Not-quite-22 months update

It has been ages since we've updated Amanda's page! It has been a very busy and stressful few months, but things are finally calming down a bit. Amanda is continuing to learn a zillion new things every day - it is amazing to watch her! She talks like crazy now...it is hard to imagine that a couple of months ago she was hardly saying any words. Although we haven't counted since we made the list below, she must be well over 200 or 250 words now. She knows all her animals (even strange ones, like hedgehog and peacock), her colours, and her shapes. She also knows tons of foods, names of everyone in our family and most of her friends, and all her clothes; she can name almost anything around the house, and she talks along with her videos and can "read" many of her books without us! (Well, the main words on every page, anyway). It is just incredible how quickly she has picked everything up. She started at her new daycare at the end of January and has adjusted so well - she loves to go to "Nancy's house" and often wakes up chattering away about her friends there and what she's going to be doing. It has turned out to be a nice treat to have her so close to home, as we can walk her to and from daycare when the weather is nice. Of course, the walk takes about 3 minutes without her but at least 20 minutes with her, as she stops to look at everything along the way! She is still a great eater, and most other parents of toddlers are jealous to find out that her favourite foods are...vegetables!! We have to feed her meat and rice/pasta first, because as soon as we put the veggies on her plate that's all she will eat. She's also developed a bit of a sweet tooth...so much for not giving her too much sweet stuff! Of course she only gets treats once in awhile. Her tantrums have abated quite a bit in the past several weeks, probably because she is getting so much better at communicating so her frustration is much less. That's not to say she doesn't have her moments, though! Things have been very busy around home the past few months but she has managed very well, although she misses her Lola and can't wait for her to come home from the hospital! Jen has also started a new job, only a 20 minute drive from home (instead of over an hour!), so that has also helped our family manage more time together. Every minute is precious! These past few days of sunshine have made us look forward even more to the summer months when we can spend more time outside!

19 months

The big news these days is words! Amanda is a word-learning machine - she has at least a few new ones every day. By her 19 month birthday, here are some of the words she knows (the ones we can remember off the top of our heads, anyway!):

Mama ~ Dada ~ done ~ gone ~ bye ~ hi ~ boom ~ whoa ~ down ~ book ~ baby ~ milk ~ more ~ yogurt ~ bread ~ shoes ~ stuck ~ up ~ Josh (from daycare) ~ duck ~ lion ~ monkey ~ arm ~ eye ~ bib ~ ball ~ bonk ~ balloon ~ beep ~ bubbles ~ rain/raining ~ hot ~ cold ~ "where are you?" ~ "caw caw" for bird ~ bunny ~ lambie ~ "EIEIO" ~ kitty ~ home ~ night-night ~ morning ~ dark ~ light ~ moon ~ star ("gar") ~ Cheerios ~ cookie ~ mine ~ bear ~ dirt ~ yuck ~ yum ~ spoon ~ broccoli ~ bum ~ chicken ~ "moo moo" for cow ~ "baa" for sheep ~ Grandma ~ socks ~ sun ~ car ~ "achoo" for bless you ~ hat ~ cup ~ toot! ~ poop ~ her own made-up word for thank you ~ whee ~ oh oh ~ ho ho ho

17 month update

Amanda is continuing to learn new words...new ones include "down", "book", "yuck", and a word that sounds like "buck" but that we really hope is "bonk" since it's a little early to start with swearing! We have started our Waterbabies 2 lessons and they are going well, although between making sure she gets an early nap to avoid screaming fits in the water, and giving her a bath to get the chlorine out of her hair afterwards, the lessons seem to eat up most of our Saturdays. Funny enough, she insists on lying on her stomach in the bath like she is doing a front float, even though she resists it in the swimming pool. We are working on blowing some bubbles but so far she mostly just drinks the water! Yuck! Her favourite part of the lessons is sitting under the waterfall afterwards, with the water running over her shoulders. She will even jump down off the ledge and into my arms, although it's hard to get her to leave the ledge since she loves sitting there so much! In the past several weeks Amanda has figured out how to kiss, and treats Mommy and Daddy to kisses quite frequently. She also gives great big hugs and will run into our arms from across the room. Amanda now has a totxal of 10 teeth plus one more almost about to break through. She is sleeping very well - only occasionally does she wake up, and even then she is able to get herself back to sleep within a minute or two. We are getting excited about this Christmas, although we're a little nervous about what Amanda will do to our Christmas tree! It should be fun to see how she reacts to all the decorations. On the weekend, we took her back to Toybox Studio for some portraits - remember the beautiful angel picture from last year? We can't wait to get the pictures back - hopefully by next month we will be able to post them!

16 1/2 month update

Well, in the past few weeks we have hurdled headlong into full-blown toddlerhood! Amanda gets more strong-willed by the day (wonder where she gets that from?!?) and definitely lets us know when she is upset! She has started having some pretty strong tantrums when things don't go her way. To be honest, sometimes they are more funny than frustrating for her parents! She definitely has the drama queen inclination and rolls around on the floor like she is going to die. When she's not tantruming, Amanda is quite the funny character. She is saying a few words consistently now, like "done", "oh oh", and "boom" (a new one she just learned a few days ago), and she has said lots of other words in context, but only once or twice. She definitely understands a great deal of what we say to her and follows instructions and "answers" us back. She is still signing - this month she has learned "please" and "thank you". On the tooth front, she now has her full set of incisors, top and bottom, except for one lateral incisor on the top. All of a sudden last week she sprouted both top premolars - before the canines! Very strange! It seems like a bunch of teeth are getting ready to pop through any day now. On the plus side, it means that she can eat pretty much anything we give her now, without us having to worry too much about choking (not that we don't still worry!). She has learned to "dip" her food and loves to eat this way: bits of meat into dip, pasta into sauce, fries into ketchup, pancakes into syrup... A week or two ago we went for our first walk without the stroller - a milestone! We walked all the way down to the river and back, making a detour to the playground on our way home, and she walked pretty much the whole way. Well, except for the times she was running! She definitely doesn't have any trouble keeping up with us...often it's the other way around! She is still dancing a ton and singing all the time - Sue is starting to understand her songs as well, so it's not just us! We just wish there were more hours in the day to spend with her.

15 1/2 month update

It is getting harder to keep up Amanda's webpage...now that everyone is back to work and she is in daycare, things are pretty hectic! It has been a challenge to adjust our schedules, and mom & dad are still working on getting enough sleep! Otherwise things are going great. Amanda is growing by leaps and bounds, both physically and mentally. It is amazing how many new things she is learning every day. She is still not talking consistently "in English", although she throws out a word here and there just to keep us on our toes (we've heard bath, duck, dog, fish, and many others, but she doesn't use them consistently). However, she definitely doesn't have any problems making herself understood! She has made the adjustment to daycare very well and seems to enjoy hanging out with Sue and the other kids (all boys, and all older than her - the closest is 4 months older), as well as the two family dogs - although apparently she doesn't like their barking and shouts at them to be quiet! She will point to all the parts of her face and many other body parts if asked, and she is getting good at taking her clothes off at the end of the day. She is also very tidy... she likes things to be put back in the correct place, and walks over to the hamper and puts her clothes in once they are taken off! She is eating all different foods now, except nuts, and is quite a neat eater - she will actually wipe off her face if something is there because it bothers her. If we give her a napkin she will also wipe her mouth and the table after she eats (not sure where she picked this up because we didn't teach her!). She absolutely loves music - she does "full body" dancing now and sings all the time. She even knows a couple of songs - if we start singing The Blue Danube she will fill in the "dah dah...dah dah" bits, and she also hums along on rhythm and somewhat on pitch with Twinkle Twinkle and the Winnie the Pooh song. She has several musical instruments and loves to play with them. Although she seems to be getting quite a bit taller, we're not sure whether she's put on much weight - she is in that difficult size where her 12-18 month clothes are perfect in length, but way too big around the waist (if only the rest of us could have that problem!). Much of the time she looks like a rapper because her pants are down around her bum! She just got two new teeth this week - one on top, one on the bottom - to bring the grand total to 7. She is starting to throw the occasional tantrum when she is overtired and doesn't get her way, but generally she is easily distracted from her crying and doesn't give us too many problems. She is also sleeping great - all through the night and even for long stretches during the day (at least for Sue!).