Jane at 16 months

I am very behind on blogging! I just wanted to show a recent picture of Jane. I find myself staring at her wondering where the time has gone and how much she has grown! She looks like a big girl now. She will always be my baby, but she is certainly not a baby anymore!

Her vocabulary is expanding and she is learning more signs everyday. Nana (banana) is a new one, but No is the most popular. She signs: more, eat, drink, all done, more, mama. She definitely has a mind of her own and is very headstrong! She is always on the move-cooking at her kitchen, reading books, stacking blocks, or strolling her baby-she strips her socks off and starts running. Her bottle (ba-ba) is still her favorite thing and I'm not ready for the wrath that will come when I take it away (so it is still used for milk). She has discovered the pockets on some of her outfits and I find "treasures" in them at the end of the day.

She loves jumping on the bed and is days away from being able to climb onto the couch by herself. Yesterday she worked very hard, but conquered climbing on top of the coffee table. Little does she know that her chair that she normally stands in is right beside the coffee table and she could literally step up to the table...shhhh.

Eating is up and down. She normally is a good eater and will almost everything, but with this cold and her teething, she doesn't want to eat anything except her ba-ba. As for sleeping, we are on the up and up! Her favorite foods are probably cottege cheese, string cheese, pretzels, avacado,

Since the new year, there have been new sleeping habits. Jane is now sleeping all night in her crib only waking in the middle of the night occasionally, but putting herself back to sleep. Yea!! She has moved herself to one nap a day. She normally sleeps from 1-1:30 to 4. Sometines she will be in her crib for 3 hours and if she wakes up early, she plays with the toys I have put in her crib. This has been great for both of us. She wakes up in a fabulous mood (normally chatting and giggling while jumping up and down in her crib) and I have a food 3 hours to get things done. Everyone wins!

Jane is still a sweetheart. She will randomly come hug me and give me a "muh-wha" kiss. It may be from behind (around my legs if standing or across my back if I am sitting) or if I am at face level she will grab my cheeks with both of her hands and bringing me in for a smack on the lips. It melts my heart! She will blow a kiss too.

She has a lot of great new faces and she practices them in the mirror: 1) she dips her chin to her chest and tilts her head to the right and looks up at you acting shy 2) she scrunches her eyes and curls her lip into a smile 3) she looks surprised and makes an O shape with her mouth 4) and she is working on her growl face

She likes to help around the house. She helps me with the laundry. She moves clothes from one pile to the other (lights and darks) or back into the hamper and then helps put the clothes in the washer. When she wakes up from her nap, our first chore after diaper changing is feeding Maggie. Jane helps by bringing Maggie's bowl to the food bin where I fill it up, the she carefully walks out of the laundry room and places the bowl back for Maggie to eat. Maggie is very sweet and sits until the bowl has been placed and I give the go ahead. Sometimes Jane hovers and watches Maggie inhale her food and other times she is off to her next project.

She identifies Mama and Dada, says our name, then points to us. The first time she did this she looked at my picture on on the cover of the Natchez Magazine  (http://natchezmagazine.com/)  that was on the coffee table, pointed at me and said Mama, then looked up, pointed at me and said Mama again. I was amazed.  She has also done this to Aunt Grace. Grace had a 7 page spread in the  Northside Sun modeling wedding gowns for different stores around Jackson (still looking for the link). Most of the time we can ask where someone is and she will point to them, including Gran Jan, Papa Mike, Uncle Micajah, Totty, P, and Rose.

Her hair is very long and the ends will curl after naps and bathtime.. Hyde loves this! His hair did the same thing when he was her age. His was even curlier so maybe....She is wearing 18-24month clothes, wears a 5-5.5 shoe and weighs around 26 pounds. (Mama's back is starting to feel it too!) She cut her 4 one year molars too! Finally!! 

Diaper time: Jane hates to have her diapers changed! I think she has had too many terrible cases of diaper rash and now hates hates HATES to get a fresh diaper. For a while, picking out something off her special shelf to play with distracted her, then we sang songs with motions, but now those tricks don't work. Now, she will not fuss if I change her while she stands up on the changing table. This is a bit tricky! I have been doing it for about 2-3 weeks now and am improving my technique and speed, but it is still somewhat difficult. But, Jane does not kick and scream and we don't have tears at the end of diaper time. Call me a pushover, but it is so much less stressful! (Oh, and now she has figured out that while I am concentrating on the diaper, she can tickle me by sticking her little finger in my ear.)

She still loves bathtime, tea time, dancing, anything outdoors, and making a liar out of her parents. Anytime we want to show someone she can do or say something, she doesn't.

So that is 16 months in a nutshell. I'll be back soon I hope with more pictures.