I don't even think I'll be able to continue updating her word list after this time around. She just knows too many and I can't keep up. But just to do it one last time, I'll add a handful more:
-- Hot dog
-- Green beans
-- Juice (dooce!)
-- Shoes
-- Socks
-- Neck
-- Blue (boo)
-- Meow
-- Roar
-- Nahhhh (lol this is what she says when you ask, "What sound does a horse make?" ... instead of neigh)
-- Abby! (her favorite character on Sesame Street)
-- Duck
-- Pizza
-- Bubbas! (Meaning Bubble Guppies ... groan; must wean her off this)
-- TV (double groan)
-- I don't know! <--- yes, used appropriately, and yes, the full phrase. Kills me
-- Grandbob (Bob-bob)
-- Ball
-- Outside ('side!)
-- Open
-- Soon
-- Later
-- More
-- Up
-- Down
-- Egg
-- Beep beep
--Applesauce
-- Peach
-- Eat
-- Milk
-- Minnie!
-- Emily (Emmy) -- she's been saying this for awhile, but I forget if it made the list officially yet
-- Baby (bee-bee!)
-- Hop hop hop (if she sees a bunny)
-- Shhhh!
-- Waffle
-- Phone
-- Knee
-- Toes
-- All done
-- I know
-- I see you!
-- Banana ('mina)
-- Analisa (Ahh-yisa!)
There are probably a bunch more I'm forgetting!
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| Talker girl. |
It's so crazy how much she soaks in. (Add that to the list of, "shit I say every month"). But for example, I bought a gajillion peaches from the farmers market a couple weekends ago, and I swear, Ana hadn't even had, or seen, a peach since last summer. But she spotted one on the counter one morning and said clear as day, "PEACH." No prompting. Just "peach."
OK.
James and I were all, "But how did you know that?!"
It's so hard not to repeat back the mispronunciations. I always have to say in my head, "With Ana, continue to call them BANANAS," even though James and I will be on the phone later that night like, "Hey, will you pick up some 'minas on your way home from work? I think we're out."
Oh! And then the other day, she brought this book over to me, meaning she usually wants to read it together ... but no. She flipped it open and started reading to me! It was "Kiss Baby's Boo-Boo" by Karen Katz (a classic in our house). She was going through the pages babbling, but actually nailing some of the correct words in the right places. "Ouch!" she said right on cue. "Oh no!" "Boo-boo!" "Mama. Dada. Woof-woof!" And then at the end, she pretended to give the baby kisses and make her all better. Like, who are you and how did you get so smart? It's overnight, I tell you.
She is so silly with us, too. Always making a funny face, or shutting or rolling her eyes and seeing if we notice, or doing these long blinks or winks. I love it. We'll catch on eventually and she'll laugh and laugh.
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| Funny girl. |
She's even getting herself dressed. Is that surreal for anyone else? I swear, MY life hasn't changed much in the past 19 months. (Well, it has I suppose. Job changes and moves and having her!) But like, in her 19 months, she has gone from being this helpless little sack of nothing to a little girl who tells me what she'd like for breakfast, and who puts on her own pants. Even if they're backward and she puts them on OVER her romper.
... No one ever said she was GOOD at getting herself dressed, but she certainly is starting to understand how it all works. She can get pants and shorts most of the way on. She still struggles with shirts and socks, but the idea is there. She is very determined and doesn't want your help. I'll tell you that for damn sure.
Oh and she's a water baby, 100%. Loves to splash-splash in the baby pool but would rather stick her face in the sprinkler. Or attempt to unscrew the sprinkler and just play with the hose. She and James will just spray the hose at each other for a half-hour straight, meanwhile, I'm over in the beach chair sippin a La Croix, like, "that looks awful, I'll just be here if anyone needs me!" She also doesn't care if it's kind of chilly out. I'm convinced she'd play in the sprinkler in 40-degree weather.
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| She put these on by herself! |
Ana is ... a little shitty at bringing out into the world, tbh, at the moment. But who could blame her? She kinda just wants to do things her way, and ain't nobody got time for a sit-down restaurant or a quickie trip to the grocery store. We still haul her everywhere because we're determined to make her an adaptable girl -- and we don't like interrupting everyday life too TOO much -- but just this morning, I was like, "I read that outings should be capped at an hour." And James was all, "I hear that. I think we read the exact same thing." This came on the heels of a particularly harrowing grocery shopping trip where she was ONLY interested in dumping her sippie cup full of milk onto the raw meat in that section of the store. (Barf barf vom). As much as I tried to distract and redirect and tempt her with the 'minas (bananas) to get back in the cart -- the look on her fact was just like, F you, F you and F you. We carried her out of the store sideways, her bucking the entire way, and ignored the fierce judgment from our fellow shoppers. Shrugggggs.
Oh and naps kind of suck rn too. I swear, she's still such a joy overall! I mean that with total sincerity. But she's just going through a phase in life where she's staking out her independence. Nap time used to start at 11:30a, we'd walk around and say nigh-nigh to stuff, and she'd happily accept that that was part of her routine, snuggle into blue blanket and call it a day (or more accurately, a nap). Now it's like, we don't even start the process until around 1p, because she just seems too AWAKE at 11:30. And even 12:30. So we do our best to tire her out, then we start on our new night-night ritual. We make sure she'd fed, sometimes offer a book, sometimes a sippie with a show, walk around and say goodnight, then it's us vs. her sometimes for a half-hour, sometimes for two hours. Today I almost gave up. Her willpower is legit. But then we looked at the monitor and the Anz was suddenly defeated. I've never felt more victorious. Once she's down, she's still a pretty solid sleeper. Although it's true that on days when we have Emily or Sarah, she'll nap until 5. When it's just us, like on a weekday or a weekend, she'll nap for 45 minutes. Such is life, I suppose! I feel like I hear about sleep regression at this age. If I had to guess, this is that.
The blue blanket obsession is legit. Now that she can ask for him (yes, him), we're realizing she wants him around for any and all scenarios -- and we've gotta buy a backup. I am NOT even a clean freak, but I can't watch her drop him on the floor at a restaurant or roll in the dirt with him outside, then snuggle him in her crib that same night. And opportunities to sneak him away for washing are few and far between. She is SO cute when she looks up at us and goes, "Booooo?" Gosh, it happens like, 16 times a day, but she is the sweetest, and she just loves her blanks.
Anyway, anyway, what was I saying? This all stemmed from nap talk. I'm ... assuming this nap battle (similar to a rap battle) is part of a sleep regression, like I mentioned. I have faith she'll still hold onto the nap a bit longer. We're not dumping it forever, right? (Say right). Orrrrrr I'm just being optimistic!
Oh and I meant to say this too: I'm not even mad at like, no nap but quiet time in her room instead. I have a good feeling she's doing that some days. Whatever. I just ... will take whatever I can get!
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| Ham sandwich. |
A few Saturdays ago, James and I made this plan. We always talk about wanting to go to Eastern Market, so we figured we'd drive down to Detroit as soon as Ana woke up in the morning -- hang out there for a few hours, shop a bit, etc. Then we'd put her down for a nap at my parents' place (they were up north), and if we had enough energy, maybe tackle the zoo in the afternoon. But if Ana napped for too long, we thought we'd at least grab a bite or an ice cream cone near RO. (Detroit area food is hands-down superior to anything we have out here). Cool. Good plan, right?
Wrong. Eastern Market on a Saturday was insane. Ana did OK in her stroller for a bit, but then got obsessed with the idea of getting out and running around. So James let her. I'll admit, I was kind of overwhelmed by the idea. The situation was just like, 8 million people walking in each and every direction, with our baby bear getting lost in the crowd while one of us tried to chase her and the other navigated with the bulky stroller. I was sweating, and it kind of stopped being fun. She, however, had a blast. I am normally a pretty relaxed mom when it comes to anything ... but at some point, I just wanted to leave. So we did!
We had gotten up pretty early for Eastern Market, so James and I were looking forward to the nap at my parents'. We did our naptime ritual, gave her a sippie and put her down in her Pack n Play, which is set up in Robby's old room. She fought it at first, but after checking on her once, she finally calmed down and the noise died off. We didn't have the baby monitor with us, but we were just starting to fall asleep in my old room (which is one thin wall away) when we just heard her go CRAZY. So I got up, grabbed her, brought her in with us, and just as I was starting to do a diaper change, I saw it: Marker. Everywhere. As in, all over her body.
I went back in Robby's room and, I'm not even sure why we didn't look when we set her down for the nap, but sure enough, there was a big pack of markers on Robby's desk next to Ana's P&P. Now that she's old enough and tall enough to reach these things ... yeah. You get it. The markers happened. All over her P&P, all over her. So that's why she had been so quiet. Cool, Ana! Good work. I attempted to calm her down and clean her up a bit, but she wasn't having it. Not one bit. She was doing this really alarming cry -- not like her usual "Oh I'm just resisting the nap" crank. So we felt we had no option. We got her out and let her run around in the backyard. I figured this would wear her down a bit more, and perhaps we could attempt the nap again in an hour or so.
UGH. She immediately went in the backyard, picked up a pile of dirt, and tossed it up in the air, LeBron James style, like with the chalk. Dirt just rained down all over her head and everywhere. And then as if that weren't enough, she started like ... shampooing her hair with it. So it was caked into her hairline in no time. And then we looked up and she was just like, rolling across the grass in her white pants -- shirt up to her belly button so you could see her marker tattoos -- and this is when James and I started referring to the afternoon (or her) as Dirt McGirt 2017. We let her live it up for a bit. Her cousin Molly came over. We had lunch. We were just like, YOLO!
Until finally, James and I thought it was time for a bath and nap attempt #2. Holy SHIT, you should have seen the tub. It was the grimiest thing ever. I washed her hair, and like, a potted plant came out. We just kept laughing like, howwww did this happen? It all escalated so quickly. Luckily, the markers were washable, not permanent, so I was able to get most of her artwork off her thighs. And feet. And stomach. And arms.
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| Dirty bird! |
We tried the nap once again and she was just doing that same panicky, alarmed cry. Like, whyyyy?
I knew she had to be exhausted.
She sleeps at my parents' all the time. I couldn't figure out what was different. She had a fan on, like usual. The room was dark. She had blue blanket. Yet she was HOWLING. By this point it was like, 5 or 6 I want to say. I was exhausted from our day. I asked James if we should just go home. Even if she would have napped, it would have been so late by the time she woke up. I was over our dinner plans. I was over ice cream (even though I wanted Ray's or Custard Cup SO BAD). So we grabbed our shit and bounced. And guess who -- the MOMENT we buckled her into her car seat -- crashed into the deepest sleep you've ever seen? Of course.
We got home, played with her for a bit and it was bedtime. Well, we confirmed that day why it's kind of impossible to plan on much with a toddler! It's so funny in hindsight, although when we were in the moment, I kind of wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time.
Speaking of toddler stuff. I've totally said before that she's been showing signs. But never like this. She'll get laser-focused on one thing: like dumping her juice out all over the carpet. And I try not to say a firm NO often, but like, this is one of those times. The redirect, the distraction ... isn't holding as much weight as it used to. So then she'll get crazy pissed. Or like, I was holding her yogurt yesterday while she spoon-fed herself (which, in and of itself was painful to watch because she wouldn't take help or suggestions). And she just did notttt want my hand on the yogurt. She just kept prying my fingers off, going, "Nope nope nope nope nope." Or when I didn't want blue blanket eating messy breakfast with her. (Lesson learned: Pick your battles). Man. She really wants to do things her way or the highway. That is a power struggle if I've ever seen one! I try to give her plenty of choices throughout the day so that she feels like she's helping run the show. But like, this toddler stuff, I can only imagine, is going to continue to progress. I'll have to revisit Dr. Jenn's book and see again what she has to say!
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| Still as happy as ever. |
We still love her more than ever, she is SO loving and sweet, and I still swear every month "19 months is my new favorite!" But I think I'm just preparing more and more for this wild ride of her 2s and 3s!
And last but not least: Ana has her first cousin! Her first FIRST-COUSIN, that is. Liz and Ryan had Emma (I believe) July 13, and she is the sweetest. The girls are just more than a year and a half apart, so that'll be super cute for them to kind of grow up close in age. We don't have a trip to Rochester on the books just yet, but I told Liz to keep me posted once they're ready for visitors. It can be hard in the beginning! Just knowing how much we struggled to establish breastfeeding, and then we were moving across the country ... I didn't want to get them in over their heads, with us pre-planning a trip for like, the following week or anything like that. So it'll be really fun once we go again. Can't wait to meet you, baby Emma!
OK you guys ... this was long. See you for the 20-month post!
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| Don't these cousins kind of remind you of one another? Emma is on the left, Ana is at right : ) |
