(yes, both of these final monthly comparisons were a joke this time around. Quilt is upside down, Nate is in the picture, C isn't looking....and then there is the chair shot. Thank goodness these are done, man! Captures her essence well, though, and I'm glad I struggled through 12 months of these.)
Likes: dancing, pretending to fall down on the couch, playing fetch with Henry, eating like a 400 pound man while retaining her svelte figure, nursing, walking behind push toys, pacifiers, SLEEPING (!!!!!), pointing and grunting, ingesting hidden dust bunnies/playdough/sand/soil.
Dislikes: diaper changes, laying still enough to get dressed, remaining in one room of the house for longer than 30 seconds, being denied Truman's food and/or toys
Biggest Achievement of the Month: STTN, baby!!! Consistently! And also probably walking with assist but sleep wins out over motor skills in my book.
Biggest Challenge of the Month: keeping Cecelia out of trouble/from being seriously injured.
The Mecca (aka Sleep): So.Freaking.Good!!!! Let it be marked in the history books that the eleven month mark was a HUGE turning point for us and Cecelia's ability to sleep through the night and also for stellar napping. We didn't really do anything differently except to avoid nursing her to sleep if at all possible. Now I will nurse her right after baths and jammies but then playtime/books/pacifier comes immediately before I lay her down to sleep awake around 7:30-8:00 pm. But honestly, I think our success was just a matter of time and age with this girl. She's just learned how to put her self to sleep awake now and can settle back down if she DOES wake up in the night. This.Is.Huge. I never thought I would reach the elusive other side of sleep hell and yet, here we are. And it is glorious.
Then! She has slept as late as 8:30 am which is something Truman has NEVER done in his three years of life. Yep, 12.5 hours of solid sleep some nights without a single peep. I'd say her most common time to wake up for the morning is more like 7:00 but she will go anywhere from 9-12 hours most nights. Can I get an 'Amen?' The past eleven months of broken sleep really, truly SUCKED and it's amazing how bright the world can look after a little shut eye. I can't stop keeping track of her nights on my phone for some reason---I'm still in shock that we are finally sleeping over here. And according to my phone she has STTN every.single.night this month except for one week when she was working on cutting a tooth.
Naps are also amazing. She will rarely allow me to rock her down anymore (tear), so I just give her the pacifier (plus one to hold in EACH hand) and her froggie, give her a kiss and lay her down in her crib with white noise going. Actually, this is the exact same procedure for night time sleep, too. She will nap at LEAST 1.5 hours twice a day and sometimes clocks more than two hours each time. WHAT? I know. Anywhere from 3-4 hours of nap time each day = divine. And she wakes up happy now, just talking and hanging out in her crib---no crying or being demanding. Just totally chill and rested. Imagine that;) Her morning nap is usually 9-11 or so, which makes it kind of hard to do anything outside of the house in the morning but I will not complain. Her afternoon nap is around 1 and that coordinates with Truman's. Dual naps are the freaking bomb, FYI.
Sleep, precious sleep. I love you so.
{Ahem. In the five days that it's taken me to write and post this, I have apparently jinxed myself. She has been waking up once per night around 4ish crying. I think she must be working on a tooth, but we have been rocking her back down to sleep. And she wakes for the day by 6 now and naps aren't as fabulous. BOOO. Sort of want to leave this paragraph out of the post but I guess I do have to capture the past week of sleep. Not horrible, but oh---how I hope we return to STTN soon!}
Temperament/Personality: She definitely thinks she is a comedienne and has quite the (random) sense of humor. Still playing keep-away with us, and now she finds it hilarious to fake fall onto the couch cushions and then lay there like she can't get up. I cannot get over her face when she does this over and over again---like, 'Hey, I keep falling down and can't get up, lady!' Hahahaha. She also finds great pleasure in throwing a ball for Henry. Observe:
She can be both incredibly demanding, literally ordering us around by pointing and grunting at what she wants. And yet, she can be the most content, happiest baby at the same time. She doesn't mind doing her own thing for a bit, preferring to explore and get into trouble when we aren't watching her like a hawk. If she is tired she can be cranky and clingy to mommy but otherwise she is really proving to be a laid back babe. Again--never thought I would type that about my girl!
Talking/Communication: Cecelia is definitely saying, 'Dada' appropriately for Nate and is becoming obsessed with Henry. But when she tries to say 'Doggie' it sort of sounds the same as 'Dada' unless you *really* listen closely and hear she is changing up the vowels ever so slightly. I still count both versions of 'Dada' as two words, obvi. ;) She can say 'Mama' but not always appropriately and we are trying to get her to say 'Tru Tru' but are getting nowhere with that one. Also, I have failed my child in the baby signing arena. When I sign 'more' to her she just claps her hands... probably because I forgot to sign to her at ALL until this point. Eh, second borns are SO neglected, aren't they?
Besides the beginnings of words she is still quite the vocal baby, babbling non stop and screaming for fun. She loves to imitate us and I've caught her rubbing her hands together vigorously after she sees us use hand sanitizer. Adorable new trick;) Still waving, blowing and giving real kisses, gesturing that she is 'so big', and pointing like a mad woman. I have a feeling she is going to be a chatterbox in a few more months and I love it.
Eating: This child is an amazing eater. We introduced peanut butter this month and she loves it, so a waffle with PB is her new favorite breakfast (along with fruit and yogurt and some of my eggs). Seriously, she can eat Truman under the table and I have no idea why she isn't a haas. She also loves turkey breast, cheese, chicken, grapefruit, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, rice, black beans....the list would seriously go on and on because I haven't found anything she truly despises yet. Well, I tried a few raw veggies like carrots and cucumbers and she spit those out right away, so I guess she prefers veggies cooked;) And you should see the child fa-reak out when she sees me sneaking an Oreo after dinner. She will spit out whatever she has, point and me and grunt with raised eyebrows until I give her a piece of the cookie. Yes, sister is a great eater but she also has a sweet tooth already. Wonder where she got that?
Nursing is still going strong, and I will totally write a celebratory post dedicated to this. But we have officially made it a full year breastfeeding without supplementing formula! Hallelujah. She nurses four times a day when we are together and really seems to nurse more for comfort at this point--I barely feel a let down anymore but I can tell she does get a little bit of milk at least. She's started to smile, pat my chest, and try to reach down my shirt at times if I ask her, 'Cecelia, want milk?' I have no idea how much longer we will continue to nurse but I'm planning to follow her lead from here on out. I could see us dropping the mid-day feedings after her two naps and stick to first thing in the morning and before bed.
Also, at Lori's she will take two 6 oz bottles that are 3 oz defrosted breastmilk and 3 oz cows milk. I haven't pumped in over a month so my freezer stash is really treating me well right now (love you, stash!). I have exactly one more bag to use this week at Lori's and she has two bags there too, and then we will make the switch to full on cows milk. I hope she drinks it. I could see her refusing.
The Superficial: Baby girl already had her well-baby check up and she is one long and lean mama. At 30.5 inches she is in the 91st percentile for height, and at just 19lbs 6oz she is in the 30th percentile for weight. I guess this isn't too surprising considering her giant parents and she really doesn't seem that 'tiny' to me, but every stranger still tells me otherwise. Maybe she will be a basketball player or a supermodel? Because of her height she is in 18 or 18-24 month clothing and her size 3 diapers are getting pretty snug.
And her eyes and hair? I literally cannot handle this red headed, blue eyed baby sometimes. She takes my breath away, you guys.
Teeth: One new one this month bringing the grand total to seven. I feel like that eighth tooth has to be poking through soon and am relentless with shoving my finger into her grill to check.
Motor milestones: A big one? She is walking with push toys! Like, all over the house and up and down the driveway non-stop. We have two actual walking toys and then she will use baskets and our kiddie chairs to push around the place. Very resourceful! The girl is obsessed with her new-found walking skills and gets mad when she runs into something. Still needs help to turn the toys around but otherwise she is totally content to trot around this place like she owns it. She'll also walk along furniture now and go from one piece to the next without issues, so I really feel like she's getting close to attempting a few steps on her own. But we will see! This is much earlier than Truman started to walk with assist, and actually I'm not sure he ever really used push toys.
Also, this child loves to dance and it's borderline inappropriate with pelvic thrusting and knee popping.
Firsts: Peanut butter, walking with toys, change to a convertible seat (finally)
Little Sis and Big Bro:
Truman's twelve month post reminds me that he was just NOW starting to get mobile and he was only nursing once per day (and would officially stop in another week or so). He was also going through a big separation anxiety stage---thank GOD we aren't there with CC right now, and she has already gone through a rough patch with daycare drop offs so maybe we can coast along for a bit with that. Truman also had his first really awful sickness, suspected pneumonia, at this age---very thankful that my girl has been healthy pretty much the whole year aside from a few colds (and did she have one ear infection this year? I can't even remember). T was such a big baby, weighing a full 4 pounds more than Cecelia...but sister is only 0.5 inches shorter than him at this point. I really love comparing kids with these posts---so interesting to me that they can be so different and yet so much alike. You saw the above picture, right? SCARY similar.
Cecelia is in love with her big brother. She likes to pester him already but she is obviously obsessed with him just the same. They get along really well because Truman is becoming a little more patient with her. I still catch him giving her random hugs and kisses for no reason at all and I just can't wait for them to quietly play together like happy little siblings;)
(this is when I'd normally post a bunch of iPhone pictures of the two of them together, but I don't have it in me this month. Only 'real' BlogStomped photos this time. Forgive me.)
Twelve whole months, baby girl. They've been some of the best of my life. Love you!
Mama
