much fun!

Sometimes I have to rub my eyes to make sure I'm seeing straight. Yes, that really is my little girl running around, playing with other kids, climbing on things, and having fun.


It's a blurry picture, but we got a shot of Louella and Chloë holding hands in their car seats. They did this every time we went somewhere in the car. It was so cute.

It's amazing to me how affectionate our little girl is. When she's being particularly sweet, she'll cup my face in her hands and softly say "Mama!" That kid melts my heart. Several times in the last few weeks, she'll position herself behind me, grab my shoulders with her little hands, and give me a surprisingly decent little massage for a few seconds. And of course there's all the affectionate pats and kisses.


She really likes the orchid Bryan brought me. It is such a joy to see her finding beauty in God's creation, and she points out when she think something is "pretty."

For the boring stats, she had her 18-month well child visit a few days ago. (When the doctor asked if she had a 7 to 20 word vocabulary, I laughed a little. I can't keep track of all the words she uses. A few days ago, she was gazing at the Christmas tree with all its lights and ornaments, and softly said "ah-sum." She frequently uses words I didn't know she knew.) I'm proud to report that for the first time in over a year, her height and weight stats have gone up. So instead of being in the bottom of the 10th percentile for weight, she's at the top of it! The occasional half-and-half in her cheerios might have something to do with it.

17 Months

Chloë is very much a little girl. Sweet and sassy, all in the same moment sometimes.


Tonight at dinner, Bryan and I were laughing hysterically at her frantically shoving pieces of chicken into her mouth, and then doing an open-mouthed teeth-grinding chew. She is hilarious.


If we are trying to get her to eat something she isn't very fond of, she'll hold a bite of food in her mouth for minutes at a time. We're working on that.

She loves brushing her teeth. When it's time to start the bedtime routine, we "get fresh" (what we call changing her diaper), put on jams, and brush teeth. She runs around the house shrieking "Teet! Teet!" in excited anticipation.

Chloë is a really friendly little girl. Whenever we're out and about, she seems to make a point to brighten someone's day; usually just by smiling and waving and saying hi. She really likes to say hi to other kids, and anyone even a tiny bit smaller than she is is a "baby!" She also likes to wave and say hi to to animals, and even inanimate toys and random objects.

A couple of weeks ago, we were hanging out with Ali and Sam, and as usual, Chloë used her extremely sweet and high-pitched voice to talk to baby Sam. At one point, she looked at him, held her arms out, and asked "Up?" So she held her first baby.


She was absolutely smitten. I think she's going to be a wonderful big sister.

She likes to talk on the phone, whether or not there is actually anyone on the other end. In fact, sometimes she comes up with the most elaborate conversations when there isn't anyone there.


She has added so many new words to her vocabulary, I've lost track. A few of my favorites this month are hair bow: "ah-bow," wash: "wash," stuck: "thduck!" apple: "ah-pah," and super "thuper!" It seems like every day she uses a new word that I didn't know she knew. Anything sweet and dessert-like is "cake." Last week her daddy taught her this weird deep growly voice, and she totally loves using it.


She loves books. Sometimes she'll even sit still long enough for me to read one to her. She usually prefers to thumb through them at her own pace, making up her own story.


We pulled her bouncy chair out of the closet a couple of weeks ago, and she really has a lot of fun in it.

(She says "bounce," and then does so while doing a little bit of her fake laugh. Then she sings a little bit of her favorite made-up song "sim-AH, sim ah," and then she gets "duck.")

She is a very sweet girl, offering to share all sorts of things with people she loves. Her food, her toys... we've even caught her offering her sippy cup to the grandparent's dogs.

She is just a very affectionate girl. If I'm not feeling well and resting on the couch, she'll sweetly pat my arm or back or shoulder, sometimes even doing her best impression of her daddy's massages. She'll rest her head close to mine and say "Oh, Mama," and give me little kisses. It absolutely melts my heart.

She is still extremely cuddly, when she's tired, or when she's just being sweet.


She's great at stairs. If I leave the baby gate open, I don't worry. She loves to crawl backwards (or slide feet-first on her tummy) down the stairs, and spend a few minutes exploring and playing by herself. It doesn't take too long for her to get lonely, and she wanders back upstairs to be in the same room I am in.


This month we introduced Chloë to the fun world of drawing. She loves it. I was surprised at how naturally she held her drawing utensil.



She loves to push buttons. I think it may stem from her finger-picking fetish. If she has something with a button or two, she's as happy as a clam for quite a while. Our new car has the little remote lock key ring, and the other day she sat on my bed, happily pushing the buttons over and over for a good 20 minutes. If you offer to share your cell phone with her, she will be your new best friend.

(I think she looks so much like the pictures of her Uncle Samuel when he was a toddler.)
She's getting really good at her daddy's iPhone, too. She's known how to "unlock" it since she was 9 months old. Last month she managed to change the date on my iPod to January 1974, and somehow deleted a couple of my apps. So now both the iPod and the iPhone are password protected in order to unlock them. But I get the feeling it won't take her much longer to figure out that 1-3-7-9 is all it takes to access the amazing world of touch-screen fun.

She loves going outside. She loves putting on her hat and scarf and coat and shoes, and waiting by the door. She would live outside if she could, I think.


We took a few pictures of her all dressed up and playing with a balloon. She thought it was pretty great being the center of attention.

16 Months

My little girl is growing up. She'll be 16 months old tomorrow. Last month, I said that she had officially started walking, but that she was still hesitant to do so on our hard wood floors. The day after I wrote that post, we were out doing some shopping, and Chloë decided she was tired of the stroller. So she walked up and down the aisles, quite pleased with herself. Since that day, she has been very confident in her walking abilities. She has an adorable stubby-legged walk, and gets around really well.

Speaking of stubby legs, the sizes she wears in clothes in kind of hilarious. Just recently does she fit into her jeans that are size 6-12 months. Because she has a long torso, she usually needs 18-24 month size shirts to cover her belly. But, she's skinny enough that she can still wear dresses size 3-6 months as tunics. So basically, she wears all sizes of clothing these days.

Her new words this month include Chloë: "coe-ee," coffee: "cah-yee" hot: "aht," eat: "eat," cake: "cake," tickle: "tey-ah," chin: "nin," forehead: "ah-yahd," Bella: "Beh-bah," Eva: "Ah-yah," Betsy: "Bets." It's getting to the point where she says so much I can't keep track of what's new. Since she is our little parrot and repeats everything, I only "count" words that she uses without prompting.

She loves playing with Bella and Eva. They really get along so well. Chloë and Eva invented a game a couple of weeks ago, where they sit side by side on the step two steps from the bottom of the stairs, and bounce up and down laughing hysterically at one another. I'm amazed that such simple things can be so much fun. And shaking the bars of the crib is apparently a great game too.

They also like to stir up mischief together. I was watching Eva for a couple of hours yesterday, and they were playing so well together, and then I realized things were very quiet. So I went into Chloë's room, and discovered the two of the playing with and emptying bottles baby shampoo, baby lotion, and diaper rash ointment. The baby shampoo was everywhere. At least it was just shampoo. But the thing that gets me the most is that my child was sitting there, running her finger through the puddles of shampoo, licking it off her finger, and going back for more. But she won't drink milk. I just don't understand. Needless to say, I think it is time to reevaluate the location of some of the things in our home. Our trash can, for example. She found the coffee ground puck from my espresso, sitting nicely on a pile of trash, and must have thought it looked tasty. She came around the corner with a look of displeasure on her face. As well as coffee grounds.


Last week we decided to introduce her to the fact that there's a baby sister in Mama's tummy. I know she doesn't really understand, but it is so sweet when she kisses or pats my tummy. We'll tell her to kiss Mama, then Daddy, then Baby Sister. And she does. And it's so cute.

This girl loves to laugh. She loves to be tickled. And she looooves being chased by her Daddy.


She also reeeeally loves her pacifier. But since we've established that it's only for "night night," she sometimes decides that she's "seepy seepy" and asks to go "nie-nie" just so she can cuddle with Mama and suck on her binkie for a few minutes. Then she pulls the binkie out of her mouth, hands it to me, and is off to play some more.

When she does sleep, she still prefers to be next to (or on top of) Mama or Daddy.

She has been doing this thing lately where she randomly uses both her index fingers to plug her ears. She'll do it for a minute or two, sometimes releasing for a few seconds. It must be funny muting everything.

We've seen some very defiant behavior this month. Not that we're surprised, but it still catches us a little off-guard when we give her a basic command ("come here," "put it down," etc.), and we can tell that she's making a decision to do the opposite and disobey. Sometimes it's hard not to laugh at how silly her tiny rebellion seems. For the most part, we're constantly impressed with how much she understands, and how eager she is to obey and please us.

She gets around really well on her Radio Flyer these days.


She has started doing this thing where she has a finger in her mouth when she's chewing her food. I don't understand how it can be comfortable, but I guess there's sort of a gap where her canine teeth haven't come in yet. So we're working on manners. She's a pretty good eater, but isn't a huge fan of vegetables (we're working on that, too). And she still doesn't like milk. She'll have it with her cereal, but that's it. So, every morning, she has cheerios with some half-and-half mixed with whole milk. This month she had her first doughnut, and (surprise!) loved it. I bought some of those mini doughnuts covered in powdered sugar, and she sure had a great time eating a couple and getting powdered sugar everywhere.

Last but not least, this kid has some serious dance moves. I love it.

15 Months

Our little girl is 15 months old. I think she's pretty great.

I mentioned earlier this month that Chloë started walking. Which she has. But she's a very cautious walker, and really doesn't like to walk on our hardwood floors. If we're down in the basement, where there's carpet, she'll walk everywhere. She's still a little wobbly, so she falls sometimes. Which is why she probably doesn't like to walk on the hardwood. So she still crawls as her main method of mobility, but she's making progress.


Chloë is getting more teeth! She currently has six on top (two of which are molars), and she has three on bottom, and just in the last few days had three more break through the gums (again, two of which are molars). She loves having her teeth brushed, and gets super excited when she sees her toothbrush.

You'd think with all those teeth she'd be eager to use them on food, but she's proven to be quite the picky eater. I have sort of thrown my hands in the air for a couple of things that she just hates: oatmeal, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And she's very particular about texture. Bread is great, but only if it's not too dry (or toasted), and she recently has decided she hates the crust. Oh dear. And she hates milk. At her check up with the doctor last week, this was our biggest focus of "concern." She needs the calories and the calcium, but she decided she hates milk a month ago and started refusing her morning and nighttime bottles. I haven't given up on re-introducing it in new ways, and she'll have a little with cereal, and loves cheese and ice cream, so she does get some dairy. There are some foods she loves, like her ham or turkey and cheese sandwich, with mustard and mayo (and butter, to sneak in a little more dairy).



Speaking of her Dr. appointment, Chloë is down to the 15th percentile for weight. I could stress about it, and worry and feed her potato chips all day long, but I won't. She's perfectly healthy. I don't doubt she would have a little more chub if she was more sedentary. That kid moves all the time. Even when she's sitting in her highchair, eating. And when she's falling asleep. Yeah, she's a calorie burner, alright.

Where she lacks in walking ability and weight, she makes up for with talking. She is such a chatterbox. A parrot, really, as a friend recently put it. Even if she doesn't know the word, if we ask her to say something, she'll try it. In fact, she'll echo the entire alphabet, one letter at a time, if she doesn't get distracted. I realize her enunciation leaves something to be desired. But being her mother, I understand her language pretty well. It sure is convenient to know that "cuh-keys" means hungry, despite the fact that it sounds like a very clear "cookies." She probably uses this word the most throughout the day. She'll crawl over to her highchair and say "cuh-keys! Cuh-keys!" sometimes once a second if she thinks she's about to starve to death. Thankfully I understand many of the basic things she says and asks for. "Sah" for some, when she sees something she wants. "Duts!" is cheers, and she'll raise her sippy cup and toast. Other new words this month include: spoon is "poo" or "spoo," cereal: "seh-zuh," cheerios: "choo-choos," yuck: "guck," all done: "ah nun," wipe: "why," down stairs: "tis," walk: "wah," balloon: "bah-boo," sleepy: "sthe-pah," glasses: "gah-yas," help: "ahp," Louella, "weh-wah," car: "cah," bye bye: "buh-bye." She loves shoes, and asks to wear them, pointing to her dresser saying "sue! sue!" Her daddy taught her that getting her diaper changed is getting all fresh and clean, so diaper change is called fresh, or "shesh." She's getting good at her anatomy, too. Hair: "ah," nose: "notes," eye: "aye," teeth: "teet," tongue: "tah," belly button: "beh-bah," knee: "me," or "nee," toes: "totes." She's good at saying what something is when she's pointing to it. She doesn't quite understand personal space, and if the mood strikes, likes to point out a friend's body parts.

I skinned up my knee a couple of weeks ago, and since it's been warm, I've been wearing shorts. Chloë is an attentive and sympathetic girl. About a hundred times a day, she would see my knee, stop whatever she was in the process of doing, and point to it and tenderly say "atch."

For as much as we understand, there is still an awful lot of chatter that we don't understand.


We've established that her pacifier is only for naps and bedtime. She still prefers to sleep on top of or right next to one of us. But if she has her binkie and Bear, she'll give Bear kisses, pat and hug him, and snuggle on a pillow and fall asleep. Often times in the afternoon, when she's starting to get sleepy, she'll ask for Bear and binkie, and say "nie nie," and then will have a moment of relaxation on the couch. After the moment passes, she'll hand me her binkie and hop off of the couch, on to her next adventure.


She still loves reading. Recently she has been patient enough to let us read through an entire children book. She used to get too excited about turning the pages (and sometimes still does), but she'll actually listen to the story now.


She's discovered her nostrils, and occasionally sticks a finger up her nose. (Don't have a picture of this. Oh well.)

She figured out her Radio Flyer toy this month. She can get on and off the thing, and she even figured out how to make it move.


She absolutely loves sunglasses, and will snag them any chance she gets and try to put them on. Here she actually has the earpieces on her little pigtails.


One of my friends had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and we've had the pleasure of seeing Baby Sam a couple of times now. Even though Chloë doesn't quite understand what qualifies as gentle, it has been heartwarming seeing her being so affectionate to the new baby. She'll light up, and point, saying "bay-bee!" and kiss his head or some part of the blanket he's wrapped in. She'll sweetly "pat" him, although I've had to intervene, because as sweet as it is, it's still just a little bit too much like gentle hitting. If Sam is in his car seat, she likes to rock him. I feel pretty confident that she's going to be a great older sister.

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.