17 Months and Changing

Little L likes to keep us on our toes.  ŚJust when we think we have things figured out (ha!), she tosses us a curve ball to knock us upside the head.  Thanks for that, sweet girl.

Things that she used to love? Not interested.
LIST: bathtub toys, Fisher Price zoo/farm, stuffies/"friends", the swings, putting on her shoes, jam on bread and pasta with marinara sauce, "drawing," touching the dots on her bedroom walls

Things that never used to interest her? Very interested.
LIST: singing kid songs like Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, playing with wood chips and gravelly sand, the slides, climbing into the stroller on her own, the skin off breaded oven-baked drumsticks and chocolate homo milk, counting to 10, kicking a ball

And I think she might be slowly dropping her afternoon nursing; the past few days she has not needed to breastfeed to sleep in the afternoon, but has been lulled into slumber by way of moving vehicle or in our arms (at Superstore!) or during a stroll.  In part, these happened because she fought her nap during her normal napping window, opting instead to be hilariously hyper during the time when she should have been groggy and going down. Unfortunately, naps enticed in these new and novel ways don't really do much to keep her asleep, so instead of being conked out for 1.5-2 hours, she wakes after just 45 minutes.  I'm still not sure how we can transition her into a lengthier nap without the mid-nap feed.  Any advice?

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Reading: All of the Munch Bunch and Little People Lift-the-Flap books seem to top the list.  She also still likes the Karen Katz books and of course, Dr. Seuss. 

Eating: A lot of Shake-and-Bake drumsticks, in particular the skin (I know, I know.  I pick my battles, peeps).  Flatbread pizzas (especially the baked-on cheese on top), most fruit (especially strawberries, raspberries, red grapes and watermelon), smoothies, eggs, certain kinds of cereal (chocolate Mini-Wheats, cinnamon Captain Crunch, Quaker Oat Squares), sausage, roasted cauliflower, stuffing, yogurt, fruit leather, raisins and SnapPea snacks.  She has taken to saying her version of "Delicious!" whenever she particularly enjoys something she is eating.

Saying:  More simple sentences, including a very inspired, "I find Mommy!" the other day.  She isn't consistent about putting subjects in her sentences yet, but the fact that she is beginning to string together words and especially, adjectives and nouns, is still pretty impressive to me.  She can also repeat English words back to me in Canto, and vice versa.  She likes to tackle difficult multi-syllabic words like opposite, although she has yet to say them clearly, particularly the words with /s/ in them. She is learning to count to 10, and can recognize/read the number "2".  She also surprises me often with random words that I wouldn't be expecting her to know or associate with a novel context; for example, we were walking down the cleaning aisle at London Drugs yesterday and she pointed at the dish detergents and said, "Soap!" without any prompting from me.  She also said, "Whole Foods!" when we pulled into the parkade to go grocery shopping there.

Moving: Little L recently learned how to stand on top of Hubbs' stuffed alligator (sitting in front of the couch) to climb onto the couch.  She regularly "tests" elevated surfaces to see if she can stand or sit on them, including the side of the bathtub during bath time and things like a stack of books on the floor.  She is now able to full-on run, which scares me quite a bit when we are out.  She has started going down toddler slides unassisted, and she will often say, "Hands!" to hold our hands when we walk together at the park or the store.  Little L loves to downward-dog and put her feet on the wall, a feat she mastered all on her own after watching her gymnastics teacher do it a couple of weeks ago.  She has also begun bouncing on her feet and "dancing," which we find absolutely adorable.  And she has figured out how to walk backwards and walk in different ways.  So. Cute.

Playing: Slides, throwing woodchips down slides, touching "yucky" spots on the ground, chasing after animals (e.g. geese, goats), sitting on chairs and other surfaces, singing kid songs with us, examining flowers, rolling around on the floor, playing "tents" on our bed with the comforter, trying on and stacking my bracelets, drawing, reading, Little L's version of yoga, and pulling books of our bookshelves

Wearing: Shoes EU22 (UK 6.0-6.5) but these are starting to get to that point when we're not sure if they're too tight or not.  We already have a pair of 23's in the wings, in the event one day she wakes up and her current shoes make her cry or complain.  As for clothing, she's in mostly 2T's now, with a few 18 months and one or two articles that are 3T.  I am beginning to buy in 3T's for fall/winter clothing, since I figure her 2T's will probably be too snug by November.

On a side note: if you have a little one and you like girly frilly stuff or vintage-inspired clothes, plus you're not hung up on "organic only" - consider Over the Loom, the online company of a friend of my friend's.  The selection isn't huge, but I really love their clothes.  I've ordered two dresses already, and there is a two-piece dress that I am totally wanting to get for my budding fashionista.

Image courtesy of Miss Bee.  Don't you love this sassy lil' lady?