16 Months

Sweet Hannah,

Today you are 16 months old. You are nearly a year and a half. Wow. We have had another whirlwind month of growth and change.

Here's what you have been up to in the last month:
- You weigh 24.3 lbs and are 32.5 inches tall
- You still wear size 4 diapers during the day and size 5 overnight diapers at night.
- You are still wearing 18-24 month clothes and most of your 12 month clothes are getting too small.
- You wear a size 5 or 6 shoe.
- You now have 9 teeth...four on the bottom and 5 on the top.
- You can now use a fork pretty well. A spoon is not quite as easy, but we are practicing.
- You can sign several words: please, more, eat, all done, love, fish, cat, duck, bird, bunny, yes (you shake your head), no (again, you shake your head), and thank you (sometimes).
- You can say a lot of words too: mama, dada, buhbes (bubbles, our dog or the soap ones), buh buh (bye bye), ba (baby), buhber (blueberries), staber (strawberries), bah (ball), gaga (grandma or grandpa), mamaa (MeMaw), and papa (papaw).
- You make lots of sounds too: quack quack (duck), moo (cow), panting (dog), and brrr (car or plane).
- You are a climber! You love to climb on the couch and chairs and are getting very good at getting on and off.
- You run everywhere and very rarely fall. However, your knees are definitely showing the signs of being a toddler. You love to be outside, but the ground is a lot harder to navigate out there, which causes you to trip every so often. You have had bloody knees a lot this month, with the worst fall being at the 4th of July parade. Ouch!
- Our favorite activity this past month has been going to the playground at the church behind our house. I push you in your pink car and you point and grunt the whole way there and when make the turn toward the church, you get so giddy and start bouncing up and down. Once we get there you don't last long, but it's worth it just to see how happy you are!
- You love to read. You are constantly bringing us books to read to you. You hand us the book and then turn around and sit in our lap. So sweet. You love to read the same stories over and over and rarely let us finish one story before getting up to get another one.
- You know most of your body parts now and can point to them when asked.

This past month you had your 15 month doctor appointment. You were given two vaccines - MMR and Chicken Pox. I was very hesitant to get either vaccine, but in the end decided to just do them. I regret that decision a little. 8 days after those vaccines, you developed a fever, runny nose and slight rash on your chest and back. You were generally miserable and not yourself. Your sleep was messed up as well (even worse than normal, which is never good!). After a week or so of on and off low grade fever, you seemed to be feeling better. And then you had three teeth pop through - two lower incisors and one upper molar. So I can't be sure of what caused the fever and runny nose, as it may have just been from teething. But the rash makes me suspect the MMR vaccine. I'm definitely hesitant to get the second dose.

Our favorite thing you started doing this month is praying. It is truly the most adorable thing you do. When we say your bedtime prayers or prayers before meals, you snap your little head down and wait. You look up often, checking to see if we are done and if we aren't, you bow your little head again. Precious!!

We had a scare this month as well. This past weekend you fell out of your crib. You were not hurt, just a little shaken up, but my heart was racing for several hours after it happened. It was during your morning nap. You had woken up after only 30 minutes and were screaming (nothing out of the ordinary for you). I was washing dishes and decided I would finish them before going to get you up. Then I heard the tell-tale thud. I knew exactly what had happened. I ran upstairs and when I opened your bedroom door you were standing right there. You immediately stopped crying and didn't seem hurt at all. I inspected your entire body and didn't find any bumps or bruises. That afternoon I took the bumper out of your crib (which you had used to boost yourself out) which I guess I should have removed earlier. I just never thought you were string enough to hoist yourself over the railing. Guess I was wrong! ;)

One last major change this month...you no longer use a pacifier! Two nights ago, Daddy put you to bed and couldn't find a pacifier, so he just put you down. I was shocked that you slept the whole night through, for 12.5 hours, without a peep! Amazing! Then today you took your nap (we are only doing one now at 12pm) without one and again did good. It was very short (40 minutes) but that isn't anything new, so it seems like losing the pacifier hasn't bothered you at all. Such a big girl!!

Little peanut, you are changing drastically every day and we are falling more in love with you every minute. Every day is not easy and we have lots of frustrating moments and tears (from both of us), but it's all so worth it! You are the most precious thing to us and we love you unconditionally! I never knew I could love someone so much!