A Baby No More

Mikayla turned 18 months on July 28.  She has certainly entered toddler hood and all of the characteristics that accompany that stage are evident.  She has opinions and sometimes throws her head back so quickly in defiance that she is hard to catch.  She has tantrums on the floor; while short lived for now, (as we ignore her and walk away) they show her ever growing need to express herself.  If I do or say something she doesn't like, she will either hit her hand on the floor or spit.  Ah, to be a toddler again, when you are trying so hard to figure out your world, yet you can't talk and say what you want, so life can be a daily frustration.

Mikayla has definitely entered that stage of "cute." Whether she is walking, trying to run, eating, or imitating her brothers, she is just plain cute and fun to watch.  Scott had her in the garage the other day with the music on and all the lights too.  She seriously danced and twirled for 45 minutes, and seemed to love it the entire time.  She sticks her hands up in the air and twirls around.  Music is a big part of life for her.  If she is restless in the car, singing or turning on music always calms her down.  Whenever she sees the boys' iShuffles, she puts the ear buds up to her ear and loves to listen.  So cute!

She loves to wrestle, brings us books, brings us her shoes (and already has her favorites), throws her own diaper in the trash (among other things, including but not limited to Luka's pajamas, a package of tortillas, my wallet, etc.) and wipes her mouth (by sticking out her tongue) when she is done eating.  She helps empty the dishwasher by putting the silverware in the drawer.

Mikayla's favorite activity outside right now is practicing steps and curbs.  It is not unusual to spend 5 minutes at each driveway on the way to the mailbox, going up and down the curb 10 times, and then we move on to the next one.  There are still a few wobbles, but for the most part she can now do this unassisted.  Her knees are pretty scraped up, however!  In general, she is a climber, which is not necessarily something I would have said of either of the boys.  She only really likes to go up the slides.  One day I had her upstairs and could not find her anywhere.  Turns out, she had crawled up the ladder to the top bunk in TJs room and was having the time of her life.

Here is a link to her 18-month video, which shows several of her favorite activities. (You might have to copy and paste this link into your browser.)
http://youtu.be/xNkZJT6sfnE

 

She bugs Luka, because he reacts to her, and she bugs TJ, but he just laughs.  She will start at one end of the room, run toward Luka, quickly poke him, and then keep on running.  She loves to sit up on the couch with the boys, and TJ will often pick her up and set her up there with him.  TJ can get her out of her crib, and he is always happy to assist with anything she might need.  In general, she loves her brothers and is always excited to see them and try to do what they do.

Mikayla is sleeping through the night from about 7:30 to 7:00.  She takes one nap in the afternoon, usually 2-3 hours.  And, she is thankfully very flexible on when she goes down, whether it be 12:30 or 3:30, depending on what we have going one for the day.  When we get out the milk, she is quite happy to go to her room and get into her bed both for nap and night.  She sleeps with her pacifier, but as soon as she is done sleeping, she throws it back in the crib for next time.  Once in a while we have to get up with her during the night, but not usually.  She is very happy when she wakes up, and is often content to just lay in her bed for 15 minutes, listening to her crib music and talking to herself. 

As for food, Mikayla definitely turned a corner in terms of eating at about 16 months.  Just one day, it was like she started eating solid foods like she was on a mission.  She now eats "normal" amounts of food, and still isn't a big eater, but what a stress relief!  About the same time, she got four teeth on top, and really cut back on nursing, and I just have to wonder if if all of that was part of the plan for her, in terms of getting teeth really late, not eating solids, and still really wanting to nurse?  At 18 and 1/2 months, we are officially done nursing.  In the last month, she really only wanted to nurse whenever she would wake up, and only if I was the one getting her up.  I took advantage of those last few cuddle sessions while I could, but we have now moved on.

Her stats show that she has been eating better.  While babies at this age often drop percentile a bit, since they become more mobile, Mikayla has stayed steady at 15% in all 3 categories:

Weight: 21 lbs and 12 oz
Height: 31"
Head Circumference: 18"

It appears that Mikayla is currently working on expanding her vocabulary.  While she seems to understand almost everything you say to her, she still has minimal words.  Just in the last few weeks, however, she seems to be willing to try new words and work on them daily.

Aside from her old favorites (mama, dada, and doggie) she has added "peas," "ice," and "hot" to her repertoire.  She also says "hera-s" for "here it is" in a really high voice whenever she finds something.  For "yes," she smiles and says "Hm." which is exactly what TJ would say.  Luka would say "me" for yes, so we were curious to see what Mikayla would do.  For more, Mikayla uses sign language, and it is so helpful.  She uses it to indicate more food, more singing, more anything, and it feels good to all of us for her to be able to communicate like this.

In looking at pictures yesterday, she saw one of Mimi, and clear as day yelled "Mimi!" She also says "dada" whenever I am on the phone, thinking it is Scott that I might be talking to.  And whenever she hears either one of us come home, she runs to the door yelling loudly "mama mama" or "dada dada" and it melts us every time.  Similarly, when TJ comes in the room, she says "Tee-A!"

Sweet Mikayla, it is clear that you were always meant to be a part of our family.  You make us smile and laugh, and while your opinions can be strong (and loud), we appreciate your unique personality and all the joy you bring to our lives!