14 Months

Here’s what’s going on in the world of Finley at fourteen months:

Words.

Consistent words: Mama. Dada. Maggie.

Words she wishes she could say: Bebo. She says “baba” when she lifts her shirt and looks for her bellybutton. Gray-Gray for Grayson. Still sounds like “day-day” and only on occasion. She also really wants to say her animal sounds but we just get a cute grunt for dogs “woofing”.

Words we wish she could say: Please. Thank you. I need __________ please. We are smack in the middle of the stage of fussing and pointing and “AH AH AH-ing” to communicate what she wants or needs. Wow. I caught myself tonight mindlessly saying “Finley, please use your words” (because I have said this to Grayson for so long now). She stopped fussing and looked at me funny. Oh yes child, you don’t have any words yet. So sorry. Although we have tried and continue to try signing “please” and “more” and “thank you”, she apparently thinks baby sign language is overrated.

Crawling.

Everywhere and very, very fast. She ripped holes in the knees of three of her size 12 months pants (her cousin and sister did wear them first, but still).

Walking.

She will take a handful of steps on her own if we provide great encouragement and fanfare. Video proof will be uploaded soon. She’s either stubborn or just not sure of herself yet enough to keep it up permanently. Oh that toddle-walk. I can just eat it up it’s so cute. Also cute, instead of walking on her feet, she will often “walk” on her knees. When she wants to go faster, she knee walks sort of sideways, more of a knee shuffle. Grayson thinks it’s hysterical.

Climbing.

Literally on everything. I really try not to compare the kids (how do you not do this with your second when all you knew was your first?!) But, Grayson was not a climber. I had no idea. For Finley, tables are a current favorite. And she can climb up on top of one in two seconds flat. I finally gave up on the benches to the dining room table. She can climb them and stand on them as long as she does not climb on top of the actual table. I’m waiting for the trip to the emergency room when she topples off backwards onto the hardwood floor. It’s amazing actually how she does it. She lays that tummy on the bench, her little feet fly up in the air behind her and somehow she balances to her knees then her feet. I don’t have coordination like that. She must have gotten it from Justin.

Gestures.

She waves with her hand and not her whole arm.

When she wants to be held or wants a hug, she holds her arms out in front of her with her palms facing you, wrists up, fingers down. Hard to explain but it’s the cutest thing around.

When you turn on music and ask her to dance, she waves her arms back and forth.

She points at things she wants with one finger.

She gets really excited and points when she sees any animal in real life. She about jumped out of her car seat when we drove by some geese today.

Random facts.

She loves her woobie. I have taught her this and I recognize it will full admission. When you give it to her at bedtime, she turns her head to the side and snuggles it between her cheek and shoulder. A girl after my own heart. She also throws it out of her crib about half of the time when she sleeps. Minor details. We have plenty of time to work on that.

She still sucks her right thumb, but only on occasion in the car and then always when she goes to sleep. She sleeps in her sleepsack during the day, but without it at night. We are trying to avoid the sleepsack attachment issue this time around.

She eats almost anything. As Grayson said the other day very matter of factly, “she eats anything you put on her tray mama.” Except cheese. How the child does not like cheese in this family is beyond me. She has a love hate relationship with yogurt too, also surprising.

She is a really happy baby. She does not have stranger danger, goes right into nursery at church, and is usually content if you give her a spoon and a cup to play with. Right now is a bit of a different story. Let’s just say I hope these two teeth cut through soon and she learns a few words to help us understand what she wants.

When we sit down on the floor to play, Finley immediately will climb into our laps. She doesn’t stay for very long, but she comes back to visit often. It’s one of our favorite things.

3 1/2 Years!

Hello long lost blog. I'm back. (At least for the moment. I tried to come back yesterday but blogger and I have been in a battle over this post. Apparently it's too long. They didn't know I had some catching up to do.)

Grayson "turned" three and a half this month. This girl likes to talk. Wow. It's amazing to me how they can go from babbling (which we also hear so much of right now, Finley's update will come later) to full-on talking in such a short time. This girl can "tell you a story" that will involve anything and everything from princesses to pirates to bears to "Laura and Mary and baby Carrie and Pa and Ma and Jack" (we just finished reading aloud On the Banks of Plum Creek). Almost all of her "stories" are seasoned with a "song" that she makes up which usually includes verses about "baby Jesus and Glory or Glorious" (we listen to a lot of worship music around here!) or a rendition of numbers "one one one, two three five, ten...one one one, two three five, ten ten ten". You get the picture. Hilarious and cute as pie. It's safe to say that she has a very extensive imagination.

She is very inquisitive. Which I'm trying to celebrate, but to keep it real, it can be exhausting! We talk all. day. long. Often she asks "Why?" with curiosity. As in, "Mama, why is that daffodil yellow?" The other half of the time she asks "Why?" with questioning authority. As in "Why do I have to clean this up?" Whew. Love her. But yes, exhausting.

These types of conversations happen multiple times a day. Here is a sampling:

We are driving in the car...
Me: "I need to write down to remember to look at the calendar for consignment sale dates and swim lesson dates".
Grayson (five minutes later): "My window is dirty, will you write down to remember to clean it?"

Grayson: "She was all open tears. Open tears, do you know what that means?"
Justin: "What?"
Grayson: "Open tears is a fancy word for crying."
Yes, she could write for the Fancy Nancy books.

I put pigtails in Finley's hair.
Grayson: "It's so cute mama! You made her look like a girl!"

We go to the science center and this big turkey follows us around. She was not a big fan and cried for a while about it. Very upset. Understandably, as he was as big as she was (And ugly. Amazing but ugly). We have not talked about the turkey for a solid 15 minutes and we are on our way home in the car.

Grayson (very matter of factly): "Mama, I think we should just cook that turkey".

Me: I could not say a word I was laughing SO hard and trying to keep quiet. I think I mumbled out a "mmm hmmm". We never even talked about how those turkeys are the "same" ones we cook for Thanksgiving! Smart girl.

She is big enough now to open the fridge on her own and get out her sippy cup of milk from the door. Which also means she's big enough to use a big girl cup. Which we do at mealtimes. Sitting down in the chair.

She still loves books. It borderlines on an obsession, which I am perfectly ok with. Especially now that I have another child who would rather climb on things than look at a book. She is especially fond of her Big Picture Bible these days, along with the latest library book, or magazine.

She is such a good big sister. She loves Finley and hugs her around her neck multiple times a day (as I'm pleading, "Easy on her neck, try her shoulders!"). We are venturing into the real world of "sharing with your sister" now that Finley can reach and take anything she wants.

She's starting to understand what it means to be kind and loving. Occasionally, without any prompting, she will say "I love you mama or I love you daddy". The other night she said a heartfelt prayer for a child that made me tear up. This is good news for the child that also says she wants to be a "shot nurse" when she grows up. Yes, she wants to be a "nurse that gives shots". She clams up a bit when you ask her why but let's just say that so far it doesn't seem to be because shots help people not to get sick!

When we see friends or she enters a new setting, she is still shy and hides behind me. After a few minutes of warming up, she starts talking their ears off.

Even though it can be tiring, we sure do love all of this talking and imagination at three and a half! Justin and I constantly look at each other and say "when did she become such a person?!"

Daffodils

I love daffodils. They signal the promise of spring. They are the first sign of color coming back into our brown yard, and that color happens to be a bright, sunny yellow. I'm thankful that the previous owners of our house planted a few patches out in the front yard. Grayson has gotten in on the daffodil excitement this year too. When she noticed they were blooming (they are hard to miss), every time we get out of the car she runs over "to check on the flowers". When they first started peeking out yellow, Justin came home from work one day and she says with great excitement...

"Daddy!!! There is a surprise in the yard....the dandelion...it's like, crouched up, beautiful! Like, ah ah ah". Yes, dandelion instead of daffodil, crouched up beautiful (with coordinating hand motions to the ground and then jumping up to the sky) and the "ah ah ah" was very reminiscent of Ariel singing in the Little Mermaid, although Grayson has never seen the movie for the reference. Hysterical and precious, all wrapped up into one very "I'm not sure how to say this but I'm really excited about it" three year old statement. Love. It.