15 Months

Lyla turned 15 months a few weeks ago. It just blows me away how big she is getting. She is a pistol full of energy and is on the go all the time. She is jabbering so much now. She talks to herself and to anyone who will listen although most of it is still in her own language.

Some of the things she is saying:
Shoe (shz), milk, water (wawa), Big Guy (guy guy), bird, dog, kitty (kith), nana (which is for all fruit), yes, no, hi, bye-bye, mama, dada, hot (which can be for hot dog and I'm also trying to teach her what things are hot), cheese, please (she will sign it and/or say it)...it took me a while to teach Lyla please in sign language. It's the only sign word she knows. She definitely has her mommy's strong will. She would mimic every word we say, but would refuse to say or sign please. I think she knew we were trying to teach her manners and decided she was going to refuse. Andy and I had a 30 minute cry fest on our hands one night when we refused to give her milk until she said please. (And Andy would have you know that I finally gave in and gave her the milk without her officially saying please. She was tired and hungry and did much better later in the day with please after both her needs were met). She now says please the majority of the time when prompted.

At her doctor's appointment she weighed in at 19lbs 14oz and 31 inches. She is a little over the 50% for her height and I think in like the 10% for her weight, but Dr. Wood was just glad she is gaining. (If you remember at her one year appoint. she only gained like 13oz in 3 months). Dr. Wood was very impressed with all that Lyla is doing now.

Lyla loves to turn on and off light switches. It's a huge fascination. If she sees one you better believe she's going to want you to carry her over to play with it. She has finally learned to get down stairs. It's funny because when she was crawling she could climb up and down my parent's staircase, but as soon as she started walking it's like she forgot how to get down. She now can go forwards on her bottom, or backwards on her belly. Lyla loves being read to. She has about 5 favorite books and she can find them anywhere on her book shelf. She will bring one to me, put it in my hand and climb in my lab. I love that she will actually sit through a book...at least 90% of the time. She's also gotten better about putting things back and giving things to people when prompted.

At this point Lyla is still taking 2 naps. Her summer routine with me is to wake up between 8:00-8:30 and then go back down around 10:00 for an hour or so. Then she'll take about a 2 hour nap around 3:00. We still put her to bed around 8:30, but it's not uncommon for her to talk to herself until about 9:30.

Lyla has so much imagination. She holds conversations on my cell phone while walking around the house. (I guess she's seen mommy do this a time or to). Often I find her in her room sitting on the floor "reading" to herself, playing with her shoes (while sitting in her shoe basket), or trying to put on Daddy's crocs and where them around the house. She still loves her baby doll and her radio. Lyla still loves to dance. I think this is one of my favorite things. She will hear music and just stop whatever she is doing to groove. She loves to be outside or at least crawl up on the couch to look out the window. She absolutely loves airplanes. If she hears one we try to run outside and see if we can see it. But even if we stay inside she'll wave and say bye-bye.

She is becoming more and more independent. She can play be herself and get things she wants herself. Andy and I find our selves saying, "she is getting so big" on a regular basis. It just amazing to me how much she has grown and changed just since her 1st birthday 3 months ago.