14 Month Update (and 200th post!)

Dear Diary, Our sweet, beautiful girl is 14 months today! The most common question we get is whether or not she is walking.

In a word, NO. She did ONE step ONE time about a month ago. I’m sure it’s a matter of confidence and this past week I’ve already noticed an improvement. She has started what I call the Spiderman walk – walking along the walls. Despite her Spiderman impersonation she’s a master crawler and cruiser. I’m convinced I’m going to be carrying this child around FOREVER or at least that’s how it seems. She is a lightweight and that helps but still she gets heavy after a while.

Here is a little update on the Monkey:

~ 21 lbs and 28.5 inches tall.

~ She is wearing size 9-12 month pants and 12 months shirts. A petite lady indeed!

~ Teeth count – 10 including two lower jaw molars that poked through last week. I caught a glimpse of swollen gums yesterday so I think there are more on the way - I would look but don’t want my fingers bitten off.

~Standing unaided (and dancing to Barney). She can bend over and wave although not at the same time. She tries jumping so you would think if she could jump, she could walk.

~ She is trying to crawl onto the futon and she would be successful but her legs are too short – lucky mommy because she tries getting off head first – oh dear!

~ She can point to her belly, hair, nose, toes and mouth and new body parts are being added daily. We review body parts together after changing her diaper because she can see what we are pointing at in the mirror. ~ She is a great 11 to 12 hour night sleeper (no waking up) and naps 2 to 2.5 hours once during the day. She used to nap exclusively during the morning but over the past week naps are either during the morning or the afternoon; whenever the lady prefers. I’ll have to work on that. Thankfully, she turns into a pumpkin at 7 p.m. every night regardless of what time she naps so then it’s nighty-night time.

~ She babbles a lot (bababa) but isn’t a big talker in terms of words. She says daddy, mama, Didi (Dixie), Puh (Pearl), bye-bye, uhoh and amen.

~ She understands NO, obeys very well and responds correctly to simple commands like “Bring Mommy the …… please” or “Let go and give to Mommy please”. We are specifically conscious of manners at this stage and ensure we say “please” and “thank you”. Learning by example is very important to us and I will not have a rude child.

~ Food – it’s still the Achilles heel but it’s getting better. She’s now eating chicken on a more regular basis too but everything is in small quantities. Once she has had enough she starts to throw it on the floor (BTW, thanks for the advice on food).

~ Her favourite foods include apple sauce, bread/toast, peanut and apple butter, cheese, yogurt, grapes, bananas, broccoli and most recently, kiwi. She doesn’t eat junk food and she doesn’t eat anything white (potatoes, white rice, sugar etc.) very often because Colin and I don’t either.

~ She can "splish-splash" too well and has learned to “high five” in the past week.

Here is a funny photo. Last Saturday morning she refused to nap in the morning because she changed her schedule overnight and didn’t tell us. She ate her lunch and we could see she was getting more and more relaxed. At last she fell asleep still holding onto her banana and chicken.

Happy 14th month birthday sweet Isla!

We are so blessed to have been granted another month to watch you grow physically and into your wonderful personality. It’s so exciting to watch you learn everyday – it’s awesome to see how far you’ve come from a tiny 5 lbs. 4 oz. bundle just 14 months ago.

God is good to us and we thank Him everyday for you!