Monday, January 16, 2017

Linnea 17-18 Months!

Sweet Girl,
You are a year and a half.  I cannot believe it and yet I can barely remember what our days were like before you were here.  I mean I know they involved more sleep and downtime . . . but who needs that anyway :).

You are funny, happy, silly and the best little girl.  I feel like you are no longer a baby.  That makes me a bit sad until I remember how much fun you are as a toddler.  Here are some things you've been up to the last two months:


Stats
At your 18 month well baby check up you weighed 20 lbs 10 oz which was in the 7th percentile and you were 31.5 inches long which was in the 50th percentile.  Still long and lean :).  Your head was 18.5 inches around which was in the 70th percentile.  You got your last shot that you will need until you are in Kindergarten!

Eating
You will still pretty much eat anything.  Your dad feeds you every meal when you are both together.  Man that is such a blessing.  I usually dish up what you are eating but he is in charge of feeding you.  I used to (and sometimes still do) feel guilty about it and then I realized that is stupid.  You need to be fed and you have two parents that are capable of doing that.  Why should every need you have be met by me if your dad is also right there.  (And all the moms said Amen!)  Plus, we all know your dad is a more adventurous eater than I am (although I am getting better) which means you get exposure to spicy foods, fish and other things I don't care for ;).  You like adding pepper to your food (you'll even ask for it) and you recently discovered hot sauce.  Two things I wouldn't have given you.
This video doesn't have much to do with food but she was eating while I filmed it so if you don't like watching kids eat skip this one.

We have started giving you a few sweets here and there.  You are a fan of anything sweet but you also do a great job when we tell you it is all gone.
Corn on the Cob
Sometimes you will say no to a food and then immediately shove it into your mouth.  You used to be pretty good at saying "all done" but recently it has been hit or miss.

You like to "cheers" during dinner.  Jake said one of my cousins taught you how to do that.  It is pretty cute!

You've had more practice with a fork and a spoon recently and sometimes they end up being "all done" after you throw them on the floor :).

Sleeping
You are still an awesome sleeper.  Exhibit A: You had your first pretty bad cold (runny nose, cough, etc) and you still slept 12 hours at night (7:30 pm -7:30 am).  You nap once a day around 1 and it lasts at least 2 hours but sometimes 2.5 or 3 hours.  Over Christmas break you even slept in until 8:30 or 9 a couple of times.  We hit the sleeping jackpot with you!

This is going to potentially sound braggy but I want to write it down so I remember because I know not all kids are great sleepers.  First of all you fall asleep by yourself.  We lay you down when you appear to be wide awake and happy and then you grab your "nigh nigh" (you call your paci your night night because we've told you that you can only have it at night night time) roll to your side and fall asleep.  Sometimes you will talk to yourself for 15-30 minutes and other times you are out in less than 5 minutes.

You can also easily fall asleep in strange places (at other people's houses, in a stroller, as an infant in your car seat under a table or next to the table at a restaurant, etc) and then when we move you to your car seat or your bed you might wake up or you might keep sleeping.  If you do wake up you usually stay awake through the car ride home and then you lay right back down and go to sleep.  No fussing, rocking you to sleep, etc and we don't hear from you again until the next morning.  Every time it happens I am impressed with you.  At Christmas we put you to sleep at your Grandparents' house and then moved you to your Great Grandparents' house next door where we were sleeping.  You barely noticed the first night and had no idea the other two nights.

One night we put you to sleep at your Grandma and Grandpa Janzen's house and then moved you to your other grandparents' house.  You woke up and were fussing in the car.  You started crying pretty hard so I crawled back there with you.  As soon as I got back there you said "book, book".  Apparently you wanted me to read you a book at 11 pm on the way home.  I told you no and that it was time to sleep.  Silly girl.

Your dad is the one who gets you back to sleep the best in the middle of the night.  He has slept with you twice in the chair in your whole life.  I like to give your Finnish Baby Box credit for being such a great sleeper.  Plus we read The Baby Sleep Solution several times before you were born and I think that helped.  Anyway, bottom line is you are a rock star sleeper.

Clothes
You are in 18 month tops and bottoms.  I found lots of cute Christmas outfits.  Most of them were pajamas and I plan on having you wear them for a few more weeks.  Seeing you in Santa and Elf pajamas makes me smile every time.

I also found a super cute dress.  I think it is an elf dress but it also kind of looks like Mrs. Claus.  Either way it is adorable.
You have a few shirts with animals on them (dog) and you really like those shirts.  I need to find one with an owl on it.  You LOVE owls!

You've started wearing bows again which I LOVE!  You often ask for them and like to put them on by yourself.  You also insist that your dad and I wear them as well.

Playtime
You LOVE Yoda (Yodo).



Over Thanksgiving she "watched" Star Wars - aka saw Yoda on the screen.  She was excited and so was her dad :).

Playtime has been so fun to see.  You love to draw and color.  You've also started playing with stickers more.
I walked into our bedroom and found you sitting on/in this box.  It was pretty funny.  You had a hard time getting out of it though.

Cousin time with Paislee!

Cousins!
You like reading about construction equipment so you got a few of those for Christmas.  Your dad gave you a dump truck that you can put together with a screw driver.  Your Grandma Janzen gave you a bulldozer.  You also got an airplane and a helicopter from your Uncle Bob.
I gave you a baby doll.  You like pushing your baby around and I wanted to give you a doll that I picked out.  I LOVED baby dolls as a little girl.  It was really fun to have my own little girl to give a doll to.  It took a while to find one that was cute, with eyes that can open and close and a mouth that you can put a bottle in . . . you know the essentials in baby doll purchasing :).

You love playing with duplos.  This makes your dad so excited!

You love playing with your friends Everly and Lydia.  And us mamas like to hang out :).

Linnea, Lydia and Everly

I love that you picked the squirrel ride on toy at the Matt Ross Community Center!

You've had a great time cooking in your play kitchen.  Your Grandma Jones gave you some wooden food you can cut apart and that has been a fun new toy.
You LOVE to read.  I don't know how many books (or how many times) we read each day but I'm guessing at least 15 books.  After you wake up from your nap I pick you up to cuddle and as soon as we sit down you say "book, pease".  I tell you we have to cuddle first ;).  Then we read one book or two books several times before getting a snack.  I am always impressed when we read a book and you recognize a word or an object.  Often times you will hop down to go get the item or find it in another book.  Text to text connections at such a young age! ;)



You can walk backwards but you don't like to stop until you run into something.

One day I was resting on the couch and your dad was home.  You walked over to me and bit my toe out of the blue.  I was asleep.  It surprised me so much.  I picked you up and immediately carried you into your room and put you in your bed.  Jake commented that he didn't hear much love and logic being used, ha!  You could say I was surprised to wake up to find your teeth sinking into my toe!

Our friends Kevin and Gwen visited us with their foster daughter Katelyn.  She made a picture for you that you love but it belongs on this chair.  You like to sit on it.  I don't know why but I tried to move it from the chair and you were not happy about that.

You love sweeping.
You've started dancing and it is the cutest thing!

 We try to go to parks when the weather isn't super cold.  The sun is going down pretty early so sometimes we get to watch it set at the park.

While we were in Dallas for Thanksgiving you figured out how to swing on your belly.

  At the park with Papa!
You carried this hedge apple all around the park.




We had lots of bad oak mites this year so we weren't able to play in the leaves with you like we wanted to.  Once we had a good freeze we decided it was time to take you out.  We bundled you up in your monkey suit that came in your Finnish Baby Box and we had a great time playing in the leaves!




Your dad had the brilliant idea to have you ride on the rake through the leaves.  You LOVED it!

Our Days
We have been keeping ourselves busy!  We go to a workout class twice a week, MOPS three times a month and Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) every week.  Plus we have playdates with friends and other things throughout the week
Activities and Outings
We celebrated Thanksgiving in Dallas.  We've done this for as long as I can remember.  It is probably my favorite holiday.  I love all of the food, family time, fall weather and no stress with presents to buy :).  Plus my mom and uncle still do all the cooking which is always amazing!

A very "Bright" Thanksgiving ;)
Watching your Papa and Uncle Brad do some work in the laundry room.
 My new favorite family photo!












We had lots of fun celebrating Christmas in Olathe and Wichita.  If you didn't read the Christmas blog click here to read it and see lots of pictures of a cute girl in Christmas pjs or a cute dress.  Here are a few just because I couldn't resist.



Your Grandma Janzen taught you that angels say "Gloooria" so whenever you see one you sing like an angel . . . well you try to at least.


 We went to Botanica in December to look at all the lights.  It was COLD!



She loved walking under these lights.

My step-grandma Marilynn passed away this month.  We went to Hill City for the funeral.  She never got to meet you but she loved looking at pictures of you on Facebook.  (I struggle with funerals, other than the obvious reason that someone you love just passed away, because I hate that people from all over will come to a funeral but they probably wouldn't have done that the week before just to have dinner together.  It bothers me that Marilynn never got to meet Linnea.  We kept missing each other at family get togethers.  I just wish there was a way to have a celebration before someone passes away so you can see them and celebrate their life with them.)

My aunt Susan taught you how to give a high five plus 1.  It is really cute!
High five plus 1

The library didn't have regular story times during the month of December but they did have other fun activities like Artsy Baby, Musical Baby and Brain Building Baby.


Painting at the library.  It looks like Lydia might need to teach Linnea a few things about how to hold her paintbrush.  Impressive!

Firsts and New Skills
I would say the biggest skill in the last two months has been your language.  You often try to repeat what we are saying.  There are several words that you can say that I feel like anyone could understand (bye bye, night night, hello, mama, dada, book, milk, again, moon, owl, etc) and then there are some that might be a little tricky but that we understand (I love you - my favorite, apple, shoes, tree, hot dog, abcs, light, star, heart, the list could really go on and on).

You can recognize lots of things in books and in real life.  Often times for animals instead of saying their names (cat, dog, etc) you make the sound (woof woof, meow).  My favorite is when you see an elephant in a book.  The first time your grandmas heard you make a sound like an elephant they both laughed really hard.

You spent your first two nights away from me and your dad.  Man, that was harder than I thought it would be.  I felt perfectly fine having my parents and your dad's parents take care of you but I didn't like the idea of being so far away from you in case something happened.  Once I knew you were in Wichita I was good.  Plus it was the first time your dad and I have both been away from you at the same time overnight.

You found your shadow.  It was the cutest thing ever!

First ponytail!

Apparently you get your sense of adventure from your dad.  You are a little daredevil.  Being with your dad for 15+ years has apparently helped prepared me to be the mother of his kids because I don't freak out as much as I thought I would.

You figured out how to climb onto chairs and the piano bench.  We figured out you could get on the piano bench one day when your dad came home from work. I was in the family room and you were in the front room playing.  I couldn't see you but I could hear you playing the piano (which you can do from the floor) and then your dad walks in.  He looks at me and then you and then his jaw drops.  He asked me if I knew what you were doing and I said "playing the piano?"  You were standing on the piano bench with a pen in your mouth.  I obviously didn't know what you were doing.


Uh oh . . . fell down . . . stuck. . . dat fun.

You have the best dad.


That laugh when you are doing something dangerous.
Remember
I want to remember the first time I heard you say "I love you."  I want to remember how now sometimes when your dad tells you he loves you that you say "I love you . . . mama" and look for me.

I want to remember the way you help your dad with projects.  You are his little shadow.  You use his tools and get so excited.


I want to remember your hugs.  They are the best.  Sometimes you will give us a good squeeze and other times we get lots of pats.  I can't get enough of either one.

When I pick you up and carry you on my left hip you grab my bra strap through my shirt and hold on to it like a handle.

I want to remember your face and little hand holding up one finger saying "one more."  It melts me every time.

Your dad wants to remember how every time he cradles you like a baby you ask him to sing "ABB's" (ABC's).

You are still just the sweetest little girl.  We feel so blessed to call you ours.
Love,
Mama

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