15 Months Old

Another month has come and gone in the blink of an eye! Sometimes I wish time would slow down just a teeny bit. However, this month has been challenging in the sense that Curran is showing her "strong" personality more and more, and it can be hard to handle.

I blame a lot of that feisty behavior on her teething. At the beginning of the month, her bottom molars started coming through, and now her bottom cuspids are coming in. Right now she has 12 teeth, and once those cuspids come through she will have 14.


Speaking of teeth, she LOVES brushing hers. Previously when I would tell her it was time to get out of the tub, she would throw a fit. Now when I want her to get out, I just tell her it's time to brush her teeth and she jumps right up! We have been brushing them for a while without toothpaste just to get her used to it, but we added the baby toothpaste this month. She used to let me help her a lot more, but now she wants to do it by herself. Big surprise.



Not much has changed in terms of C's likes and dislikes. The main thing is that her vocabulary is increasing as well as her understanding of us, so that is neat to see. Her new words are:


*please {"tease" or "tea"} {and apparently she knows the sign for please, but I didn't teach it to her. She must have learned it at school. Lately every time I ask her if she wants more of whatever she is eating, she signs please. I knew what she was doing wasn't "more", but I looked it up on the internet to make sure. I wonder what else she is signing that I don't even realize? :)}
*thank you {usually just "tay" or "tuh uh" but I can get her to repeat it after me when I tell her to and sometimes she says it without me prompting her}
*up {"uh" to be picked up}
*socks {"doc"}
*she loves to point to the sky and say airplane whenever one flies over, although her version of "airplane" usually sounds nothing like the actual word
*she uses "ba ba" to identify lots of things {balloon, football, zebra} although it sounds different according to which object she is identifying
*And she is saying "mama" more which is always nice to hear! :)


She now identifies her hands and feet in addition to other body parts. If she is standing when we ask where her feet are, she stomps them on the ground. It always makes me laugh. Then when we ask where her hands are, she raises them in the air.


She has added a few more animal sounds, so her repertoire now includes: tiger, cow, cat, dog, bird {I taught her to say "chirp chirp" but it sounds more like "kuh kuh" and is so cute :) }, snake {a hiss-- John's doing}, and duck.


She is very into any kind of ball or athletic equipment. She really liked John's football and always wanted to go next door when our 3 little boy neighbors were in the front yard playing soccer or baseball. And they were even kind of enough to roll her the ball a time or two. So John decided to go buy her some sports paraphernalia of her own. He got her a tiny soccer ball and a plastic bat and wiffle ball. She LOVES them, although she doesn't quite get that you are supposed to kick a soccer ball. She likes to bounce it like a basketball or throw it. John also wanted to get her some golf clubs {not the plastic kids' kind, but REAL ones}. I was like, ummmm NO. That would be like a weapon for her. I think John is getting just a wee bit ahead of himself. :)


As much as I have struggled this month with C's behavior, I have to constantly remind myself how truly blessed I am. I have read a lot of sad blogs lately that make me thank God that I have a healthy child, even if she can be difficult at times.


Every time she screams bloody murder in her car seat,

or whines and clings to my legs preventing me from getting anything done around the house,


or squeezes her legs around my waist while crying and refusing to be put down,


or thrashes about in her high chair while throwing her food on the floor,


or pitches a fit in public,


or every time I have stop myself before I yell "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT" or "BE QUIET!"


I have to stop and thank God that I actually have a daughter to be experiencing all those frustrations with. I would gladly take all of those bad times any minute of the day over the alternative of not having her at all. Although we have had a lot of hard moments, we also have lots of moments that make it all seem worthwhile.


Like when we get tickled about something and she laughs with all her little teeth showing,


or when she feels the beat and just can't help but start dancing, even in the aisles of the grocery store,


or when she gets so proud of something she does and claps for herself,


or when people tell me how cute she is,


or when she gives her sweetest smiles to strangers we see,


or when she gets shy, putting her head on my shoulder and wrapping her arms tightly around my neck,


or when she cries in the middle of the night and I get to rock her back to sleep as she holds onto me tightly,


or when she is so happy to see me and squeals as she runs to me when I pick her up from school,



or every time she says Mama.


I never want to take one moment with her for granted. I can never imagine living on this earth without her here with me. I want to make more of an effort that every time I feel myself getting frustrated, I will stop and thank God that I have this time with her. That He blessed my life by entrusting her to me. I am realistic and know that every mother is going to have frustrations, times when they are completely flustered and just want to be left alone. I am not negating those emotions I have had; they are valid. But I also want to keep things in perspective. All of the little {or not so little} tantrums are NOTHING compared to what some families are going through. And I also know that there are a lot of people who would give anything to be in my shoes: to have a healthy child, or to have their child still here on this earth, or to even be blessed with a child of their own. SO, I am going to make an effort to have a better attitude!



Here are some pictures from the last week or so:

In her Ladybug costume before her Halloween party at school on Friday. She looks a little sleepy because I had to wake her up from a 2.5 hr nap. Why is it that she only sleeps that long when we have somewhere to go??

She loves watering the plants.

This is a 6 mo outfit from last winter. Although the shirt is getting kind of snug {it doesn't show her belly when her arms aren't raised}, the pants still fit.

Flashback:

This was her get-up yesterday morning: mismatched pj's due to a busted lip/bleeding fiasco the night before, and black leather Mary Janes to go with her Halloween costume. Once she saw them she wouldn't take them off.

Do I even need to include any more pictures to show how much C loves Sadie??

John is out of town, so this was the only way I could get the kitchen cleaned/dishwasher emptied/laundry done yesterday morning:  give C two pieces of bagel to double-fist and plop her down in front of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Happy 15 months, my little CurryBug! I love you!