The 15 month update

Today Lizzie is 1.25 years old. To be honest, she has never been more fun.

Here are a few things that amuse and delight us about who she is right now.

I love how she can follow directions. She throws her diaper in the trash, puts the Goldfish she dumped onto the carpet back into the bowl, gives the animals kisses, is gentle when we tell her to be, and helps me water the tomato plant.

She is the only person I've ever known under the age of 2 who is completely capable of blowing her nose. If you hand her a tissue and tell her, "Blow your nose," she will actually do it, and wipe it until something comes out! Sometimes she does it voluntarily if she has a little something in there that needs wiping--usually on your shirt, of course.

When cuddling, it is mandatory to have all the necessary equipment: Boppy pillow, striped pillow to lean back on, blanket, baby doll (or soft toy of choice), and snack and/or sippy cup. Lamp must be turned on. Parent is optional.

Coasters are very important. All drinks must be on something, whether it is a book, a napkin, a magazine, or a post-it note, it can't just be on a bare tabletop.

Last week I taught her how to play "Ring Around the Rosie" and she loves it. What I love about this game is that while it's fun for her to play it holding hands and dancing in a circle, she can play it the lazy-parent way: I sit on the floor and sing while she runs circles around me until "we all fall down!"

When playing with a phone, she says "Ha!" (hi) and holds the phone between her ear and her shoulder. Apparently she watches us too closely.

Coloring is a new favorite pastime, and she has taken to holding a pen, pencil, crayon as close to the tip as she can, clearly imitating the way I write.

Because we have recently subscribed to Netflix, with unlimited access to shows and movies online, she has learned that by pushing the correct buttons on the remotes, she can access her favorite shows: Barney and Thomas. If it sings, dances, chuffs, or whistles, she loves it. I know it's not the best thing in the world, but sometimes I just want her to sit quietly and eat her snack, and Thomas the Train is the only thing that will accomplish that.

I really don't know how she has learned this so quickly, but she has perfected The Bedtime Stall. Somehow it takes 45 minutes to do what should take 15. As soon as she's done with her bath, there's a burst of energy and a sudden need to read Gossie & Gertie 4 times in a row, and a new diaper, and another drink, and to kiss the cat, and kiss the other cat, and kiss the dog, and kiss the cats again, and eat more Cheerios, and read another book. Oh, and have the last milk of the night.

Lizzie's vocabulary is growing daily. We taught her signs for things so she could communicate before the verbal capacity was fully developed. She knows how to tell us: more, eat, milk, all done, kitty, hurt, change (diaper), swing, book, bath or wash, up, and fan (i.e., spinning around and around). She waves "hi" and "bye" and blows kisses. When something is missing, she puts her hands up as though asking, "where did it go?" or shrugging like, "I don't know." When something hurts, she tells us, and then it's greatly improved when we kiss it. It's also pretty amazing how well she can communicate by pointing and using her vast assortment of the "heh" sound.

Verbally she says or imitates about one new word every day. However, just because she has said it once, doesn't mean she will say it again any time in the next few weeks. But so far her vocabulary includes:
Mama
Daddy
Hi (Hah - so southern)
Hurt (huh)
Here (hee - when giving something to us)
Hat (Ha')
Hot (while blowing)
Help (he'p or heh) (obviously she has her "h" sounds down)
Outside (usually accompanied by a pair of shoes and yelling "ou-sigh!")
Goldfish (go-fish!)
Fish
Bubble
Shoes (Zooz, Soos or Zeus)
Shirt (Sir')
Lizzie (Zizzie)
Kick
Kiss
I love you (ah wuv oo, or ah wuv Mama/Daddy)
Shae (for Shae and her sister Addie)
Cat (Ca')
Bath
Yucky
Dog
Bob (Bob the Builder or Bob the Tomato, or dog)
Up
Apple (Abbo or Abpo)
Apple Juice (Abpo Du)
Gossie (her favorite character in the books by Olivier Dunrea)
Grandma ('Ama)
Elephant (Effant or Effan')
Chicken ("bock, bock" = what chickens say. Can refer to the animal or the meat. She has ordered chicken before by going to the refrigerator and saying, "bock, bock, bock"!)

Her favorite foods are:
grapes (quartered; in fact if they are too big, she gives them back to me to cut smaller)
chicken ("bock, bock")
apple juice
apples (which she eats peeled and whole)
beans & rice
chicken & rice
vegetables & rice ... anything with rice is usually a hit
strawberries, but she gets a terrible rash when she eats them :( no more strawberries for her this summer; maybe next year.
Goldfish. Duh!
cheese
ice cream
yogurt
frozen peas, frozen green beans (long ones she can gnaw on until they're mutilated, then give back)
popsicles

Socially she's really great. She is so well-behaved. On Saturday she was going all day long; first my parents came and babysat her all morning while Sam and I went out. Time with the grandparents is always great stimulation. Then when we got home, we scooped her up and took her to a birthday party for one of her friends turning 2. Then when she was starting to lose it there, we went home, at which point she got her second wind while Sam and I were wiped out. Then we got invited to another friend's birthday party (this one is also her friend, but she turned 16), and brought the delirious child to yet another party. With no nap! (I take that back; she fell asleep in the car for 15 minutes on the way to the first party.) It was almost 10 PM when we got home finally, and she never gave us any trouble! When she finally did fall asleep nursing (for the first time in months), I managed to change her diaper, put on her pajamas, and put her in the bed without her giving more than a sigh. The poor kid was out! I think we're finally recovered from this weekend now that it's Wednesday.

Right now my favorite thing that Lizzie does, though, is give hugs. When she wants or needs comfort, she comes up to me and gives me a hug. Wraps her arms around my neck or shoulders and pats my back--pat, pat, pat. I hold and kiss her and she just hugs and sighs. And when she was little we were worried she wasn't affectionate because she wouldn't hold still. I love that little girl. She's growing up so quickly.