Aug 28: Cecelia at 15 months

This has been a month where Cecelia's communication and understanding of what we are saying both astound me. I think that will be the focus of this monthly post because the big hitters of sleep and eating? Eh, pretty boring. She eats like a boss (easily three times as much as Truman) and sleeps like she is teething. That is, she wakes up by 5 am nearly every morning, went through a few weeks where she'd be up at least once in the middle of the night, and naps have gotten very unpredictable. Sometimes two great naps in a day, sometimes one long afternoon nap, and sometimes she will fight both and only sleep for 45 minutes total all day. Whatever. Onto the fun stuff!









It hit me the other day: CC understands a LOT of what I'm saying to her now. I will ask her to get her shoes and she will prance into the kitchen to retrieve them. I tell her to pick up the ball and she grabs it with authority. A few days ago she was asking for 'Dada' and I said, 'Daddy is golfing today, CC.' Do you know what she said next?

"Ball?"

I mean, what? I said the word 'golf' and she responded with 'ball'? That is just crazy to me. Also, I asked her, 'Do you want to eat pizza for lunch?' and she responded by blowing into the air. Because she likes me to blow on her pizza slices to cool them off. Unbelievable. I have a kid who knows what I'm saying. Thank you, God!

She will whisper 'choo choo' when she hears one from far away.


She really does love trains, except when we are close to the tracks. I've noticed that a loud train whistle just a few feet away from our heads is NOT something she enjoys. Twice now, at the playground near the train tracks, she has run over to me with a deer in the headlights look, arms outstretched, nearly crying because the train whistle was too scary. Poor baby girl! She's also done the 'scared' thing when she hears an ambulance go by our house. It's heartbreaking to see her upset but also kind of awesome to have her cuddle into me for comfort.



Cecelia is imitating us like crazy now. Whenever Henry barks she will say 'shhhhhh,' in the sweetest little voice. She loves to give high and low fives this month, she will imitate us blinking at her with a really hilarious sloooow blink, and she will yell 'Boo!' at us if she wants to be chased. Which is currently a favorite game for Truman and her (love it.) She's perfecting her devilish grin this month, too. Whenever I say, 'CC, do NOT eat that dirt,' she will look right at me, grin, and start to put more in her mouth. Little stinker. If Truman asks her for a toy she is holding she will look to the side, drop her chin to her shoulder, and give puppy dog eyes to the wall as if to say, 'No way, man. This is mine.' Ah, siblings. I still find myself labeling Cecelia as the stronger willed kid, one who kind of runs the show around my laid-back boy. Unless she messes with his trains. Then watch out---she is definitely the little sister then.

(little sis graduated to the booster seat, just because our high chair is bugging me lately)




(loves her baby doll. Also: twins!)


(first time at a Mexican restaurant. She loved the chips and salsa, black beans, and rice....despite her frown in this pic)




Every animal that we see is a dog, or more accurately a 'daw daw'. When we went to the zoo she lost her mind over the elephants, giraffes, monkeys and polar bears. All doggies, of course, but she finally loves the zoo. She's an outdoorsy girl, no doubt, and still loves the water, loves to play in the dirt in our flower beds, and goes nuts over 'buh-buh' (bubbles). Don't try to help her blow bubbles though, people. She wants to do it all alone which is obviously very successful at 15 months old.







She will say 'ow!' with a scowl on her face if she steps on a rock outside in our driveway, and I literally cannot handle this one. Got a few videos, couldn't help myself.

Sometimes she will fall on her butt and exclaim 'ow!' also, but I think some of those are fake injuries just to get us to look at her;) CC is pretty rough and tough and thinks she can climb the biggest ladders at the playground and gets angry when she can't do it just yet. She did get her first real owie this month, though, when she toppled off our concrete stoop onto the driveway. I was standing rightthere but couldn't stop it. Her bottom lip bled quite a bit and her top lip and nose also got some scrapes. Poor Truman was really upset about his sister getting hurt and kept demanding that I 'check her knees, mommy!' because he is so used to skinning up his knees when he falls. After trying to clean up her lip a bit the only thing that consoled baby girl was to nurse her. Even with a fat lip that's all she wanted to calm down.




So yep, she is still nursing at 15 months! I can't believe it really, and I'm not sick of it yet;) She still hasn't come up with a good word for nursing and prefers to smack my chest whenever she wants it. We are mostly only nursing first thing in the morning and at night now, but occasionally before naps or if she gets an owie/is extra clingy. I know this is not something she does for actual nutrition anymore since she eats and drinks like an adult, and it's probably all for comfort. Fine by me, I will be her human pacifier if she needs it. I might be making about 3 drops of milk each time she nurses, so GO BOOBS! ;)





Also, she got her third molar this month and the fourth is on the verge. Hence the crappy/inconsistent sleep and possibly the need to nurse more frequently some days? She's still loving her nuk and to request it she will smack her lips together instead of trying to say an actual word. She knows to throw it down into her crib before she gets out after a nap or in the mornings. But in the car, or if she is super fussy I will still let her have the nuk, too. Probably need to get rid of it soon before it becomes TOO much of an issue, but she doesn't use it all that much and is talking up a storm so I don't care all that much just yet. I also see her being very attached to 'rah-rah' or her froggie blanket---demanding to hold it whenever she feels tired and ready to nurse.



Back to her words: I'm trying not to make a big long list in this post because there are a lot that she can say---specifically 19 that I have listed on my phone. But there are also a lot of words only we can understand out of her mouth at this point and those are included in the 19;) I never know if I should count those Cecelia-isms as a word or not (probably not), but the bottom line is she is definitely talking. She's great at asking 'peas' or even 'peas-peas-peas-peas' when she sees something she wants. Like a toy that her brother is using at the moment or a dessert on the counter. Sometimes she will even say 'day-doo' (thank you) when we put her dinner in front of her and announces 'ahh-duh' when she is finished in record time. 'Nana' is her generic default word for anything she can't say yet. She actually does use it for requesting a banana sometimes, but mostly she will point to very random items and claim it to be a 'nana'.





The coolest thing I've noticed this month? Cecelia is such a girl. And it's nothing that we've taught her or tried to impress on her (aside from drenching her in pink at all times, but that doesn't count). Out of the blue, Cecelia starting carrying toys with handles on her arm like a purse. She did this with a sand pail outside one day and just walked around with the thing dangling on her forearm, so proud of her 'purse'. I never remember Truman doing this!















Also, I'm not kidding when I say that she is now demanding hair bows in her curls each day. For real. Each morning when I go into her room (middle of the night?) she will grunt, point to her closet where the hair bow collection lives, and then pat her head. The girl loves to accessorize, what can I say? She also loves to pull out the bows at times but I still think she likes to wear one. After we secure said hair bow she will say, 'Dada' and request to see Nate. Once we find him she will immediately point to her bow and grunt, like 'Do you approve, daddy?' She did this when she first saw my Aunt the other day, too. Must be proud of her bows! Oh, and if I say the word, 'pretty,' as in 'You look pretty today, Cecelia,' she will grunt and point to her head. Perhaps I should work on curbing her ego when it comes to her superficial looks.









But she is freaking cute, so it's hard to stop telling her that! And she has extremely expressive little faces, just like her brother. Putting her in some of my vintage dresses from my childhood is my favorite, btw.

(Thrilled to play driver in daddy's car)






Aside from showing everyone her pretty bow in her hair, something else she loves to show people as soon as they walk in our house? Her belly button, which she calls 'bee-buh'. She is obsessed and will also lift up our shirts to find our bee-buhs.




Another really fun milestone this month is that I don't have to carry her quite as much. She is now able to walk from the car to the back door instead of always having to be carried. Sometimes she gets side tracked with the dirt she loves to smear on herself but mostly she knows we are going inside and she follows Truman and I right into the house. It's nice to just hold her hand and let her walk across a playground instead of lugging her around on my hip. But most mornings she still 'needs' to be held by mommy for a good while before I dare set her down to play on her own.

When it comes to 'Tru-Tru' she is completely obsessed with her big brother. She loves to torture him, to make him laugh, and to give him unprompted hugs. Recently she's discovered she can make him giggle by sucking his big toe. I tried to tell her how disgusting that is, but she will not listen.










She also loves to terrorize/love on Henry dog.

My sweet girl. I always have a hard time writing these monthly reports on you because it's difficult to capture all of you in words. You're the best little girl I know! Thanks for bringing us plenty of spunk and smiles.