21 Months.. AKA Time to Stop Talking in Months...

Gosh, my little girl was 21 months old on May 16th! When people ask how old she is, I now say "almost 2"! Unbelievable.

The biggest news is that Lydia is walking some. Dr. Singletary told us that she'd send Lyds to physical therapy if she wasn't walking by 20 months. April 16th rolled around, and Lydia still had not taken the first step, so I called Lydia's nurse (Lauren... LOVE her) and gave her the report... no walking. Lauren made an appointment with a physical therapist for the following week. I took Lydia to the therapist, and the therapist let Lydia play around for a good 20 minutes and just watched her play. She thought Lydia was moving really well and didn't see much cause for concern physically. Thank God! She really thought Lydia was just delayed due to her prematurity (and lack of regular "encouragement" from other kids). She recommended we buy 1/2 pound slip-on weights for Lydia to wear on her legs during the day. We got them, Lydia wore them, and she was walking 5-6 steps on her own within the week. It worked!

Right now we are really working on getting her to walk as much as possible on her own (no help). She still can't stand up on her own without pulling up on something. We will go back to the physical therapist soon for a follow up to make sure Lydia is still on track.

Lydia's biggest development is talking. Woah, this girl can TALK. She repeats all kinds of words: water, juice, bottle, book, circle, yellow, blue, this, that, outside, peas, ham, apple, walk, and Walle... and animal noises: moo, roar, bok bok, meow, baa, oink, quack quack, sssss (for snake), tweet tweet, and hop (for rabbit). She says phrases, too: I'm ready, Sorry Daddy, Go go go, All done, All gone, I pooted (I don't know who taught her that one - must be Daddy).

I am busy with trying to keep her interested in activities! Lately we have been working on fine motor skills. I bought three packs of dried lima beans (big enough that she can't put them up her nose because she likes putting ANYTHING up her nose), and we've been practicing pouring and scooping with those. She likes coloring, too. I've tried to interest her in stacking blocks, but blocks just aren't her thing.

Lydia's sleeping routine has changed a bit recently with the longer days of summer. She generally sleeps 10-11 hours straight each night. She wakes anywhere from 6 to 7 AM depending on when she went to bed the night before. As for naps, Lydia takes one nap a day, usually around 11:30 AM. A good day is when she naps for 2-3 hours. A bad day is when she naps for 40 minutes (yep, it's happened). Bedtime is generally 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM. She wakes at night from time to time, but we rarely have to go into her room to quiet her down. She generally soothes herself back to sleep. She sleeps in a Halo sleep sack with a pillow, two "woobies", and a blanket. We make her leave the woobies in the crib when we get her up in the morning... I can't handle her tracking them all over the house.

Lydia is still a pretty good eater. She'll try pretty much anything, but our go to foods are ham, turkey, chicken, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrots, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, cheddar bunnies, peanut butter crackers, apples, pears, grapes, bananas -- gosh any fruit really. She does not like spicy food. Most of the food I cook has cayenne or jalapeno or something spicy in it, so she rarely eats what I cook.

Lydia still doesn't eat any dairy because it stops her up so bad. Up until now we've given her an 8-ounce bottle of Toddler Transitions formula each morning when she wakes up then Sunny (her sitter) feeds her breakfast around 8:30 AM. During the day she drinks water, a blend of water and apple juice, or unsweetened almond milk. I've been hesitant to stop the formula because it has more calories per ounce than almond milk or soy milk. I hate to deny my baby any calories. But she's growing fine, and at almost 2 years old it is time to stop the bottles. Tomorrow morning will be our first morning without a bottle. I'll offer her a sippy cup of almond milk when she wakes up, then I'll offer breakfast soon after that. I'm starting the transition to Montessori school now because in the fall we'll have to give her breakfast before we leave for school. I'm starting the transition early so that there aren't a ton of changes for her to make all at once for school. Gosh, I hope it goes well. She still gets another 8-ounce formula bottle at night before bed, and I plan to quit that when we start potty training.

Goodness, what else... I feel like I'm leaving out what makes Lydia so special - the child is so happy! She LOVES comedy. One of her favorite things it to poot in the tub or poot on our hand while we change her diaper. Geez, at some point I have to teach her "Excuse me" and all that jazz. But for now it is hiarious!

And another thing, the child hates hearing No! If she is close enough to you, she will try to slap you in the face! She makes this "I'm frustrated" face then wants to slap and hit. Ugh. We are telling her "You may not hit" and "touch gently" and the "I understand you are frustrated but you cannot hit". Sheesh. It works in the moment to make her stop hitting, but she doesn't remember it for the next time. I'm sticking to my guns on this one and hope it sinks in. Something tells me we have a firecracker on our hands though.

Next post is 2 years old. Man, time is flying!