15 Months

15 Months Old: 11/19/13

My Sweetest Beans.

This month has been one of our more difficult months. 

With a head cold, your first stomach bug, 3 official molars, and frustration over your mobility limitations, you spent more than a few days in a not-so-pleasant mood.

Yet in the same breath, this month was nothing short of amazing. 

Your growth and development is simply fascinating. 

With every new word, skill, and toddler trick, I'm taken aback.

I'm that parent. 

The huge dweeb.

The one who's giddy over every cute, silly, sweet thing you do.  

Heck. 

You could just sit there, drool, and blink. 

And it would still take everything in my power not to go banging down the neighbors' doors, begging to show them how awesome you drool and blink. 

It's funny how something as small {and obnoxious if you weren't 1 years old} as wiggling your tongue back and forth when I ask Where's your mouth, Lyla can make me jump up and down with excitement. 

Simply because it's new. 

Something you didn't do the day before. 

And certainly not the month before. 

I just love being a mom.

Your mom in particular. 

Even on the hard months. 

Especially on the hard months.

Because you're extra needy when you don't feel well. 

Which subsequently means extra mommy-snuggles.

In fact, mom and dad caved and let you sleep with them one Saturday morning.

I think we all stayed in bed until 11 that morning. 

The best!

So fussy moments and cranky pants aside, this month was a good one. 

• I love getting texts from GiGi that tell me you're doing something new or saying a new word. Like when she told me you said hello for the first time. You had just turned 14 months old, and you picked up a tv remote, put it to your ear and said hello? Sure enough, I witnessed it that night, and you've been saying it ever since: every time a phone rings, when someone knocks at the door, or when you see anything that remotely resembles a phone. And the little inflection you do at the end of hewwo? is enough in and of itself to make me die a happy woman. Absolutely adorable. 

• I'm quite convinced you're going to be the artsy type. There is nothing you adore more than music and dancing. You've liked music since you were a wee babe, but lately you love music. When we sing, you carry your own little toddler tune, you love to play with your moraccas and symbols, and you dance the moment you hear a song. You've even started singing da-a-a-a-ann for "dance" when you're wiggling your hips and flailing your hands in the air to music. So we decided to try a demo Mommy and Me music class. Of course I signed us up the moment it ended. You loved it, despite the fact that it was smack-dab in the middle of your nap time. You especially loved the drum!

• We've started working on our body parts this month. You have different things you do for certain parts: wiggling your tongue back and forth, putting your finger straight up your nose, and blinking your eyes. Although much of the time, you get them mixed up. I'll say Wheeere is Lyla's nose, and you start blinking, or Wheeere is Lyla's eyes, and you stick out your tongue. It's a work in progress. ;) But, there are two body parts you have down perfectly: toes and belly button. You say toes and pull up your feet and point to your toes, and you say bepp for belly button and pat your tummy. And then you pull up my shirt to point to my belly button. 

• In lieu of your most commonly used nickname Miss Beans, I began calling you Miss Indie this month. Holy independence. You are a busy lady these days and want absolutely no help from mom or dad…or so you want us to believe. You've even started pushing me away, which is enough to make me curl up under the table and cry like a baby. But your short fuse is immediately ignited the moment your independence is hurdled by a toddler roadblock, like being unable to communicate what you want or your inability to walk without the assistance of an adult or push toy. If you don't get your way, you let us know either by crying or squeezing your hands into fists and shaking. And you don't get your way a lot. But our favorite is when you want more food. Instead of patiently signing "more" like you used to, you {in a very panicked tone} say take-you (thank you) over and over again until we get your more. This toddler thing is tough stuff, little love. 

• You are absolutely everywhere these days, and you're fast too. You're not yet walking on your own, but we think you might be close. You walk all over the place, you just have to be holding onto something - mostly the furniture or your push toy. You are able to very slowly walk while holding onto an adult hand, but you are quite wobbly. And poor thing, you simply aren't confident in yourself yet. If we distract you, you will stand on your own, but the moment you realize you don't have help, you immediately squat and sit. Like every other major milestone, you reach them at your own pace. You like to be absolutely confident before fully committing and simply don't like to be put on the spot. You do things when you are ready, which is a fine attribute to have, my dear. 

• You're still a fabulous eater. You love anything edible, and I think you'd eat forever if we didn't stop you. We try not to make you special toddler things, usually just cut-up versions of whatever we're eating. And you've gotten quite skilled with the spoon. I still have to scoop up whatever it is you're eating, but you take the spoon out of my hands and feed yourself. Although it's quite messy, we are learning! Oh, and you have the sweetest little habit where you eat with your feet stretched out touching the tip of your highchair. I don't know what you'll do when your legs are too long - you love your feeding stretch.

• Your vocabulary continues to grow, and it's so fun to hear. Some words you've only said a couple times, some you say every once and awhile, while others you say consistently over and over. Some new words this month were: yes, that, those, hello, toes, dance (dan), brr (cold), flower (fow), blue (boo). *Although we go over colors all the time, I don't think you actually associated "blue" with the color - you were just repeating and pointing to things I said were blue. Still quite exciting to hear! 

• Some of your faves for the month: "putting on" your shoes, pulling up Mommy's shirt to find her belly button, food {of any kind}, waterfalls in the bath, playing Supergirl with Dad, opening and closing doors, zipping up and down, leaves, climbing on your chair, laughing when mom tells you "no" after climbing on said chair, putting your feet up while you eat in your highchair.