15 months!

Wow.  I have a toddler!  And she is pretty amazing.  I don't know how time went by so quickly, but it seems everyone warned me this would happen, so I should have known.  I will have to go back and add photos/video later, but for now I want to get everything down before I forget.

Amelie blows my mind with her intelligence.  She is far more vocal and adept with sign language than any other baby her age I've met.  I know we shouldn't compare babies, but honestly, she is a super star when it comes to language skills.  This little lady can sign 23 different words, and says a whole bunch of stuff with regularity too (in addition to mimicking whatever we say).  At her 15 month checkup (where she clocked in at 22 lbs, 14 oz and 31" tall), I was able to check almost everything off the 12-24 month milestone inventory, with a few exceptions.  It's easier to say what Ami can't do, rather than what she can.  She can't yet stack 6 blocks (only 5), and she can't take all her clothes off by herself (aside from socks/shoes/hat).  She can't run, and she can't eat with utensils without spilling (though she loves to try!).  Otherwise, she is well above her developmental curve, mastering many things months ahead of schedule.

Here are her 23 signs:  Milk, More, All Done, Potty, Diaper, Medicine, Cheese, Goodbye, Book, Bath, Cookie, Poop, Again, Please, Cold, Shoes, Yes, Bounce, Sorry, Hot, Thank You, Help, Stop, Hurt, and Open.

She also says Dada, Mama, Kitty, Up, Cold, Hot, Nice, Diaper, More, Milk, Num Nums, Outside, Water (wa wa), Nose, Eyes, Yay, Night Night, Bye Bye, Baby, Stop, Whoa, Boom, Ouch, Walk, Purple, Shoes, Rock, Mail, Please, Help, Open, and she tries her best to say a whole lot of other words, including many spontaneous imitations.  Plus her adorable baby "talk" that makes no sense to anyone but her.

She can recite the noises on command for the following animals: Dog, Cat, Cow, Horse, Chicken, Lion, Monkey, Wolf, Sheep, Elephant, Pig, Frog, Bunny ("hop hop hop!") And also Truck, "vrmm vrmm!" ;)

She can throw and catch a ball.  She is starting to say her own name (though it sounds mostly like Am...).  She loves to be outside, and really gets upset when she has to come inside. She still goes on the potty in the morning, after nap. and occasionally during the day.  She hasn't been going numero dos in the pot lately, though. Too busy to stop what she's doing, and harder for us to catch her cues when she is walking all over the place!

She is still nursing like a champion, and has only ever drank breast milk and water.  She loves to eat cheese, seaweed, blueberries, pasta, watermelon, peas, Trader Joe's O's (Non-GMO Cheerios), and yogurt.  She doesn't really care for meat.  She especially loves cookies, which (to her), includes granola and any treat like Trader Joe's dark chocolate peanut butter cups.  We don't generally give her things with refined sugar, except that. She has had a few tastes of ice cream, and is definitely a fan.  She will try anything once, but often spits things out after deciding she isn't keen on the texture/flavor.

She takes one nap a day, usually 90 minutes (11:30am-1 or so), and still doesn't sleep through the night.  She is in (Mommy's) bed for 12-13 hours a night, though she wakes up to nurse as often as every 2 hours or more.  Since Daddy is working overnights, mostly Mommy just switches sides and goes back to sleep just ask quick as Amelie does with some milk.

She wears size 4 shoes, size 12-18 month clothes (for the most part - some 9 mo, and one or two 24 mo), and size 3 disposable diapers (at night... cloth during the day).  She is in the 68th percentile for height, and 73rd for weight.  Her head (big ole' brain!) is in the 91st percentile.  Crazy how far this tiny 6 lb baby girl has come!

We feel so lucky to have Amelie in our lives, and also to have such supportive friends and family to share in our journey as parents.  Thanks to all of you for being interested in our little lady!

11th Month of Amelie Videos

This was a month of happy and sad times.  On May 5th, we lost our kitty Dexter, and we are still heartbroken and missing him.  We did get one video of him with Amelie this month before he got sick, so that's in here.  Amelie has been growing and changing so much.  She can now point to identify our nose and teeth when asked.  She cut 2 new teeth (top middle).  They seemed to take forever to finally come through, so there are a couple shots of me getting a closer look to see what was going on.  She loves to walk w/ her push toy, and has started standing a little without holding on, but we don't have that on video just yet.  She still loves to headbang.  She is starting to try to say words like "kitty" and "teeth."  Wonder how long it will be until she starts walking... can't believe it's only 1 month until she is a year old!

10 months old

 

10 months, 1 day old

Close up with our teething squealy girl

10 months, 3 days old

Last video with Dexter :(

Banging on her potty

 Giggles :)

 

10 months, 4 days old

Playing with Daddy :)

 10 months, 5 days old

Standing up with her toy

Reading with Mommy

10 months, 8 days old

Trying to check out the top teeth coming through (not quite yet)

Headbanging

10 months, 10 days old

Playing with Zuri (the day Dexter passed)

Clapping to "The Office" theme song

A closer look at the teething progress

  

10 months, 11 days old

Found Daddy's nose!

10 months, 13 days old

Playing with Everleigh & Alexander

10 months, 2 weeks old

Found Mama's teeth!

Eating Happy Baby organic puffs

Taking Mommy out w/ her Indestructibles Book

10 months, 16 days old

(not) Eating Eggs

Silly girl ;)

10 months, 19 days old

Crawling around w/ a "cape"

10 months, 20 days old

New xylophone!

She loves it!

10 months, 22 days old

Fridge magnet game fun

First blueberries!

Big girl tooth!

10 months, 23 days old

Photo op w/ her buddy William

10 months, 25 days old

Trying to say "Kitty"

(For some reason it won't embed.  Click here to watch)

Beware the wrath of Ami & her kitty toy on a stick!

Walking w/ her toy :)

10 months, 26 days old

Brushing teeth!

(For some reason it won't embed. Click here to watch)

 10 months, 27 days old

Headbanging Again! (she loves it!)

10 months, 4 weeks old

"Swimming"

<3 this girl!!

10th Month of Amelie Videos

Amelie says Mama with intent now! Yahoo!  Well, mostly it comes out like "Muh muh" or "Mum," but I'll take it!  She amazes me with all the cool things she can do!  She signs "More," and "Potty."  She also crawls to the potty to tell us she has to go, and almost exclusively does her #2s on the pot (SO much easier than changing poopy diapers, let me tell you!)  She waves goodbye, and she tries really hard to say "kitty," but it comes out as a spitty drawn out "k" sound.

9 months old

Giggly Peek-a-boo w/ Daddy

Eating tilapia, mashed potatoes, and green beans!

9 months, 2 days old

Playing with her new kitchen - she loves it!

I love how she flaps her arms (dances ;) to the songs!

Singing along ("MMmm")

Laughing at Daddy

9 months, 5 days old

Mimicking Daddy chewing

9 months, 1 week old

Crawling all silly-like with her leg out

9 months, 9 days old

Extreme closeup (and teething rash, but she's still gorgeous ;)

9 months, 10 days old

All About Ami

9 months, 12 days old

Saying Mama ("Mum")

9 months, 16 days old

Kicking in her old bouncy seat

9 months, 19 days old

Singing "MMMmmm" along with her kitchen <3

9 months, 3 weeks old

Splish splash!

9 months, 22 days old

Attacking Daddy is FUN!

9 months, 4 weeks old

First time in a big pool!

9 months, 29 days

"MMmmm" Something still smells yummy!

Signing "more" (well, she stopped right after I started recording)

9 months, 30 days old

Mama's helper slept in her Wonder Woman onesie ;)

"Swimming" in our pool in the backyard. And yelling.

She LOVES seaweed! My aim wasn't so good while filming ;)

9th Month of Amelie videos

Parenthood is pretty awesome, especially with a daughter like Amelie. She makes us laugh all day long, and we radiate with love and joy. Of course, it's not always sunshine and rainbows. But one set of healthy giggles, and I forget all the clingy fussy bouts of separation anxiety and the multiple wake ups at night. Oh yeah, and teething - that can  be rough.  Ami has 2 new pearly whites!  The bottom middle pair, which are pretty commonly the first teeth most babies get.  The first cut at 8 months, 9 days old, and the second 10 days later.

Ami has a whole new arsenal of skills under her belt these days. She can crawl, say DaDa (alllmost, Mama but mostly just Mmmm/Mah), climb and pull herself up to standing, and take steps while holding on to her new Sit to Stand walking toy. She eats a banana like a big girl along with other finger foods. She does her business on the potty and keeps her diapers dry at least half the time if not more on good days. She loves clapping (a skill she picked up over 2 months ago) and banging toys together (since last month). She shares toys like a sweetie and offers her feet up for tickles over and over again. She pushes her arms through her sleeves when I'm dressing her, pulls her shirts over her head, and (usually) doesn't get mad when I pour water over her head in the bath. Instead, she tips her head down to avoid water dripping right into her eyes. What a smartie!  She kind of waves, but it's more like a flappy arm.  If we put something on her head, she does an adorable nod to shake it off.  She also headbangs, which I think is pretty cute ;)

8 months, 1 day old

This silly girl actually LIKES saline being sprayed up her nose!

8 months, 6 days old

Army crawls!

8 months, 8 days old

Not shaking things off her head

Whacking everything w/ a cat toy

Shaking things off her head

Giggles w/ Daddy

8 months, 9 days old

Headbanging

8 months, 11 days

Army crawling

Antics with her buddy, Wyatt

8 months, 12 days old

This is how Amelie naps with Daddy

8 months, 2 weeks old

Baby Schroeder

A message to cousin Morgan

Obligatory embarrassing potty video

8 months, 16 days old

Uncle Chuck

8 months, 17 days old

Pulling herself up on her piano

Crazy haired girl

8 months, 18 days old

Almost crawling

8 months, 19 days

We have a crawler!!!

Though she still kinda prefers her army method.

 

Happy girl, still not sure about crawling.

More army crawling & signing milk

8 months, 20 days old

The first pacifier she's taken! A teether ;)

I put her back in the same dress as yesterday b/c I love it so much!

Playing drums.

Playing with shoes (Shh, don't tell Miranda!)

8 months, 3 weeks old

Playing/drumming

8 months, 22 days old

Playing with her crawl ball

Signing "milk" and waving goodbye!

1st big girl banana!

"Walking" with her new toy!

8 months, 23 days old

Playing with her Sit to Stand / Pulling herself up

 

1 handed standing!

8 months, 24 days

I got what she needs ;)

Wake up, Daddy!

8 months, 25 days

Standing up like a big girl!

8 months, 26 days

Apparently the tape measure is hilaaaarious!

8th Month of Amelie Videos

The first half of Amelie's eighth month of life was a little rough. It seemed everyone was sick, and Ami caught a tummy bug from a kid at baby group, which hung on almost two weeks. Thankfully she handled it like a champ. But before I realized she had a belly ache and got her probiotics, she had one really fussy day. That's where the first video comes in. It breaks my heart, but it's a memory. It was the first time ever that Amelie cried her head off while being held in my arms. It seemed nothing I could do would soothe her.  She never cried like this for me EVER before.  So sad :(

Thankfully, she only really had one rough day, and handled the rest of it really well. She still isn't officially crawling, but she pulls herself army style and pushes herself in reverse. She also started going on the potty the week before she turned 8 months! My big girl! (stay tuned for a video next month ;)  She loves to clap and bang toys together, and her latest craze is waving around a cat toy on a stick, much to Zuri & Dexter's delight (you'll see a lot of this ;).  She is learning peek-a-boo, and covers her face with a blanket.  She also got to ride in a swing at the park for the first time, and see her first snow this month!

It appears YouTube won't embed all of my videos... so a couple are just links because I couldn't see them not be included.

 7 months, 1 day old

Super rough day

7 months, 8 days old

She loves her glow worm from Uncle TJ

Scrambled Egg Yolk

For some reason it won't embed. Click here to watch.

7 months, 9 days old

Playing

 

7 months, 10 days old
First swing!

Laughing at a puppet book
Again, won't embed - sorry. Click here to watch.

7 months, 11 days old
Green beans with Zuri (& signing "milk!")

Chatting it up at her toy box 

7 months, 13 days

Extreme closeup - trying to eat the camera

7 months, 2 weeks p1

Peek-a-boo!

p2

Commentary w/ her likes/dislikes/skills

Hyland's Tiny Cold tabs are a hit!

7.5 months old
Playing with Zuri & Dexter in her boat

More fishing for kitties

7 months, 16 days old
Drumming with Daddy

7 months, 17 days old
Fishing for kitties w/ Daddy's help

7 months, 20 days old

Valentine's kisses from Mommy

Playing with her new doggie friend

7 months, 22 days old

Being silly with Mommy

7 months, 23 days old

Ticklish in her pretty dress

Flapper Girl

Captivating the kitties

Not so sure about the crawling position...

But reverse works!


 7 months, 25 days old
Eating carrots with Zuri

7 months, 26 days old

First snow! 

Touching snow

7 months, 27 days old
Close up! Checking out Dexter.

7 months, 4 weeks old
Playing with Daddy/Banging toys together

Thinking about crawling...