Nate's younger brother Jon is visiting right now and hasn't seen Cecelia since the summer. Even he said that 'It's like Cecelia doesn't realize she is only 1 1/2 and thinks she is an adult, like the rest of us.' Very true, Uncle Jon. Very true.
She likes to undress herself, likes to sit on the potty if Truman just went, must wash her hands after Truman does, wants to carry her own food into the family room, and prefers to walk versus being carried. Cecelia still has her clingy moments, usually after daycare or when she is super tired, and needs to be held a bit (thankfully) but for the most part she just seems so freaking independent lately. I really think she will be a great big sister/middle child because she definitely doesn't seem like my baby anymore.
Sister has no fear when it comes to sledding alone, down a giant snowy hill. She likes to climb on chairs, throw random (sometimes inappropriate) items away, and can definitely hold her own when it comes to standing up to her big brother. She will hit or pull his hair sometimes but I catch her giving unprompted hugs and kisses more often, so we try to focus on that part of their relationship;)
Cecelia loves to sing and dance. She will twirl and jump and run all over the house most of the day, and is really pretty great at playing alone for a few minutes. All of her new Christmas toys are a big hit and it's adorable to see her push her baby doll in a stroller, to play 'tea party' with Nate, and to wash her dishes in her sink. She loves having a task and pretend play is becoming extra cute for our girl. Whenever I check the baby's heartbeat with my doppler, Cecelia runs over saying 'baby!' and demands to hold the probe. I think she believes the doppler to be the actual baby though, and there is no way she has any clue how her world will change in the summer. Poor girl;)
She's not a huge fan of the colder weather even while being bundled up like a giant stuffed marshmallow. She will tolerate it for a bit but mostly she likes the hot cocoa that comes after playing in the snow. Oh, and building fires with Daddy has become a favorite task of hers, too.
CC is a chatterbox and when the doc asked if she has 10-20 words, I knew she was way beyond that. I tried to make a list of all her words but it's kind of impossible since she repeats almost any word we say. I got to about 55 words before stopping with the list. She isn't pairing two words up consistently just yet, and prefers to just repeat the last word we say. So if I say, 'More water please?' she will just say 'Pleeeeease'. The multiple words will come and I guess she has paired 'thank you, mommy' together and 'no no, doggie' before. She doesn't care about identifying colors like Truman did at this age but will pretend to count along with us. It's adorable although she is totally off on her counting skills;)
(new amazing dress made by GoGo)
One big milestone we hit this month is turning her car seat to forward facing. I had a lot of guilt about this change since she is four months younger than Truman was when we switched (he was 22 months and heavier). But sister has been giving us HELL in the car even for short 5 minute car rides. It was becoming unbearable to drive to and from daycare and I talked to the Pediatrician about it before taking the plunge. The switch to forward facing has definitely helped and it will always be a nerve wracking transition for me, even if we did wait until 2 years or beyond. The first ride we took with her facing forward she kept clapping her hands, said 'wheeeeeeee', and blew me kisses so I'd say it was a success.
(And yes, I know her coat is on and that's bad. But it's 0 degrees outside and I cannot deal with taking coats on and off in addition to strapping them in.)
She's still super tall (almost 33") and getting to be more average in weight (24 pounds) instead of a little on the leaner side. She wears mostly all 24 months or 2T clothes, is in a size 5.5 shoe, and a size 4 disposable diaper. CC is still our good eater but really doesn't enjoy sitting down at the table for longer than 5 minutes at a time. She demands ice in her milk and ice in her water, loves pickles and beans and any dessert. She got her first real haircut this month and is working those red curls like a boss.
We are still working on ditching the pacifier all together but I haven't invested a lot of effort on this just yet. I'm fine with her keeping it in her crib and she still wants it in the car, but we are cutting that out slowly. I would really like the pacifier to be totally gone by 2 years especially since the baby will be here right after that. Between the transition of ditching her pacifier, switching her to a big bed, moving her into her brother's room, and making her a big sister in the next 6 months I think we have our work cut out for us. But maybe she will surprise us, just like her brother has always done, and will rock these big transitions as they come.
We sure do love you, Cecelia Lorene. You are the sweetest, funniest, spunkiest, most beautiful little girl around. Thank you for always entertaining us.
