18 Months

Taylee is now 18 months old! Holy Cow, how time flies . . . She is so many things, it's hard to describe her unique little personality in words. She is so busy, we can hardly keep up with her. She went to see the doctor today for her well baby check-up, and Dr. Strasser was very pleased with Taylee's progress. She continues to grow like a tall, skinny weed.

Height 32.5 inches = 73rd %

Weight 22 lbs 10 oz. = 24th %

OFC = 45.5 cm = 22nd %

We talked about how excited we are about Taylee's developing vocabulary. She is nearly average now, saying about 10-15 words. We are all still puzzled by her unwillingness to call me mommy and Kent daddy. I guess if she is able to get our attention in other ways, why bother? We've decided to go ahead and pursue further speech therapy through Primary's, just to take advantage of all the resources available to her. More to come on that, I'm sure . . .

So, all in all, it was a pretty uneventful Dr. visit (Yay!). A couple of shots, and we were off with our very unhappy little girl. ;( Don't worry -she's napping it off now.

Some 18 month Tayleeisms -

-She LOVES bathtime, and lately she's been blowing bubbles and swimming like a fishy in the tub.

-She says several words - eye, nose, baby, please (pleeb), help (hep), more (mo), up, down, bye-bye, daddy, mama, hot (haw), ball, and sometimes movie.

-She is a pretty good sleeper, although she STILL gets up by around 6:30. 7 o'clock is a great day! She takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap. We are still unable to transition to one nap a day.

-She likes typical kid foods like mac n' chz, and chicken nuggets, but she also loves things like halibut and peas. She'd love to eat cottage cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

-She no longer gets a bottle, and has yet to find a favorite drink or a favorite sippy. She does love water though . . . especially from mommy, daddy, or Skyler's cup.

-She loves to push her shopping cart all around the house, collecting random items (especially dirty clothes).

-She loves to dance - to almost any music - nursery rhymes, commercials, Black Eyed Peas, and even mommies singing! And many of her moves resemble traditional Polynesian dancing. It's pretty darn cute!

-She would watch Sesame Street or one of her DVD's all day if we let her.

-She HATES being strapped down, and is always on the go, go, go. She has, however, gotten significantly better about riding in the car. No more car meltdowns! YAY!

-She loves to read books - by herself, or with mommy and daddy.

-She does NOT like it when mommy is busy with cooking or cleaning, and she tries to physically push me out of the kitchen.

-She walks around the house saying "mo pleeb, and she often doesn't know what she wants.

-She is still a mama's girl, but she sure loves to play with daddy and Skyler - especially when they "run" with her.

-She's a little tomboy, and refuses to wear a hat, a headband, or a hairbow. Much to mommy's chagrin.

-She is more fun than a bowl full of jelly!

We Love you Taylee Bug. Now please stop growing so fast!

To Bottle or Not to Bottle?

Well, we've done it. The bottle is no longer a part of our lives. Much to little Miss Taylee's chagrin. Kent took the reins last Friday when I was at work and offered her only her "thinkbaby" cup. She wasn't thrilled, but she did settle down and drink a few ounces before bed. The next morning, well, not a drop. I jumped on board and off we went. The remainder of the weekend was hit and miss with the thinkbaby. She wasn't happy, but it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, as the days without her bottle have gone on, she seems to be getting more and more frustrated. In the evenings at her normal "bottle time" (ie after bathtime), she gets absolutely furious when we try and offer her other drinks - thinkbaby, sippy, etc. And when she wakes up in the morning and finds that no bottle is forthcoming, she goes from angry to just sobbing. It breaks my heart. It kills me to have exactly what she wants, but not be able to give it to her. I sure hope her little memory is short so we can move past this sad little phase. Silly Baby.

ThinkBaby

ThinkBaby is here! In the continuing quest to remove the bottle from our lives, I have taken the advice of a friendly co-worker and ordered the ThinkBaby. Touted as a transition cup from bottle to sippy, I thought this might just be the answer. Now that it has arrived, Taylee has been doing some "sipping" from this thinkbaby cup, but I'm not sure it is as effective as the bottle at getting her to drink milk. But, here's the big issue - if I'm not mistaken this transition cup is actually . . . A BOTTLE! Can I really consider her off the bottle when she's drinking from this device? What do you think?!

My Confession

After reading my friend Deidra's post about her "little secret" - can you say roller derby?! I felt inspired to post my own dark secret. This is a far stretch from Deidra's fun little hobby, but it does rank high in my list of worries. And without worries, I just wouldn't be me . . .

Taylee is 18 months old, and she still gets a bottle. I know, shame on me as a mommy. This is one of those seemingly simple things in life, that somehow doesn't seem so simple to me. The bottle was supposed to exit our world around 12 months. I just didn't feel like she was ready, and my pediatrician told us to shoot for 18 months as a goal to be rid of the bottle. That seemed easy schmeezy back in July. January was a world away. Not so much now. The thing is, she only gets two bottles a day. One first thing in the morning and one just before bed. We even brush her teeth after her bottle.
Here are my reasons for NOT getting rid of the bottle (yet) -
+ She LOVES it.
+ It is my crutch - She drinks her bottle and plays in her playpen for a solid 30 minutes while I finish my run (when she gets up before I am finished - i.e. almost every day). Without the bottle I doubt she'd last more than 10 minutes. This seems silly, but if you know me, you know running keeps me sane.
+It's the ONLY snuggle time I get anymore. She snuggles up with me and her bottle before bed, and on the occasional morning when she sleeps past 6:30.
+She won't drink milk from a sippy. She takes the name sippy literally - a sip here, a sip there. She loves water from a sippy, but NOT milk. Even since I have begun cutting back the amount of milk in her bottle, she hasn't increased her "other" intake. (Yes, I'm a nurse . . .) I'm afraid she may shrivel right up.

Here are my reasons FOR getting rid of the bottle -
+I'm supposed to.

Many people have offered good advice - go cold turkey; wean the amount slowly (the method I'm currently taking); don't worry - she'll ditch it when she's ready (not so sure she will EVER ditch it). What's a mom to do . . .

OMG 15 Years Old!

I know, can you believe it?! Skyler is FIFTEEN already. We are taking him next week to get his learner's permit. This is a topic for another post, but can I just say that I think letting them practice for a year is a great idea?! Why didn't they think of this sooner?

So, for Skyler's birthday we partied like Rock Stars! Well, not really, but we did have a party, and we did have a great time! We hosted the party in our newly finished (but not quite decorated) basement. We put that new Christmas present to good use with an Air Hockey Tournament. Congrats to Kent and Hunter on winning the championship!!

We played some darts, watched some football, ate lots of pizza, cookies, and cake (I forgot the ice cream . . . oops), and Skyler got SPOILED, as usual with lots of presents. Gift cards, video games, a football, a basketball, a new golf bag, and a new snowboarding coat. What a lucky kid!

Happy Birthday Skyler! We Love You!

After Christmas Fun

We spent Sunday afternoon at Nana and PaPaw's to enjoy the football game, and some family time. The family time was great, and for once this season, so was the football game!! Taylee hasn't yet learned the joys of watching Broncos football, and she spends most of her time at Nana's whining to go outside. Eventually she convinced Nana to take her out in the snow. They had a blast. Well, Taylee did anyways . . . She even got Nana to walk through the snow in her socks. She is certainly a loved little girl!

After the game we headed over to check out the Christmas Light display at Layton Park. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Taylee LOVED it! She was pointing and yelling and quite enamored with the lights. Good idea PaPaw! All the Christmas fun left Taylee pretty tuckered out . . . And Skyler took the opportunity to snuggle with our very un-snuggly girl!