We went to the doctor friday for her checkup. She got two shots, one in each leg and she did very well. She is 33.5 inches tall, and 28lbs. All if her 18 month pants are getting too short, and her shirts are getting too small. The sleeves are not long enough and some don’t cover her belly. I have already packed away some pants and a pair of corduroy overalls that don’t fit anymore. π I guess it is time to move to 24 month, or maybe 2T? I don’t really know the difference, yet.
The night we put the star on the top of our Christmas tree, Lexie pointed to it and said, “star.”. She was not yet 15 months old.
Today, she can identify literally every object in the house and tell you ALL about it; if you listen closely you may recognize a word or two. π at fifteen and a half months, we play outside twice a day, and we have moved along to one middle of the day nap. This nap is my savior. I am exhausted by 11:45! Our new schedule looks something like this:
5:30
Jtom leaves for the office
7:00-7:30.
Lexie and mama wake, eat breakfast, daddy returns home to change into office attire, we play with daddy before he goes back to work
8:00- about 8:25
Independent time in pack n play
Mama makes coffee!!! Picks up misc items, starts laundry or other chores
8:30-10:30
Mama and lexie time- includes reading stories, picking up toys, singing songs, dancing
Some days it includes the last 30 minutes of sesame street whle mama does a daily chore.
10:30
Outside time
11:00
Come in, complete picking up the house, get ready for lunch
11:15
Lunch
11:35-11:45
Change into sleep clothes and get in bed for wind down
12:00-12:15
Usually takes her from ab 1145 till now to wind herself down and get asleep. She then sleeps for an hour forty five minutes to two hours
Mama does quiet chores, rests, pays bills, etc.
2:00
Wake, change out of sleep clothes, have some room time in her bedroom
Mommy chores
Mommy time w
(not always in this order .. We are working on it)
3:00
Snack
3:30
Ready to go outside!
4:00-4:30
Come in
4:30
Get ready for daddy’s arrival
5:15
Daddy is home! Play time with daddy, mama prepares dinner, gets things ready for bed time
5:50
Lexie eats
6:10
Bath time
6:25
Dry off, get ready for bed- lotion on our “body,” ears, powder, nose drops, Tylenol if teething
6:30
Night night milk, rock while mama sings “Jesus loves me,”
6:40-6:45
In bed
7:00-7:15
Asleep for the night!
Whew, and that’s really probably not everything we do. My schedule written out on the counter includes some specific times for crafts, etc. But of course that doesn’t happen every day.
Some days there are more or less chores to do, weather doesn’t allow us outside, or we may just vege out all day. She still goes to school Tuesdays and Thursdays, while I clean houses. At the start of the new year we will be attending the Y regularly. I don’t know which classes I will be going to, so I’m not sue what times or days we will go. Also, they have started a toddler reading time at the library, which begin at 10:30. I really want to take lexie to this. Then, there is a play group we have joined. Up until two weeks ago we were unable to attend most of the play dates because they were at 10:00, but now lexie has OFFICIALLY moved her nap back, so we can now go to 10 o’clock play dates! This excites me greatly.
It seems like we have gone from doing only house Esther, to having lots of things to enjoy outside of the house, all thanks to someone not having two naps! I will be the first to say I was dreading the two one switch, but it has been really nice. After fighting the afternoon nap for MONTHS, and the morning nap for the last month, it is so very nice to have a peaceful toddler at nap time. I know it is early for one nap, and I am a total “developmentally appropriate” nazi, but it is true that every child is different.
Plus, she sleeps 12 hours through the night, so she is well rested.
Lately, after she wakes up I give her about 10 minutes to really wake up and then I hop in the shower. When I get out, we do the whole breakfast, daddy thing, then I dry my hair while she takes her morning bottle.
oh yea … We still do bottles. Bt here is why: she was chewing her nails. I dropped all but the night time bottle and she was chewing her nails all day, despite having a milk cup and juice cup available. Chewing her nails told me that she may not be getting the oral stimulation she needs, so I reintroduced the morning bottle after her oatmeal. Tada- no more chewing nails. So I think I will try taking it away again at a later time and see how she does. The rest of the time she drinks from her sippies or a real cup, with mine or Jtoms assistance. She has a cup with a straw, but it’s not a favorite and we don’t use it much because with a flick of the straw it quickly becomes the drink slinging cup. Messy!
We are still having power struggles, which is to be expected of any toddler, especially an independent one. Our biggest struggle today is her banging her chunky puzzle pieces on the top of my newly renovated farm table. That constitutes a time out, and it happens almost every other day. The other struggle would be coming inside. I try to make this an easy transition by saying “we have 5 more minutes”- although she has no concept of time, this let’s her know, after repeated use, that we will be going in soon. Then we pick up whatever toy(s) we have taken out, and put down any sticks or leaves we have picked up- enter meltdown. If she were three she might understand keeping a box for rocks, leaves, and sticks for next time, but since she is 15 months old that doesn’t fly. I do it anyway.
Another little issue might be her eating things. Well, nt eating things, but rather chewing them. Strings she pulls from her lovie, leaves,pieces of bark from firewood, anything really, quickly becomes a chewing gum of sorts. If I don’t take it, I imagine she swallows it? Bt I always try to get whatever it is out of her mouth, tell her “dirty dirty” and make an icky face. She just says “blah” and runs the other way, just to return with something new in her mouth to show me. She doesn’t still put toys in her mouth, like blocks and things. She is done “feeling” things out with her mouth. Now she just wants to chew bits of things … I guess it won’t kill her, but my only concern might be a parasite from leaves or something? Is that possible? I should google it …
Today she can point to and name a circle, star, and heart. OMG I almost forgot, this afternoon jtom was in the bedroom looking something up on the ipad. Lexie had to go see what he was up to and she quickly had control of the finger controlled electronic. I have a few “baby” aps on there, but nothing really any good. This one is just different foods, their color and their name. Each time you swipe the page, a new food comes up. So she swipes it, up pops the lime with “lime” written above it. What does lexie Raye wright do? She points to the L and says “L! L!”. Yay!!! Now, don’t get me wrong, most all letters are either L, X, or I. This is because every morning she wakes up, grabs lovie, reaches for me to lift her from the crib, and then points to the letters above her name. I then point to each letter , saying its name before I move to the next.
Her teachers at school go on and on about how smart, sweet, and funny she is. I remember the first time they asked what I do with her to make her so smart, my reply was “I talk to her.”. That’s it. I take the time to tell her what everything is. When she points to something and makes a noise as if to ask, ” what’s that?” I tell her what it is. From the angel painting on my bedroom wall, to the coffee pot, she knows their names, because I talk to her. I let her touch and feel things, she has learned to smell things with her nose.
It’s all about experience, children learn what they are exposed to. If you expose them to junk food and tv, that is what they will know. If you expose them to physical play and exploration, they develop a natural curiosity for learning. That is what I want lexie to know.
The funny part is just her personality; she is exactly like her daddy! She loves to play, tease, be scared by us with the occasional “boo!” and enjoys talking. She has an imagination mile wide, which she gets from me. Right now she is enjoying her Christmas toys sent to her by various family members. I will load pics when I get time, I’m blogging from bed, on the ipad, right this minute. She likes to sneak down the two steps we have and play in the entry way- and yes I let her! She is perfectly capable of doing the stairs safely, and I’m not going to hover over her every move. How will she ever learn to take risks safely, and feel secure if I’m right there every minute? I remember a big controversy in education when I was at HSU was the research on children taking physical risks, how it is necessary for brain and motor development, and that by removing playground equipment for “safety” purposes, we are hurting their education. True story.
Oh, one last update … I’m a terrible Santa. I couldn’t wait until the morning of the 25th to give her the Shelby Waldorf doll… She got it this morning. Hey, I put it under the tree! At 15 months she doesn’t know who brings the toys … I put the doll in Lexie’s chair, and put it “under” the tree. When we got done changing her diaper this morning, I led her into the living room, grabbed my camera and waited. Within a split second she had spotted the fiery red hair in her seat and ran right to her. Lexie picked her up, looked at her, looked at me, and started giving her loves. π she said, “baby baby”and between camera flashes I said “yes, baby for lexie! Her name is Shelby.” her response- “Bebby” for Shelby. Anyway, I took lots of pics, and I have a very precious picture of her sleeping with her new doll tonight. Shelby is no lovie, but I think she’s a keeper.
Excuse the typos, I will correct them when I get to my computer at a later time*
