Bathtime is still fun. And lately, sometimes Anneliese will ask to play in the bathtub even without any water in it. Some mornings, when I open her door, she immediately goes into the bathroom to “Visit” her bath toys. She still doesn’t like when the water is running, or being washed. But the rest is all good.
She’s a music lover. Sometimes if it’s a bit too quiet for her liking, she will sign “music” to me so that I’ll turn on Pandora or some of my collection. She also loves her xylophone and the keyboard.
Forks are awesome. She loves forks. Anneliese knows the sign for fork now, and will ask for one if I don’t give her one right away. She’s getting better at using them, too.
Anneliese has gotten sturdier on her feet. Throughout the month, she loved to practice walking with her little wagon, but I could tell she was frustrated she couldn’t turn it to go exactly where SHE wanted to go, or it would run into things and she would be stuck. This was definite motivation. A lot of pulling up and a lot more cruising than before (cruising along walls, and around doorframes, not just along furniture)… eventually all of that culminated into walking! I would say yesterday (15 months, 2 days) was her first official day as “a walker.”
Anneliese mostly plays very sweetly and gently, and has fallen in love with this Halloween Monkey. I got her a baby doll to replace it when it goes back in the “October” box after tomorrow. I hope she likes it as much. Books are still a definite favorite. Often, Anneliese will go straight to her books before any toys, and can easily spend more than 20 minutes just flipping through them.
She does SO WELL when we are out and about, cheerful and friendly. She waves at strangers and smiles at anyone who seems uncreepy. Her limit is about 5 hours, which has been about the same since she was tiny. After that, things break down and she NEEDS TO GO HOME. One thing that keeps her happy for so long is that I always try to bring snacks with us. I have a little cooler lunchbox and if I throw an ice pack in it, I can pack all sorts of stuff…fruit (today was FIVE clementines, and a banana, and she had lots of grapes before/after our outing), cheese, a little container of meat. all portable and easy. She tried a hard-boiled egg recently but didn’t care for the texture. Too bad because that would be an easy portable snack too.
To be honest, Anneliese couldn’t really care less about clothes. BUT she is starting to love accessories. She will drape a (clean) diaper cover around her shoulders like a scarf, or put her peek-a-boo cloth on her head like a hat. She’ll find one of my necklaces and put it around her neck and proudly wear it… and she has started to request hair accessories sometimes (by pointing at them, or grabbing one and handing it to me). She also LOVES socks and (soft-soled only, like crib shoes almost, in case anyone is buying them for her) shoes and will hand them to me to put them on her, pointing her little toes, one foot at a time. Other times she sits down with them and tries so hard to put them on herself.
Her play is often (not always) methodical and organized. She will spend a long time with this latch board, trying to open and close all the doors. There are some that are too hard for her right now, but others she can latch and unlatch repeatedly. She likes to take these circle coasters out of their holder one by one, then stack them back into it. And the halloween buckets have been great for nesting and un-nesting too.
More language explosion this month too… it seems like every day she says and/or signs a new word. Sometimes when she is flipping through her books, she’ll “read” them out loud, and she often picks up something electronic (my phone, the remote control, one of my small cameras) and pretends it is a telephone, and has a one-sided conversation.
What. A. Cool. Kid. I’m so lucky.
I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
And we’re so lucky that you take time to share all her life with us. Thank you so much!
Aww she’s precious! So glad she’s getting the hang of walking! It’ll make things so fun around there. Avery is the cutest now that he walks and still so tiny!
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