After Olivia turned one, I was going to start doing these posts annually, but SO much has happened in the past 6 months that I felt like we were long over due for another update. I mean she’s grown so much we couldn’t use her coral headband for the photo anymore and had to switch to a big girl bow :(
| STATS |
Since her last update she has had a 15 month checkup where she weighed in at 22lb 7oz (60th), was 31” long (70th), and her head was 18.5” (80th). At her 18 month appointment she weighed in at 25lb 3oz (78th), 32.5" long (75th), and her head is 18.75” (85th). Which pretty much blew my mind. Overall her doctor is extremely proud of her growth, which I was so glad to hear assuming I was underfeeding her yet again. Looking back at her 12 month photo to her 18 month she looks so big!
| EATING |
Where do I begin? Olivia basically weened herself off breastfeeding at around 12.5 months. Which I was totally fine with honestly. It was sad to think we wouldn’t have this special time and connection anymore, but with her 4 little teeth coming in (at the time) I felt like I was playing with fire because she has always had a very shallow latch. She was also way more into her new love of solid foods, and just nursed out of ritual (before sleeping) everyday. So as I started dropping a feeding a day she never looked back. I was relieved to be able to finally pack up my pumping gear and put it away for another time. Moms who EP, I salute you! Because of her incredible weight gain we were able to take her off of her supplement smoothies at 13m and just focus on three square meals with alllllll the snacks in between. Girlfriend loves to snack. So much so that Geoffrey has gained a few lbs himself. She constantly has her cheerio cup in one hand and a cracker or tortilla in the other. Funny story. Olivia starts off every morning with a big heaping bowl of oatmeal. Super easy. I just pour some oats, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, and some milk into a mason jar overnight and in the morning I mix some fruit in! So I was using either unsweeted applesauce or organic fruit preserves (just a small spoonful) to give it a little flavor and vitamins. I started noticing toward the afternoon she’d start coming unglued. Like climbing me like a tree, clenching her fits and vibrating, like she was just really jazzed up. We thought it was so funny and that she was just really excited about life. No. Those fancy preserves had a boat load of sugar in a single tablespoon and I was unknowingly loading her up with sugar. SO now we just mix in the applesauce and she’s totally chill. Oops. So anyway, breakfast = oatmeal, lunch = yogurt, banana, or broccoli tots, and dinner = a version of what we’re having or leftover quesadillas (which are leftovers + cheese in a tortilla), veggie burger, mac & peas, etc. She isn’t eating meat yet so we make sure to provide her with plant based proteins like peas, chick peas, etc. Anytime we make pasta we use chickpea or pea pasta like Banza, Modern Table, whoever is on sale that week. She loves to feed herself with her fork and gets really frustrated if we do it for her. She has also mastered the straw and drinking out of a normal cup. She just hasn’t mastered the setting it down gently every time part. We’ve also started brushing her teeth (no toothpaste yet just water) which she mostly enjoys and loves to do it herself. If we forget before bath time, she is sure to let us know.
| SLEEPING |
Olivia dropped her second nap around 13 months or so. She now naps from 12-2:30 everyday, and on a really good day she’ll nap from 12-3:30. She still goes to bed around 6pm and wakes around 9am. She is definitely her father’s daughter when it comes to sleep. I wish I could sleep that much! When we made the switch to Hello Bello diapers, she no longer leaks through them at night, so that’s nice. She is so conditioned with her sleep though that it’s next to impossible to get her to sleep in the carseat or stroller if we’re on the go. Instead she just turns into a baby alligator. So being a good sleeper has it’s own dilemmas. So nervous about our first flight in October. Also, we’ve been trying to get her to sleep with a stuffie just to have a little company, and every single night we will put a bunch of buddies in her crib and we will watch her toss them out one by one on the baby monitor, and then lay down and go to sleep. This girl. She FINALLY (as of this past week) glommed onto the first stuffie I ever bought her (back when I was still very pregnant) a Jellycat giraffe so now she has a buddy in bed. He made the cut. Oh and if you don’t come get her as soon as she wakes up from a nap she will bang on the wall, which was so startling the first few times and is now just the funniest thing.
| DOING |
SO much has happened in these past 6 months. First of all Olivia is finally walking! She took her first steps on Mother’s Day (about 15 months) so a little later than most, but after a few timid steps she just took off. She immediately could stand up from a seated position (without having to hold onto something first) so basically she wanted to perfect the walk before she actually did it. Respect. She also loves to climb up and down stairs and ramps and walk over thresholds over and over and over. She went from walking to side stepping to walking on her tippy toes to running over the coarse of two weeks. She is now the star of Little Gym and has absolutely no fear. Forward rolls, back whoop-de-doos, wheelbarrows, all things that used to make her cry. She is here for it and the first to volunteer. She’s also the first to let everyone know that it’s time to put the bells away. She also loves climbing all the things. Which I dislike so very much because it gives me heart palpitations, and I blame Gymboree. I wanted to keep her busy this summer so we took a break from Little Gym and switched to Gymboree for a month because they had “open gym” everyday of the week where she could play to her heart’s content in the A/C. Well Gymboree is more playground based so she immediately learned to climb (but also loved the slides!) We ended up switching back for several different reasons, but mainly because we just loved Little Gym more and I felt like she got more out of it skill-wise. She also doesn’t get trampled by big kids who’s parents are just there to be on their phones but that’s neither here nor there. Plus TLG is a block away from where we live. For the longest time everything was Dada (thank you Jimmy Fallon) but now she’s throwing some “mamas” around too. Every time we pass a puppy (or say the word puppy) she waves and says “hiiii”. She loves to open and close all the doors and turn on and off all the lights and fans. She has become super helpful lately too. She likes to help unload the dishwasher regardless of if it’s clean or not, hand me laundry to fold, throw things away (sometimes not trash), she’s even started trying to dress herself. She repeats everything we do! Since it’s been so hot out we’ve gone to the pool and splash pad which she loves. The pool freaked her out at first, but now she’s fine as long as she’s in her inner-tube. Which isn’t allowed at most public pools, did you know that? She still loves dancing (her hula dance) and singing. Lately she gets excited when her favorite songs from her playlist come on, and she anticipates certain parts and sings and dances along with them. Don’t even get me started on Little Bunny Foo Foo. Which isn’t on her playlist I just randomly sang it to her once and now she’s obsessed.
| MILESTONES |
Olivia has 12 teeth now! The four center ones on top, four on the bottom, and the same 4 molars. Which honestly everyone freaked me out about molars and she’s been pretty okay. They bothered her at first but I kept giving her cold applesauce and cold washcloths, and I’d brush her teeth just to help massage her gums and encourage them to cut through which really helped. They also all came in the same week so I feel like that was a little better rather than prolonging it. Walking was obviously a huge milestone and it feels like she’s been doing it forever. She can say: mama, dada, hi, night night, Geoffrey (“ghee” - and points at him), ball, yo-yo, nose, no, apple, uh-oh (when she drops something) and kitty (“key”). She understands SO much that it kind of blows my mind. Even though she' doesn’t talk much yet, she knows what we’re saying, what we’re asking, what we’re telling her to do, etc. She can point to the following body parts on queue: nose, ears, mouth, teeth, tongue, head, hair, cheeks, belly, and toes. She can also point to our noses, and loves to poke herself in the eyes. So fun. I can ask her to put her toys away and she will, I can ask her to bring me a specific item and she will. Crazy. If it’s past 5pm I can’t ask her to do anything, she has now become a different person. Recently she’s been singing gibberish but to the actual tune of the song. I thought Derek’s head was going to explode. She is now wearing size 4 diapers and has moved up to 18-24m clothing, she is FINALLY actually wearing her size, which makes shopping for her so much easier. I mean she has grown 4.5” and 9lbs in 6 months. Some of our friends who hadn’t seen her in a couple weeks were blown away by how big she is now!
| FAVORITE MOMENTS |
I just love that I feel like I can communicate with her now and she understands me, when before it’s like you’re just talking to yourself lol. She gives us hugs now which is the sweetest thing, and allllll the kisses. She loves to kiss any animal in her books and all of her stuffies. I’ll be trying to turn the page and she’s not done kissing everyone yet. I love when she sings songs and gets excited when her jam comes on. Chasing her and pretending you’re going to tickle her gets the best giggles and belly laughs. Lately when we read stories before bed she gets SO excited when you turn the page and squeals at the illustrations when before she would just sit quietly and listen. Now that she can stand on her own her hula dance has become quite the show. Oh and I love how OCD she is, when she wakes up if the correct doors aren’t shut, or the fan isn’t on she’s the first to tell you what needs to happen, in what order, before she can start her day.