Little Bean Sprout

Well, she's at it again. She just keeps on growing!

The week before last we had another well-child doctor visit. Fifteen (almost sixteen) months already? Wow. Time keeps flying by and I hardly know where it goes, but Attia keeps getting bigger, smarter, and cuter (if that's possible).

In the past three months she has grown another 1 1/2" inches and put on 3 pounds. It's amazing how they do it in such fast spurts. We have a growth board that we mark her height on, and from January to April she grew about an inch, and then she grew another inch just from April to May!

Here are her stats:

  Age                      Height       %                      Weight               %                      Head Circ.        %

15 Months                   30.75"     59%                  22 lbs 1 oz           37%                     18"                 44%

12 Months                   29.25"     53%                  19 lbs 0 oz           16%                     17.5"              30%

  9 Months                   27.9"       60%                  17 lbs 14 oz         31%                     17.25"            43%

  6 Months                   26"          50%                  15 lbs 5 oz           29%                     16.5"              27%

  4 Months                   25"          67%                  13 lbs 11 oz         41%      

10 Weeks                    23"          62%                  11 lbs 0 oz           42%                     15"                 21%

  6 Weeks                    21.25"      39%                   9 lbs 5 oz            38%                    14.5"              29%

  2 Weeks                    20.75"      71%                   7 lbs 2 oz            18%                    14.75"            84%

  1 Week                     19.25"       29%                  6 lbs 4 oz              9%                     13.5"              27%

  1 Day                        19"           34%                   6 lbs 15 oz          30%       

She's has done a lot more than just grow over these last few months though. Every day she turns into more of a kid.

One of the biggest changes is that she understands almost everything that we say to her. If you ask her to bring something to you or to someone else, she does. If you ask her to throw something away she will take it right to the trashcan, and she will even close the cabinet door when she is done. We just have to be careful that she isn't throwing away other stuff, like daddy's bike tools. :-) 

Helping mommy clean the doors and wood trim

She has also started copying everything that we do. The other day she saw me gargle, so now she tries to do it when she is drinking water out of her camel back bottle. She usually ends up with a very wet shirt.

These new-found skills have led to a big leap in her vocabulary. There are some words that she now uses regularly, like poopy, puppy, Rosa, Jack, baby, mommy, dad, dog, a-huh, look, here, yeah, hi, eye, and 'whas this'. And then there are some that she has pretty clearly tried out once or twice, including upstairs, outside, there it is, lemon (when we were talking about lemon basil in the garden), night, and luv you. 

She wants to help with EVERYTHING, whether we ask her to or not. I was just joking about chore time in the last post, but she really does like to help. She loves to get our shoes and bring them to us to put on. If we already have shoes on she tries to to them off so that we can put on the pair that she just brought us. She likes to help brush her teeth(she sticks out her little finger so that we can put the finger toothbrush on it). She likes to get the mail. She 'helps' with the dust pan when I sweep the floors. And the list goes on.

She is especially eager to help if it has anything to do with Rosa. She likes to feed her (and she helps us with this almost every day now), she gets her leash if she wants to go for a walk ,and she tries to put her on her tie-out when we are hanging out outside. Oh, and she loves trying to throw the ball for Rosa. Rosa is pretty happy with this new source of attention.


She found her belly button. And she is very eager to show it off. If you ask her, she will point to it for you. :-)

She has been able to point to her eyes, ears, nose and mouth for quite some time.

She has been trying to whistle for a while now, and she has been going through the motions but hadn't gotten much sound. Then the other day we were driving to the grocery store and she tooted the whole way there!

She is little Miss Accessory. She loves to accessorize. Sunglasses, jewelry, headbands, shoes and purses, she does it all. Every time I put my sunglasses on she has to put hers on also. And this past week she has been pulling out her pearls and pink headband to wear with almost every outfit (or no outfit) for a portion of the day. So cute!

And her hair is finally getting long enough that we were able to out a 'ponytail' in it for the first time. ;-)

First Ponytail: June 4, 2012

She loves to dance. Almost any time music is turned on she will stop what she is doing and start dancing. Check out this link to see a video of Attia dancing to the Flaming Lips. 

She has been enjoying swimming at home and at the wading pool with friends.

She got her sixth tooth at the beginning of June. This one was her second lateral incisor. 

She eats the same food that we eat, and she eats it sitting in her booster seat at the big table. She was very happy to make the move to her new big girl seat. 

And she loves sharing her food too

She has been learning to 'sleep in' in the morning. Yea! By 'sleep in' I only mean until like 7:00 or 7:30, but that's ok by us. Sometimes she will come into our bed and sleep a little longer, which is very nice, but usually she just wants to nurse and then play. 

She has started to sign 'please' when she wants something, usually after being prompted. We started using this more because she was being, um, very demanding when she wanted more of something, like a snack. You know, like another piece of strawberry while I'm busy washing and cutting them for her. Having her stop and sign 'please' usually stops her from yelling for it.

Throwing little tantrums is another story. This really just started earlier this week. At the drop of a hat, or a toy, she sits down and bursts into tears and screams. Take away a crayon that she is trying to eat? Watch out! We try to just ignore her when she does this and sometimes she gets over it right away and other times she just gets more upset, so it takes some cuddling and distraction to get her back to baseline. Until the next small incident occurs. At first we thought she was getting another tooth and it was making her extra cranky, but we are starting to have doubts about that. Maybe its an early onset of the 'terrible twos'? Hope not. I guess only time will tell...

The First Thanksgiving (at least for one little girl)

Thanksgiving was in St. Louis for us this year, so for Attia's first Thanksgiving we packed up our bags, the baby, and the dog, and headed down I-70 to join my family for the holiday festivities.

When we arrived Wednesday night we met up with my Mom and Dennis for an Imo's dinner at the house that I grew up in. They have recently moved to their newly remodeled home, but we were meeting at the old house so that I could see it one last time before they sell it. They have fixed up every inch of it and will be putting it on the market soon. It's sad to see it go! We didn't have long to visit before Attia needed to get to bed, but it was great to see them and the house, and my old neighbor Janis Freeman who came down to see us. And of course the Imo's was delicious!

The next day was Thanksgiving at my dad's house with Drew, Karen, and the Evans gang. We had a delicious afternoon feast, and even Attia had some mashed potatoes and turkey. She is used to eating potatoes, so that was no problem for her, but she wasn't so sure about the turkey. She hasn't quite mastered chewing yet :-). We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone, and Attia enjoyed getting to meet everyone for the first time! So many new faces!

Cooks preparing a feast

The festive table toppers

Pass the turkey!

Enjoying a carrot

And some mashed potatoes.
Notice the turkey on the floor :-)

Joining the grown-ups at the big table.

Bouncing on Wanda

Hanging with Opa, Nelly, and Dennis

In the evening, Drew, my dad, and I went over to see Granny Sue, Aunt Rose, Shirley, Uncle Ding, and Aunt Shelly for a second Thanksgiving. Everyone was dying to meet Attia, but unfortunately she goes to bed early and after a busy day she was ready for dinner and sleep instead of meeting more people. I'm really glad that we got to go see everyone, but I wish Attia would have been able to make it too! We need to introduce her to her Great Granny Sue and everyone else soon!

The girls

Granny Sue, Aunt Rose, Me, Shirley, Drew

Aunt Shelly & Uncle Ding

On Friday we returned to Lawrence, but before we left we met at my mom & Dennis's house for breakfast. Unfortunately my mom had an encounter with some shelves not long before we arrived so she wasn't feeling the best. She was happy to see Attia though, and we got to see their new house for the first time. Everything that they have done looks really nice! My grandma (Granny) was able to join us over there also, so Attia got to meet her Great Granny for the first time!

Uncle Drew, Attia, Me, Great Granny

Attia, Me, Nana

We wished we could stay longer but duties called and we had to get back. One good thing about getting back earlier though, was that we were able to get our Christmas decorations up! I took care of things inside while Austin took care of lights outside and we had all of the Christmas stuff ready to go by Dec. 1. Christmas here we come!

Happy Holidays!

'Solid' Food and Other Recent Firsts

In September Attia had her first introduction to the world of solid foods. She was totally ready for it and she loved it! - for the most part. :-) There are definitely some things that she likes better than others, but after a few tries she seems to like it all. We started with rice cereal, which she really liked, and she was VERY eager to eat! Here's a video of her first try:

After we did rice cereal for a couple of weeks we moved on to veggies - some of them got really great reactions with the first taste! So far we have tried:

• Rice Cereal - Sept. 2: Attia's first introduction to solid food and she loved it right away! She was very excited to try eating with a spoon, and immediately wanted to help feed herself!

• Carrots - Sept. 12: These got the worst/best first reaction. She made a face that made it very clear she was not a fan! I think a lot of it had to do with the texture and preparation though. I was making the baby food myself, without a food processor, and even with a lot of steaming and mashing carrots just don't get very smooth. Later in the month we tried out some organic jarred carrots and she liked those much better. She still wasn't too sure about the taste, but by the third try she was happy to eat it. 

• Bananas - Sept. 16: A huge hit! Sauteed bananas were super easy to make and mash, and she loved them! After a hesitant first taste she decided they were ok, and was ready to munch away!

• Sweet Potato - Sept. 25: This one went over pretty well, and she liked both the homemade version and the organic jarred version. By the third day she was gobbling it down!

• Peas w/ brown rice - Oct. 4: We got a pretty priceless reaction with this one too. : -) Her first green veggie. She was more 'ok' with it each day, but she didn't warm up to it quite as well as the others. We held off on them for two weeks and when we tried them again she decided that they were just fine, and she ate the whole jar!

• Winter Squash - Oct. 7: This was an instant winner! She flew through half a jar (much more than usual) the first night that she tried it. Definitely her favorite thing that she has tried so far!

It's no question that our baby girl is growing up fast, and learning and experiencing new things every day! Here are a few of her other milestones and first experiences from the last month...

Milestones:

In September she mastered sitting by herself while playing with toys at the same time.

She has been able to pull herself up to standing while holding on to our fingers for quite a while, and now she is trying to pull herself up while holding onto other things.

She is able to stand at the ottoman and play with toys for a short period (with mommy or daddy right behind her)

And she has the signs of her first tooth trying to work its way through! She can't stop playing with it with her tongue  :-)

Firsts:

She got to experience her first Haskel Indian Art Market as well as her first Lawrence Arts & Crafts Festival. Sept. -11th

She visited the post office for the first time. -Sept. 15th

She saw the leaves change colors and fall to the ground for the first time, and she crumbled her first leaf - an instant favorite thing to do!

She got her first cold :-(. No fun, but she loved her day to stay home from daycare with her daddy. 

And we have MANY more to come!