This is it, Ashlynn's last monthly update. Of course, I'll probably get wordy (shocker!) for her 2 year update, but I can't believe we are nearing two. Just a year ago she was taking her first steps, now she's running laps around the house, literally.
(I finally had to bribe her with goldfish, s'mores flavor nevertheless, to sit for a few pics)
Says:
Two worded sentences (if that counts as a sentence, which I'm pretty sure it doesn't). She's finally pairing words together. While I know she isn't behind in her language, I do seem to read quite a few updates with girls younger than Ashlynn speaking in fuller trains of thought. Ashlynn has a ridiculous vocabulary, the amount of words she knows I could never try to count at this point, but she's been slow trying to place them together.
A few weeks ago, when the Husband pulled into the driveaway I said "Daddy's Home!". And from there she started "Daddy's (highpitched)..... hooommee (low pitched)". Rinse and repeat. She said it over and over, and still now sits at the table saying Mommy, home. Sissy, home. Doggies, home.
She's moved on to "Daddy's hat","Bear Hug"and yesterday "happy Patty day". There have been some other short strands I can't remember, but it's like a lightbulb went off and she's just exploding putting her vocabulary to use.
I've been working on having her try to sing more songs, since that should help her with saying more words at once, but she still just likes to call out words as I sing "itsy, up, down, sun, rain, itsy" with lots of jibberish in between.
Lastly, not new but more perfected.... knows all her colors, counts to ten, identifies circles, squares, triangles, stars, and hearts. Getting there with the alphabet. Also calls out the Little Eistein team , Sensational Six, and her must have friends (see below) while in the car.
Sleeps:
A hell of a lot better than last month!!
Whatever the sleep regression she was going through, finally ended. I detailed I think what we were doing to slowly back out of having to stay in the room until she fell asleep. We finally can just put her in the crib turn on too many distractions and say good night, but whatever works.
The first thing we turn on is her
Tot Clock. I've been reading about how the Tot Clock was working for Julia for years now at
her blog. Impressed that her son Truman stays in bed until it turns yellow in the mornings, made me think it'd be the perfect way to some day transition to a toddler bed and Ashlynn learn that she just can't leave the bed in the middle of the night or when she feels like it. So far she eats it up. So much that she calls me up as soon as dad tucks her in to tell me the clock is blue (BLUE!) every. single. night. Then she tells me
her stars are purple, and we find the moon. And last we turn on the
jungle and I tell her I'll tuck her in, but I'm leaving (otherwise she'll just point out Blue! Purple! Moon! Jungle! over and over). She lays down, I tuck her in, say good, shut the door against the jam and that's it. About 50% of the time she wakes once during the night, usually needing help finding a paci, her blankie, or turning back on her stars.
During the morning, she still typically wakes before the "goal time" of 7am. If she calls out, I usually go in and tell her it's still blue so it's nighttime and mommy is sleeping. I'll see her in the morning when clock is yellow, even if it's 6:45. Mostly now, she just hangs out and knows it's still bedtime. But when that clock turns yellow, watch out!
"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!... :: I walk in:: YELLOW! YELLOW! HOORAY! ::fist pump::" Every day and after nap. It's like a game. It's amazing. And yes, I set the nap timer on the clock to end around 2pm. She usually goes up between 11:30-12 and takes 10-15min to go down. She's usually awake by 1:30, but likes hanging out, which is why I have the clock set for later. Plus, I enjoy the extra time too.
Also has to sleep with Bunny. Blank, and Bink (the "three Bs" which have been must for over a year) and now also needs Bear (Beanie Baby Erin Bear),
Cat, and finally welcoming
Mira back into the gang even though she's been in her crib all along,
Eats:
Solely at her booster seat. We stored the highchair back in the basement, of course we'll be bringing it back up for Kenley in 3 months, but it's nice having the extra space.
As far as food goes, she's into requesting smoothies but not drinking them. Guess I need to find "the" recipe. Loves peanut butter on waffles, cereal, beans, peas, dipping (anything in anything), cheese, raisins, noodles, and the rest of typical toddler fare.
She's also been cutting teeth, the rest of her canines came through so she gets picky sometimes I think because of that. However, I can get a few bites in of a dinner she's refusing by letting her use my fork. I actually gave her a old silver smurf spoon from my childhood to use, she loves it.
Goes:
Traveled to her cousin's 2nd birthday party and had fun playing with her cousins, pointing out Elmo (Sesame Street theme) and playing with their toys, natch. We started back at storytime and music class, thankful to be getting out of the house. And took the maiden voyage in our BOB dualie the one day it neared 60.
Loves:
Showers. Joined me for a shower instead of a bath one night, definitely still loves herself a bubble bath, but showering is just as fun (and faster!).
Nemo. Mickey is losing steam. These days it's all Little Einsteins (ANNIE!) and Finding Nemo. Not sure what's going to happen when we finally watch Frozen that arrived today. Princess phase is probably days away.
Cami.
In addition, to being a little mommy, she likes helping me with Kenley. Getting her toys, bumbo seat (or sitting in it herself), turning on the bouncer, and holding her bottle when she gets one.
iPad/Kindle. We finally set up our Kindle Fire about a month ago or so, and now I let her play "games" for a few in the morning while I fed Kenley and get us ready to head downstairs for breakfast. I haven't been able to find a bunch of great toddler apps suggestions for Kindle Fire, so if you got some please leave them. Right now she's really liking puzzle apps (made her actually want to do her real puzzles finally!) and apps with counting, colors, and animals. She also loves the Strawberry Shortcake cake baking app, girlfriend loves to bake. So we've been doing that in real life too.
Also loves helping me clean around the house, especially the windows.
Reading:
The
Three Little Mermaids. Van Fleet books are the best! Touch and Feel, with flaps and things to push and pull. A friend gave us the Alphabet book and I love that it will grow with her with all the things that are included and hidden on the pages.
She also loves
Flora and the Flamingo, our secret santa gift from
Jessica and Harper (great pick girls!),
Green Eggs and Ham, and lately
The Giving Tree.
In other news, she had her first bloody lip. She bite it some how, came out of no where. I can't wait for her 2 year stats because she's really tiny. Which I always forget at home, thinking she is so big, then I see kids younger than her at her height or towering over her. Her 18m stats were in the 31" and 22lb category, I'm guessing we'll be around 32-32.5" (she's short, really short... just like her vertically challenged parents) and maybe 25lbs?? We don't have a scale, so that's just a total shot in the dark.
Can't believe my little baby is turning into a little kid!