Sally Grace, Almost 16 Months

This girl got spunk. She's as busy as ever, climbing on everything and falling off of everything.  I have to move the kitchen table chairs into the living room between meals because she can't resist scaling them (which has resulted in more than a few bonks).

Changing her diaper should be an Olympic sport.  Ryan says it's like wrestling a Tasmanian Devil.  And grocery shopping with her is just downright impossible.  She is like Houdini and somehow wiggles her way out of the seatbelt and stands up in the front of the cart. 

She still loves the slapstick humor.  In fact, moments before that precious photo above was taken on the pumpkins, she was wiggling away and crying and refusing to sit for a picture, so I said, "Noah come over here and whack me in the head!"  Worked like a charm!

It's hard to get her to sit still for anything, and only recently has she started being willing to listen to one quick book before bed.  When Noah was her age, I could read to him forever and he would sit calmly in my lap.  Not our rascal Sal!

She has no interest in TV, and I know this should make me grateful, but honestly, I need her occupied for a few minutes every once in a while!  Just this week she started watching Baby Einstein for a couple of minutes, and I am thrilled.  Noah has been a boob-toober from day one, and he willingly watches Baby Einstein with his little sister.  How do those weird movies continue to hold the interest of children, from age 0-4? 

She is a whiner.  She has this insistent grunt,"Uh uh uh!," when she wants something.  This is all I hear all day long.  She grabs at my shirt and wedges herself between my legs and the counter, begging me to pick her up. The thing is, she doesn't want to be held; she just wants to be picked up so she can reach more mischief.  The moment I put her on my hip, she lunges toward the light switch she wants to play with (light switches are her favorite) or she grabs a plate and knocks it off the counter.  She is busy and curious!  It can get exhausting, but I know it's just a stage, and I'm glad she is interested in learning and experiencing the world around her.

She's not really a cuddler because she's so busy, but she gets very sweet at bedtime and lays her head on my shoulder and pats my back while I rock and sing to her.  Melts my heart and makes all the madness of the day worth it.

Sally loves her daddy.  When he comes home from work, she lights up and runs to him with her arms open.  She adores me too but totally takes me for granted.  When I come home from being away, even if I've been away for several days for a girls weekend, she hardly looks up. "Oh hey, Mom. You're back. No big deal."

She willingly goes to all babysitters and waves goodbye when I leave her. It surprises me every time because Noah was more clingy.  It is crazy how children have such different personalities. (Now Noah is certainly not that way, and they both adore their regular babysitters, as evidenced by this photo with our neighbor Ashlyn.)

She is an awesome sleeper, and, as long as she has her beloved paci, she never protests when I lay her down in her crib.  This is my saving grace on her especially whiny days.  She watches me go and sometimes says, "Bye!" She isn't sure what she is doing with naps: one nap or two? It depends on the day, which makes life a little hard to schedule. But her nightime sleep couldn't be better: she goes to bed early, about 7 p.m., and sleeps a solid 12-13 hours.

She is still a teensy little lady.  She is 19 lbs, about 10th percentile and only recently moved up to 12-18 month clothes.  I'm glad she's so light--makes it easier to keep her on my hip while I'm cooking.

Her right foot turns in when she walks.  It's quite pronounced and trips her up a little when she tries to run. The pediatrician isn't remotely concerned about it, and every time I mention it, he says it will correct itself and the bones don't fuse for several more years.  My aunt is a pediatric physical therapist, and she's going to check her out at Christmas and see if she needs a brace.  Right now she's our cute little klutz.

She is getting smart.  I feel like this is magic month when things start "clicking" for babies.  I remember that with Noah too.  Around 15-16 months, they start really understanding what people are saying to them.  She likes to help me warm her milk in the microwave--she knows just which buttons to push and how to open the door.  She points to my nose when I say the word, and she has started folding her hands when it's time for prayers.

She does the sign for "All done!" in her high chair, and it kills me every time.  She looks right at me and starts turning her little wrists so deliberately with these big eyes, like, "Mom, I'm talking to you here.  Can you understand what I'm saying?"  I don't do Baby Sign Language with my kids, but I have done the "All done" sign with her for a while, and it's fun to see her catch on.

 She doesn't talk much, but she can certainly shout Noah's name.  It's hilarious.  She shouts this shrill "Na-ah!" whenever she is looking for him or wants his attention. She says that word more than any other.  Just yesterday she said her first two-word sentence as we were leaving Noah's room: "Bye, Brother!" Could a tiny baby voice be any more precious?? 

She sometimes attacks Noah, and I'm not sure what to do about it.  Most often, she goes for his hair.  and grabs huge fistfuls and yanks.  His screaming only increases her glee and makes her want to do it more.  I always move her hands away and say "No!" very forcefully and seriously, but she just laughs.  Little stinker.  Maybe I need to put her in time-outs?  I just feel like that doesn't really work for a 15-month-old.

 

 

She is a laugher.  She laughs at everything--sometimes it's a fake chuckle and sometimes it is real.  But she is a happy baby, especially when someone is interacting with her.  She is super friendly and tries to catch people's eye in the grocery store or hall at church so she can tell them hi.  She loves to charm and wave at passersby.

We spend a lot of time walking around the halls at church because she cannot be contained and won't stay on a lap for even two minutes.  Church is completely miserable with her, and Noah follows her lead and misbehaves and slithers around on the floor, and it makes me crazy!  Ours kids are definitely the worst behaved in the entire congregation.  It's just a phase of life, right??

She got her top two front teeth this month, and they are coming in all wonky.  I don't think Ryan is pleased.  Ha!  She has another top tooth breaking through right now, and I love seeing her crooked, crazy smile.

Her favorite thing in all the world is pushing the buttons on my keys.  I often come out of the house to find all of the automatic doors to the van wide open, and there must be some magic combination of buttons that you can push to roll down all the electronic windows.  I have not figured out this trick, but Sally has!  The van doors and windows are often open, thanks to Sal.

She's still a really good eater, and I am just hoping and praying that it continues.  One of her favorite foods is broccoli, and she will eat pretty much anything I put in front of her.  Keep it up, Baby Girl!  When for some reason she's not in the mood for a certain food, she pitches it to the floor with gusto and starts waving her hands around in front of her face like a crazy person, as if she's trying to get the distasteful remnants away from her.  It's pretty comical to watch. 

She still has really good fine motor skills.  She is so interested in buckles.  The only time I can get her to sit still is when I let her play with the buckle on her high chair or toy swing--she carefully focuses on putting the buckle together and snapping it closed.  I use this trick when I need to pull her hair back into a little ponytail or pigtails.  The only way I can do her hair is if I strap her down in the highchair.

She loves slides and, not surprisingly, she is fearless on them.  She can do all of the slides at the park by herself.  Unfortunately, she also tries to walk down the slides, so I have to be vigilant about forcing her onto her bottom.

She is obsessed with her linen blankies.  She absolutely must have one in order to go to sleep, and she loves to drag them around the house as well.  I should probably stop this habit and keep the blankie in the crib, but hey, they make her happy, so maybe I will fight that battle after we are done traveling for the holidays.  I've noticed recently that she loves to hold onto the very corner of the blanket--it seems to soothe her, maybe it feels extra soft.  She loves soft things.  She holds the blanket up to her cheek and rests it against her shoulder.  It's nice that the linen blankets came in a pack of three, and she is equally attached to all three, so it doesn't matter which one I grab at bedtime.

About a month ago, every time Ryan or I would get Sally out of her crib, she would point emphatically at the tiny photo of my mom on her shelf.  It was across the room and barely visible, yet she would point at it as soon as we entered the room.  She wanted to hold it, look at it, and carry it around.  It made me happy.  I believe that heaven must be very close for these pure, sweet babies, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if she has seen my mom.  It was like she was saying, "Mom, this lady comes to me in my sleep!"  I hope that's true, and I hope my mom will always be a guardian angel for Sally and Noah.

We love our Sally Wally so much.  The entire family is smitten, even Noah.  He came around a corner yesterday and saw her perched on a step stool inside his closet, and he exclaimed in delight, "Oh Sally! What are you doing in here, my cute little menace?"

She certainly is the cutest menace of them all.