Dear Helen Claire,
You are 17 months old. We say it every month, but it is still so true... we don't know how our tiny little girl got to be such a grown up toddler! You are such an independent girl and you are developing into your own little person.
At meals, you do not want any help. You don't want us to help you with the utensils. You want your own spoon or fork, and you point to your plate if we put anything on a fork and try to feed you. You want the food on the plate so you can pick it up yourself. At school, you are the most prim and proper eater according to Mrs. Jessica and Mrs. Michele and you get to sit at the big girl table. You don't have to use a tray table seat anymore!! You show us right where you want things on your plate, and you can usually identify food. This morning at breakfast, I asked you to eat your banana and you pointed to the banana and shook your head no. You can show us cheerios, oatmeal, really anything we ask you to find.
You understand what "go" means now, and we have to be careful about saying we are going somewhere before we are ready. If you hear the word, you go and stand at the steps and say, "Go, go go" over and over again.
Lately, you are very into telling everything and everyone goodbye or goodnight. Last night, we had been working on your laundry, so your hangers were in the living room. Before you went to bed, you had to hug your hangers, wave bye-bye and send them an air kiss. You also do this with the car, your carseat, the blanket in your carseat, whatever toy you rode to school with, Jordan, your teachers and friends when we leave school, your cup and plate after supper... you love to give lots of love before you leave, and we have to reassure you that we will see the thing or person again tomorrow!
You love to say "rock, rock" if you want to be rocked or if you want to rock your babies. You love to sing "He's got the whole world in His Hands" at night, and you ALWAYS ask to sing it with Daddy's name first.
When you are cold, you love to be picked up and you tuck your little hands under and just cuddle. It is the best! You love blankets, lovies, taggies, washcloths, burp cloths... anything you can snuggle with and hold onto.
Speaking of cuddling, you love to snuggle in the mornings. A couple of mornings, especially on weekends, you will wake up a little early and want to get in our bed. Then you snuggle and twirl my hair or daddy's hair until you fall back asleep. Hair twirling is a big thing for you. We can tell when you are getting sleepy because you start twirling the hair right at the top of your head. We LOVE it.
You still love playing outside, Jordan, crayons, chalk, and painting! We have made so much shaving cream paint for the bathtub, and you got your very own watercolor set for an after doctor-visit prize. You love all things artistic, and it is fun to watch you- I was amazed at how well you could hold the little paintbrush. You are so focused and you concentrate like you know just where you want the paint to go. You are also sweet about sharing. If we sit down to paint with you, you will hand us a brush, or swap brushes with us and pass us the paint.
You also love to paint your arms apparently...
You are still wearing 18 month clothes, but this morning, you wore a 6-12 month dress, so who knows! You are in size 4 shoes and size 4 diapers. You wear mis-matched pj's most nights because you like the Mickey and/or Minnie pj's best and will wear whatever is clean with a Mickey top or Minnie pants. You can always pick out Mickey and Minnie on your jammies, and today, you showed me the monkeys on your pj top. You would point them out then make a monkey sound like ooh-ooh ahh-ahh.
You are funny when you wake up from naps. At home, you don't always like to go down for a nap, but once you do, you like your sleep. At school, you are always the last one up from nap time. I always check the camera around 2:30, and all of your friends are off their mats walking around. Not my sweet girl, though. You are still on your mat, wiping sleepies from your eyes and trying your best to wake up. I can always tell you were the last one up, because your cot and nap mat are always at the top of the stack when I pick you up at the end of the day! Recently, this has become true at home too. In the mornings, when I turn on the light and try to get you out of the crib, you tell me no-no, shake your finger at me and lay back down. Then you want me to put the covers back on you. Here is a picture of you sleeping at school. Your napper is right next to the window.
I don't think I ever posted this picture, but we were getting ready to go to school the morning of your class Halloween party. I have no idea what you were saying, but you were talking with your hands and really wanted me to get it.
Then you "hid" and we had to play chase...
You still have a passie, but usually you only use it at nap time or bed time and if you aren't feeling well or we have been in the car for a while. Other than that, you don't ask for it or want it, and you don't use one at school at all. We will probably try to get rid of it completely soon.
You do the sweetest thing when we talk about people you love now. If we talk about your teachers (this year or last year), or your friends at school, or your family, you will hug yourself and rock back and forth like you are giving them a hug. You also say "Awww" if we ask you about people you love. You are such a lovie bug, and it is so sweet.
Lately, you are very into telling everything and everyone goodbye or goodnight. Last night, we had been working on your laundry, so your hangers were in the living room. Before you went to bed, you had to hug your hangers, wave bye-bye and send them an air kiss. You also do this with the car, your carseat, the blanket in your carseat, whatever toy you rode to school with, Jordan, your teachers and friends when we leave school, your cup and plate after supper... you love to give lots of love before you leave, and we have to reassure you that we will see the thing or person again tomorrow!
You love to say "rock, rock" if you want to be rocked or if you want to rock your babies. You love to sing "He's got the whole world in His Hands" at night, and you ALWAYS ask to sing it with Daddy's name first.
When you are cold, you love to be picked up and you tuck your little hands under and just cuddle. It is the best! You love blankets, lovies, taggies, washcloths, burp cloths... anything you can snuggle with and hold onto.
Speaking of cuddling, you love to snuggle in the mornings. A couple of mornings, especially on weekends, you will wake up a little early and want to get in our bed. Then you snuggle and twirl my hair or daddy's hair until you fall back asleep. Hair twirling is a big thing for you. We can tell when you are getting sleepy because you start twirling the hair right at the top of your head. We LOVE it.
You still love playing outside, Jordan, crayons, chalk, and painting! We have made so much shaving cream paint for the bathtub, and you got your very own watercolor set for an after doctor-visit prize. You love all things artistic, and it is fun to watch you- I was amazed at how well you could hold the little paintbrush. You are so focused and you concentrate like you know just where you want the paint to go. You are also sweet about sharing. If we sit down to paint with you, you will hand us a brush, or swap brushes with us and pass us the paint.
You are still wearing 18 month clothes, but this morning, you wore a 6-12 month dress, so who knows! You are in size 4 shoes and size 4 diapers. You wear mis-matched pj's most nights because you like the Mickey and/or Minnie pj's best and will wear whatever is clean with a Mickey top or Minnie pants. You can always pick out Mickey and Minnie on your jammies, and today, you showed me the monkeys on your pj top. You would point them out then make a monkey sound like ooh-ooh ahh-ahh.
You can make most animal sounds now. You know cow, duck, snake, monkey, lion, tiger, bear (these three all sound the same). Your favorite is chicken, and if we sing Old McDonald, you want to do the chicken sound for every animal.
Over Halloween, you learned to say what the ghost says, and you would say "oooooh" and get right in our face like you were scaring us.
You are funny when you wake up from naps. At home, you don't always like to go down for a nap, but once you do, you like your sleep. At school, you are always the last one up from nap time. I always check the camera around 2:30, and all of your friends are off their mats walking around. Not my sweet girl, though. You are still on your mat, wiping sleepies from your eyes and trying your best to wake up. I can always tell you were the last one up, because your cot and nap mat are always at the top of the stack when I pick you up at the end of the day! Recently, this has become true at home too. In the mornings, when I turn on the light and try to get you out of the crib, you tell me no-no, shake your finger at me and lay back down. Then you want me to put the covers back on you. Here is a picture of you sleeping at school. Your napper is right next to the window.
You got strep throat this month. Around the end of the month, you were feeling puny and acting not yourself. We thought it was probably a virus, but your fever got to 103.5 during the night the Sunday before Halloween. We took you to the doctor the next day, and you had strep! You got lots of snuggles to make up for being sick.
You are such a curious girl and you love to see what you can get into. You have a basket full of "makeup," brushes and stuff that you have collected in my bathroom, and you get ready with me in the mornings. When you are getting into something you shouldn't, you give us the most micheveious look and raise your eyebrows, like you are asking if you are about to be in trouble. Sometimes, we think you want a time-out, becuase you will look at us and do something you know you aren't supposed to do, then you will take yourself to the time-out spot. You are a mess!
You are still signing most words, and you have even added some new signs this month. You still use all the regular signs: please, thank-you, more, yes, all done, milk, and eat, but now you also know drink and wash hands. One night, you kept rubbing your hands together, brushing them back and forth, and you were frustrated because I didn't know what you wanted. The next day, I looked online and realized you were asking to wash your hands.
You are trying to say more and more words, and I think very soon you will be talking up a storm.
We love you sweet baby,
Mommy and Daddy
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