~16 Months~

Holy cow!  The little one turned 16 months at the start of the week.  We just can't believe it.  Here's part of a funny conversation I had with one of Sina's caregivers at school when I picked her up the evening she turned 16 months.

Caregiver:  We just wanted to let you know that since Sina is 18 months now we're moving her to the toddler room this week.

Me:  Why?  She's 16 months today.

Caregiver:  No, she's 18 months right?  She was born in June.

Me:  Umm...no, she was born in August.

Caregiver:  Are you sure?

I'll stop right there.  After I straightened everything out, we had a few laughs, but seriously?  Am I sure my baby was born in August?  Uh, yeah.  I was on drugs that night, but I remember it was August :)

Bottom line...she's 16 months and is, in fact, ready to move over to the toddler room.  I know she can handle it...I just don't think that I can.  Our girl is growing too darn fast.  Heck, I don't think I'll be ready when it is time for her to go to that room in two months.  I'm dreading it!

At this late hour, I'm trying to run through everything that went on this month.  The only thing that really stands out is Thanksgiving and all of the Christmas preparation and events we've been enjoying.  I love this age, especially around the holidays.  Sina can actually grasp what is going on around her and is having so much fun with it from tasting all kinds of holidays treats, to attending our work holiday parties, and helping us put up our Christmas tree.

I actually found this format for a monthly update on Jessica's blog, Learning As We Go.  Every time I do my monthly updates, I feel like I leave a lot of information out, so this is a good guide to follow that will hopefully ensure that I have all grounds covered.  Sina's got some very curious grandparents who want to be on the up-and-up on their favorite granddaughter :)

Stats: 
Sina doesn't have another check up until she turns 18 months.  However, I put her on our scale and it read 22 pounds, which is not even a full pound heavier than she was at her one-year mark, so I'm not sure how accurate that read is.  She actually feels more like 25 pounds.  We are transitioning her to size 5 diapers and she wears clothes sizes 18-24 months, although one or two items can be size 2T, depending on the brand (i.e. Carter's).  Her shoe size is 5.

Words/Communication:
Her vocabulary continues to grow by the day. 

(Old Words): 
- Here's a list of words that I could remember from last month
- A video clip of words that she knows from her Your Baby Can Read program, taken two months ago
-I think I forgot "moon" last month.  She says it "mmmmm".
-Cat = "Meow"
-Giraffe = "Wawa"

(New Words)
- Christmas Tree = "Tee-tis=tee"
- Santa = "Ta ta"
- Elmo = "Mo mo"
- Boo-boo = "Ba Ba"
- Please = "Psssh"
- Porcupine  "Pie"
- Thank you = "Tee tee", which she says when she gives you something or wants you to open something for her, or as she hands you a book she wants you to read to her.
- Chocolate = "Ka ka" or she either says or signs "More".  Is she my daughter or what?  She came to know chocolate by way of an advent calendar she received as a gift.  Malu is so disappointed that I introduced her to chocolate at so young an age.  Now she asks and/or cries for it.  My bad.
-She pronounces words ending in"-ar" as "ah-ee".  So car is "cah-yee" and star is "tah-ee".  We were playing with her one evening, trying to get her to pronounce a rolling R, like in Spanish words.  When she hears the rolling R, she blows raspberries.  So cute.
-She says "ooooooohhhh!" when she sees something interesting
-She loves signing.  I tell you, many tantrums have been thwarted due to our use of sign language. 

Food: 
She eats to no end.  She LOVES food.  Lives for it.  Thank goodness she's so active...we'd have one chunky monkey on our hands.  She says "mmmmmm!" at the sight (i.e. looking at magazines and cookbooks), taste, and smell of food. She is not picky at all, so the question is whether there is anything she doesn't like to eat.  Actually there is.  Pickles.  She doesn't like pickles!

Naps:
School's got her programmed to take her naps around noon.  She'll usually nap for about two hours, sometimes more depending on what we had her doing earlier in the day.  She sleeps well overnight too.  We try to have her in bed by 8:00 pm these days and she usually starts stirring at about 7:30 am.

Although she's "routinized" from school, we don't let this dicate our family schedule, say, on weekends when we like to go off to visit places.  She'll pitch a fit occasionally when she's off-schedule, but it's not a big deal.  She'll fall asleep in any setting, thank goodness.

Firsts:
This month, she learned how to use a straw. 

Others:
-She knows where all facial features and major body parts are and will point to them when you ask.
-She is very strong and agile.  She can climb/hoist herself atop a normal chair, which freaks me out along with her ability to walk along our sectional.  We've been working on getting it across to her that couches are for sitting, not for standing and running atop of. 
-She gets along extremely well with others, especially at school.  She's also very affectionate and gives hugs and hi-fives to people she favors.  If you're sitting on the floor at her level, she'll come up from behind you and rub your back or play with your hair.  She blows kisses upon request and fires "I love you's" at will.  Love.
-She now becomes shy when we take her to new places where we meet new people.  This is even more so when she is tired (i.e. like when we take her out to dinner/events close to her bedtime).  She'll cover her eyes if someone new looks at her. If someone she doesn't know or she hasn't seen in a while approaches her, she'll turn her head away and try not to make eye contact.  She did it the first time she met Santa Claus at the PX in Grafenwoehr.  After a few seconds, however, she ended up giving him hi-fives.
-We're still working on setting limits for this little girl who wants to do things independently and when/how she wants to do it.  She is so stubborn sometimes and the time-out has been inflicted numerous times just to get her to calm down and think about why she can't always have her way.
-She LOVES music.  As soon as she hears it, starts dancing.  Sometimes, she'll just dance for the heck of it, without music.  She can do the actions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and is apparently the only one in her class that participates in sing-alongs.
-She loves to read. She's read so many books and has favorites.  Some books she already knows by heart.  She knows exactly what's coming next.  It's the same with videos.  She'll say words that pop up next before they actually pop up.
-She has not given up the binky at this point in time.  We're working on it.
-She can distinguish hot from cold--and can say/sign both.
-And, she has such a funny personality and smiles/laughs all the time. I'm not sure where she picked this up, but we now call it the "crazy eye".  When you ask her to do the "crazy eye", she does this Angry Birds thing with her eyes and will crack up at herself.  She did it while having lunch with me and some girlfriends of mine yesterday.  They think she's a hoot!

I could go on and on about Sina forever, but I'll stop right here.  What a month!  I'd say she's accomplished so much and we're so proud!

Sina, we love you so, so, so much!  Happy 16 Months!