Tuesday, April 14, 2015

14 Month Update



Well I feel like it's been forever.  One of these days I'm going to get back into the groove of writing more frequently.

(Guesses, she goes to the doctor for her 15month checkup next month)
Weight: 24lbs
Height: 31"


EATING
So many changes here since our last update at 12 months.  She never gave us any problems with the transition from breastmilk to whole milk at 1 year, so that was wonderful.  She now drinks about 18oz a day of whole milk (a bottle before morning nap, bottle before afternoon nap, bottle before bedtime).  The rest of the day she drinks a sippy cup of diluted juice (1/3 juice and 2/3 water).  Her favorite juice seems to be Apple but she also accepts Pear, White Grape, and Apple Prune.

She will accept just about any soft-spout sippy cup now, but her favorite is this sippy spout top on her regular 9oz Avent bottles.




She's doing better with eating cut up pieces of food (she used to like biting off bigger pieces).  She does not like her fingers getting sticky, so if we give her anything like pb&j (she likes the grape Uncrustables) she likes to bite off of a bigger piece or she wants us to feed it to her piece by piece.  Little clean freak ;)

Foods she has tried-- refried beans, chicken noodle soup, cool whip, yogurt bites, puffs and lil'crunchies from Gerber, steamed carrots, cut up banana, cut up peach, cantaloupe, parmesan cheese straws, Maple flavor mini-pancakes, tater tots, white grapes

Foods she loves--guacamole, crescent rolls, breadsticks, potato soup, half a banana, fried pickles, animal crackers, Garden Tomato & Veggie Dip Gerber Crunchies, Blueberry & Purple Sweet Potato Puffs from Pluum, Spinach Apple Kale teething crackers from Pluum,  mashed potatoes, cocktail meatballs, brownies, oreo truffles, chicken & rice, french fries, any type of chicken, turkey lunchmeat, breakfast casserole (ham, sausage & egg), strawberries, grits, Gerber yogurt (blueberry, strawberry, strawberry-banana, banana).  Nilla wafers (thanks to her Daddy!!)

She's a huge fan of breakfast foods and just about anything Eggo.  French Toasters and Blueberry Waffles are definite favorites.  The French Toasters come in a cinnamon flavor that she also likes.  Usually with waffles we will put a teeny tiny bit of Reddy Whip on it (then mash it together so the whip cream soaks in) to soften the texture a little bit.  That was the solution I came up with as an alternative to syrup because it was less sticky (for my picky child) and less sugar.  We also got some Sweet Potato Butter from the South 40 farmer's market in Clover that she likes a little bit of on waffles & french toast. 




Ryleigh is a meat lover! We call her our "little carnivore" because she will eat tons and tons of meat.  Chicken, ham, sausage, ground meat, lunch meat (chicken, turkey).  She will eat it all!  It's nothing for her to eat 4-5 slices of ripped up lunch meat.  One night she ate THREE chicken fingers herself on top of a slew of other food.  Definitely no protein deficiencies!


We still give her 1 or 2 purees (4oz) a day because it makes me feel better that she's getting a rounded meal, especially for green veggies. 



She is a great eater and she will let us know when she is hungry or wants more.  We tried introducing sign language, but overall haven't really needed to use it because she is very vocal.  She has signed "more" on several occasions but usually she will tap her tray or say "cracker", "cookie" or "baba" to let us know she wants more food.  All we have to do is show her a food container and ask "would you like some of this?" and she will either say "no" or give us a big grin and reach out her hands for it.  This makes communication on food pretty easy!





TEETHING

She has all 8 front teeth and a couple pre-molars are working their way through!  Her poor little gums are quite swollen and one tooth especially is very close to popping through (top left).



SLEEPING
Still sleeps about 11-11.5hrs a night.  She sometimes wakes around 3 or 4 am...not sure if it's bad dreams, teething pain, or that she just misses us (which I've heard sometimes happens around this age).  Usually it just takes a little back rub, or sometimes a quick cuddle, and she goes back to sleep just fine.  I sometimes change her diaper too just to help make her more comfortable.  
We have been elevating one side of her mattress to help with congestion (just put a pillow under one side of the mattress).  Around 1 year old we also started letting her sleep with blankies in her crib at night.  Her blankies of choice are burp clothes with long silk tags on them.  She likes to rub the silk tag and cuddle the blanket.   For her naps--if it's a weekday she will usually stay awake playing all morning with the daycare kids and get a 2hr nap in the afternoon.  If it's the weekend, she is pretty much like clockwork--she goes down for a morning nap about 2hrs after she wakes up and she will sleep for 2-2.5hrs, then plays for about 3hrs and goes back down for an afternoon nap that lasts about 1-1.5hrs. 

ACTIVITY

Walking & running everywhere!  She never crawls anymore.  She has the cutest little strut.  She's great at climbing up stairs, but has no idea how to climb down.  She LOVES dancing and singing.  She learned "God is So Good" at daycare and will sing along if someone else sings it (she chimes in with very loud "God" and "Good" and sometimes tries to say "me").  She loves toy cars and trucks, and she loves her mega block legos.  She loves a giant plastic ball that Sue Sue & PaPa got her. She just likes to carry it around and make it roll.  She likes her wooden farm and making animal noises (she knows "moo" "quack" "woof" and will blow raspberries if we ask her what sound an elephant makes).  She is learning colors (or at least, color names...I'm not sure how well she actually associates colors with their names yet).  She can say "purple" and "booo"(blue). She loves being outside (although not during this pollen season!) and enjoys wagon rides, stroller rides, and swings.





She understands SO MUCH of what we are saying.  We can give her commands and she will get up and do them immediately.  One of her favorite things to do is throw away trash!  If we say "okay it's bedtime" she walks right over to the stairs and waits by the baby gate so that she can climb up to bed.

She now says/has said:
 "Dada"
"Daddy"
"Mama"
"Mommy" (a couple times, usually I'm "Mama")
"Papa"
"SueSue"
 "Kk" referring to Kona
"Ssssssssssssss"
"Thhhhhhhh"
"Kkkkkk"
"Ba ba ba ba"
"Ta ta ta ta"
"Guh"
"RrrrrLLl" <--Her version of Ryleigh that she's copied us saying a couple times.
"Go, Go, Go!"
"Ko" <--Kona
"Reee" or "Eeese"<--Reece
"Cak" <----Clap
"Hi"
"Hi Dada"
"Daw" <---Dog
"Gog"  her other version of dog
"Hey duh" her version of "Hey there"
"Hey"
"Hi"
"Bye Bye"
"Bah-Buh" <--"Baby" for her babydoll
"Kak-kuh"  <---cracker
"Na-Na"  for Banana
"Diapuh" diaper
"Ah Wubbya" I love you
"Ahmee" Amen
"yeah"
"whoa"
"uh ooo" for Uh Oh!
"Ba Ba" for requesting her bottle
"baby" <--she learned this one after becoming OBSESSED with her little cousin Karrigan!
"purple"
"booo" (blue)
"God"
"Good"
"Ray-Na" she said this once when we asked her to say Reina!
"Geeee" she said this a couple times when we ask her to say Grady
"Wow"
"Weeeeeee" <--she likes saying this on the swings :)

Clicking her tongue
Giving kisses...her human version [open mouth] and dog version [open mouth w/tongue sticking out!]
making the sound of a rolling "R" (like in Spanish)
Waving Hi & Bye bye
She gives hugs, but only to her babydoll.  It's precious.



DIAPERING
Size 3, although we are getting ready to transition to 4's I think...



 CLOTHES
 She's a little all over the place.  She fits 12m or 18m onesies.  She can fit into some jackets & vests that are 9m, 12m, or 18m.  She wears 12m or 18m pants.  Pretty much, the larger sizes are nice for added length but her waist still fits the smaller ones also.



 SPECIAL FIRSTS 
--Throwing trash away on command
--Going to bed on command (climbing stairs)
--Running
--saying her first color "purple"
--More new dance moves
--Tried peanut butter, eggs, and strawberries and wasn't allergic to them!! (big win! I was worried since she has a food allergy to annatto)
--First ponytail and pig tails!  It's a sad little sprout, but it's adorable and keeps hair out of her face!
--First time using the big potty (#2)! Total fluke thanks to whole milk constipation...but it worked! Twice actually.  We are not potty training yet but she's already showing interest so who knows!