I knew it would happen eventually. There was no way we'd escape the whiny-ness or the "diva" moments. After all, we have a girl and she's my daughter ;) But Zoe has become very opinionated recently. She squawks often, she screams when she doesn't get her way, she's even started to throw herself on the ground sometimes. And I'm so not ready for this. I don't have a book for this stage! (That's for you mom.)
It's all so new that it's often quite funny, and I have to work hard to hide my laughter. Zoe can really understand a lot, so I try my best to explain why she can't have something or redirect her to stop the tantrum. My guess is that a lot of these "moments" happen because she's frustrated that we don't understand her. She can say a few words now, but most aren't very helpful to understand what she wants. I know this must be an extremely hard time for her - she can understand us but we can't understand her. I can't wait until she can say more words to get her point across.
I've noticed that it's the worst on weeknights when I'm home by myself trying to get her dinner ready. She's cranky from a long day at school. It's extremely close to "I'm starving mom!" time. She just wants to be held but it's rather difficult to make dinner for her and hold her at the same time. So I spend most of my weeknights trying to give her activities that will keep her busy for the 15 excruciatingly long minutes it takes me to get her dinner ready. Unless it's something new and exciting (like giving her a can of soup to play with - I know, thrilling), she usually ends up sobbing at my feet with her arms outstretched and I feel like the worse.mom.ever. She gets an afternoon snack at school so I try to tell myself she can't be dying of starvation. I just feel horrible seeing those big tears come out of her eyes. Not to mention, she's clumsier the more worked up she gets so she usually trips over her feet or bonks her head on the cupboard or something. I've tried giving her something small to eat while I whip her dinner together, but then she's not hungry for dinner and getting good food rather than a snack is important.
Then there's her milk or maaaa as she calls it. All bets are off once she sees that sippy cup. I've started hiding it from her until she eats real food first. This girl will chug her entire cup before touching her food. If we take it away, her life is over and she sobs hysterically. There is no reasoning even though she knows we'll give it back after a few more bites. Thankfully, she understands that once it's gone, she can have water but mo more "maa."
I guess we'll just go with it and hope that as the roads get better, Aaron will be able to get home sooner to help provide some relief.
But thankfully she's all smiles once her belly is full.
Now that we've passed one year, these will be much less formal. I'd like to still recap ever three months or so to remember milestones and when things happened. It's been a BIG three months.
She weighs 26 lbs 3 oz (95th percentile - she's finally leveled off), 30.75 inches tall (69th percentile) and 18.5 head circumference (85th percentile - her head didn't grow at all from last time).
Zoe is now officially walking 100%. She really took off a few weeks after her first birthday and hasn't looked back. She'll crawl randomly here and there when she's playing hide and seek with Aaron (she can't really run yet, so I think she's trying to get away fast).
She still LOVES to read. I have every book memorized. Thankfully, she got a few new ones at Christmas to add to the rotation. Baths were becoming a bawling fest again so we decided to try out the big girl tub and she is back to creating tidal waves. Maybe she was just too cramped in the baby tub and wanted freedom.
It amazes me how much she understands. She can only say a handful of words, but she really seems to understand a ton of what we say. She'll get her shoes (or any ones) when we ask her. She lays her head down when we tell her too. She can point to her belly, her ears, her nose and her feet. She brings books when we tell her to pick out a new story (and we can even tell her the exact book). Etc., etc., etc. It's crazy. So far she can say, Momma, Dadda, baby, shoe, please (on occasion), dog, oh no!, no no, yes, all (for all done), mine, night night, and bye.
She's always looking for who's "in" the iPad when we iChat with family. She's constantly walking around it or pulling it down thinking that the person is going to be right there. Nope, unfortunately not. I think it's super cute, but I'm sure it's just a very strange concept for her.
She's moved to the Young Toddler room at daycare. It was so bittersweet seeing her leave the infant room. She really came to love those teachers. So much so that she'd jump out of our arms as soon as she saw Miss Penny. She seems to be doing really well though with the other YT kids and teachers. She's been a little sad for drop off on occasion but usually brightens right up. She even naps well on the cots. She's only taking one nap at daycare and very recently just one nap at home too. Her daycare naps are SO MUCH better now, but her nap at home hasn't really extended much now that she's down to just one. But she does sleep in most weekends until 8 am so maybe that's a factor (I'll take the extra hour in the morning...I don't nap).
Sleep is still great for the most part. Naps are better at daycare (FINALLY). Napping is pretty great at home with now just one, 2 hourish nap. She still goes down at 7:30 or 8 and is up at 7 on school days and 8 on weekends. She's had a few rough nights though where she wakes up screaming multiple times. She'll usually go back to sleep on her own but it's making Aaron and I insanely exhausted. It usually has coincided with colds or teeth.
We still have a vegetarian on our hands for the most part. Ham seems to be a winner sometimes and she'll eat chicken every once in a while. It's getting tricky to get iron into her diet! She downs her Greek yogurt so thankfully protein isn't an issue.
Getting rid of bottles was a snap! We cut out the morning one pretty quickly. The night time one was becoming an issue because she was so upset when she was done after only three oz. I knew she wasn't hungry and just wanted to suck. So I finally said one night enough was enough and we cut cold turkey and she did amazing!
She's still in mostly 18 months clothes. Some times are getting tight though so my mom and I stocked up on some 24 months clothes from Once Upon a Child. She wears size 4 diapers during the day and 5 at night.
She has her 4 front top teeth, 3 bottom front, and her 15 month molars (all 4). We went to her 15 month checkup and Dr. Butry was checking out her mouth and said something about molars. I was like, "Wait? Did you say she has her molars?" I had NO idea! They aren't all the way through yet but all 4 have poked through. I feel horrible that I didn't know!
Minus the meltdowns that occur at night while I'm trying to make her dinner solo, I love love love this age. She is so much fun and so darn cute. I wish I could bottle up everything she says, all of the funny things she's doing, and her crazy giggles and screams so I don't forget one second of what she's doing and what she's like at this stage. I do miss the newborn snuggles, but I love the kisses (even if they are open mouthed) and hugs I finally get back :)
Yes, we are still alive over here. It's been a crazy two months since her birthday!
We had a low key Halloween. We decided to go DIY this year, and Zoe was a jazzercise baby. I thought she looked pretty freakin' cute if you ask me. Those thighs and that belly. Too much. The weather was horrible, so we didn't go out (I figure she's only one - she could care less), but thankfully she got to celebrate at school.
Before Thanksgiving, we headed to Bay City to visit my college roommate and her little girl. Zoe was only a few months old the last time, so it was fun to see the girls interact more and play together. Zoe was very interested in Grace's socks and was a good sport when Zoe decided to start taking them off.
Then came Thanksgiving. We went to my in-laws early this year since we'd be heading back to Detroit a little early. It was so nice to have a few extra days off. The house was packed with almost the whole family (the Seattle siblings didn't make it home), but I know my mother-in-law wouldn't have it any other way :) It was so so much fun to see everyone. And thank you to all of Zoe's aunties and uncies who read her Barnyard Dance a million times. Saturday we started a new tradition of having my brother and his husband over for for dinner with my parents (his family is from OH so getting to GR would be quite the drive). It was great seeing them too. They live in CA and we don't see them nearly enough. I miss my little brother.
Since Thanksgiving was so late this year, that gave us just a few short weeks until Christmas to pack in shopping and getting ready to travel back to GR. My mom and I had out annual Christmas adventure. This year we chose Frankenmouth. It was FREEZING, but we had lots of fun. Sadly, my grandpa passed away so Zoe and I made an unexpected trip back for the funeral. She got to see Aunt Jodi and Uncle Andrew since they flew in as well. The following weekend Nana came to babysit while we finished up our shopping and went to a friend's Christmas party. Nana even braved making cookies with Zoe...they tasted delicious!
Uncle Andrew and Uncle Nick flew in the week before Christmas and we all headed home minus Aaron and Wally (he had to work on the 23rd). The days were filled with Christmas parties, baby showers, family outings, etc. It was crazy busy but so much fun to see everyone.
I always hate the letdown after the holidays. We are left with freezing temperatures and not a whole lot of excitement in the near future :( I did book my trip to Cali though to visit my BFF and her little bundle come May (and Jon of course!)...OC reunion here we come! Is it May yet??
