15-Months-Old

Christmas was nice, overall. We spent Christmas Eve at my Dad and his fiancee's house, and Christmas at my sister's, as expected. Ellie is the only little kid in the family, but my littlest niece gets pretty excited, too (she's six). Ellie was an active participant this year, walking around, sort of opening presents, and exploring, not a bump on a log, sitting in her car seat. She sure keeps us on our toes now! 

We did stockings at our own house, which is a nice tradition to keep with going forward. Favorite gifts included a Bouncy Bee and a Little People Farm from family friends and Mommy and Daddy's gift of a Fisher Price Noah's Arc (I had one I loved to play with as a child, so this is nostalgic :). Bipa (my Dad) got her/us a Bob stroller; yaaaayyy!! In Oregon's wet weather, those big wheels really come in handy.

Ellie turned 15 months on January 10th! She is so much fun. She now practices walking a lot and can walk backwards, spin in circles, and crawl up and down our stairs (with mom or dad right behind her at this point!). She still loves books and “reads” them on her own, flipping through all the pages. She brings us books to read sometimes now and we read to her at least two or three times a day, including her special bedtime books. 

I recently bought her a few new books, including Llama Llama, Red Pajama. So cute! She makes sad, sympathetic sounds when little Llama is missing his Mama. She even cried once or twice when Llama was calling loudly for his Mama, so RC and I had to make our voices less dramatic and more calm at that part. Thinking that might be related to some developmental step around empathy or relating to book characters more or something?

We took her to her 15-month doctor's appointment last Monday, and the nurse gave her four shots. Boo. She cried, of course, but recovered well. She's around the 80th percentile in head circumference and weight and in the 50th percentile in height. I think she is a strong little girl, and that affects weight, but, also, we are still breastfeeding. 

Crazy to be breastfeeding at this point - and I would never have predicted it - but it's true. I have read that it's recommended women stop breastfeeding by 16 months because babies (I guess they are "tabies" at this point. lol) get more attached to it at that point. Do you all have any thoughts or advice? I admit I still mostly enjoy it, and it can be a nice bonding time together - not to mention an easy and efficient way to comfort her when there is an immediate need. 

On a different, bigger picture, note...crazy events going down at the Capital last week. RC and I have been glued to CNN off and on over the last nine days, and the time is slowly ticking down to the inauguration next Wednesday. From a psychological perspective, I'm fascinated by the back stories, and the sociopolitical dynamics that led up the this scary and terrible event. But on an emotional, human level, I'm horrified this happened and grateful that it wasn't worse. Several people lost their lives, though, and it seems so sad and pointless. I do hope that the silver lining is Trump will be out of the Republican Party and out of politics for good. Stay safe everyone, sending love and good wishes!

p.s. I'm about to enter the world of toddler sensory bins. We don't have a Flisat or sensory table, but, as of today, I have purchased a couple of bins, rainbow rice, corn starch, beans, and various tools for manipulating the materials and for hiding. I'll let you know how it goes soon.

p.p.s. I missed delurking week, but I would love to hear from anyone who is reading. It is encouraging to me. Thank you!