Libby has developed a lot this month. I don't know if it is because she's so close to a year but she seems to be growing up so fast. Since last month she's becoming more helpful. She wants to share her toys and also holds her hands up when you dress her. It definitely makes things easier to get her dressed and undressed. Her vocab is also growing every day. Libby loves to repeat things but doesn't seem to understand everything she's saying. I don't count the words until she actually repeats them and understands them but we're up to 10 words now. She's quite a chatty little girl!
We've also been going to the Zoo a lot more this month. She loves the primate house the best (so far) but the reptile and bird houses were definitely interesting too! We haven't done the Children's Zoo yet but I don't think she would really enjoy it yet. Oh, and how could I forget the Penguins and Puffins! She didn't really enjoy looking at them while in her stroller but once we took her out of her stroller she stared wide eye at them. The Zoo is definitely a favorite of the Ski Household!
One other big change for the month is we turned her car seat forward facing. It is a tad early but since she is virtually the size of a 2 year old, the doctor said she was safer forward facing than cramming into the rear facing car seat that she was maxing out in for weight. I had no idea how fun it would be for her to see me while I drive. She has a blast talking with me now and seeing my reactions to her talking with me. It's adorable! I love it!
Here are some other things to highlight from this month:
weight: 33.3 lbs (based on an impromptu visit to a Dr last week)
- Vocab -- Libby can say Ball, Cat, Stop, No, Hello, Momma, Dadda, Book, Closed, Down
- Favorites -- Claps hands, bouncing everywhere and anywhere!, loves to stand, Rubber Ducky Song, Elmo Song, Sesame Street (as long as it has Muppets on the show), Bunnytown (TV show), new inflatable bath tub that she can drown Mommy when she splashes, going to the Zoo, her daddy's old cell phone
- Dislikes -- Meat (see below)
- Feedings -- Has had turkey and chicken! Her feeding amounts have diminished a bit. We still have her on a feeding schedule so she is eating the same times but just less.
- Crawling -- Honestly, I don't think this is going to be in the cards for our little one. She can go backwards and get up on her knees really well...but honestly prefers to be on her but bouncing around.
- Sleeping through the night -- Unfortunately this is still not happening. She is able to stay up until 8:00 each night now but still cannot seem to make it through the night w/o having a late night feeding.
- Illnesses -- Sadly she's still sick and has been for awhile now. She's always congested. The doctor says her lungs are clear so it is just a persistent cold that won't go away.
- Teeth -- We still only 8 that are visible. I think she's working on another but I cannot find it yet.
- Shoes -- Libby has her own big girl shoes now. Size 6.5W. And they fit. Snugly.
- Naps -- At daycare (we refer to it as school) she sleeps about 1.5-2 hours. At home she'll take 2 naps each being 1-2 hours each.
Milestones:Libby is still doing really well from a vocab perspective. We find her trying to repeat a lot of the things we say. It is adorable to see her trying so hard to form the words. She is als starting to hit some previous milestones that others hit awhile ago - mostly rolling over. She has been able to roll over for a little over 2 months but never seemed to really want to. Now, it seems every time we put her in her crib she is rolling onto her tummy. She hates it but there really isn't a way to stop her. The cutest thing (and the reason she rolls over so much) is that she loves to sleep on her side. She looks so grown up when she does it with her purple blanket in her arms that her Grandma Ski hand made her (yes, she has a lovey already).
We've also had some comments from people noticing how well her eye-hand coordination is and the fact she'll look you straight in the eye. Mostly it is because she's staring you down and sizing you up...but i'll still take it as a compliment. =) She does do very well with picking things up and noticing even the smallest feature (like teeny tiny hairs you don't want anyone to pull on!). We recently got her stackable buckets and she loves to play with those. She mostly likes to knock them down but will hide some of the smaller ones in the larger ones on occasion. Oh, and the Sesame Street Toy that is a 'popper' toy but more difficult because it has doors as opposed to just pressing the thing that pops up...she can close the doors! That was a big thing to me. =)
At Christmas last year Libby got a Leap Frog activity table from her Aunt Marsha, Uncle Greg and cousin Mason. We pulled it out a few weeks ago and she loves it. There are all kinds of fun activities on it - like the alphabet song, a door to open and close, and buttons to press. One of her favorite songs as a result of this toy is the Alphabet song. She is so amazed that Mommy and Daddy know the words!
As usual, here is the "official milestone" review:
... should be able to:
- get into a sitting position from stomach - not yet! We keep trying to get her to sit up. She will hold onto our fingers and pull up. We do next to no work and she does about 98% of it but still doesn't have the confidence to do it herself.
- pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger - check!
- understand "no" (but not always obey it) - check!
... will probably be able to:
- play patty-cake (clap hands) or wave bye-bye - check! Libby can wave hello and good-bye and also clap her hands. Most of the time clapping is part of the hello/good-bye routine.
- walk holding on to furniture (cruise) - not yet! She can stand really well while holding onto furniture and will walk if we hold onto her hands but isn't confident enough to do it by herself yet.
- point or gesture to something to get needs met - check!
... may possible be able to:
- pick up a tiny object neatly with tips of thumb and forefinger - check!
- stand alone momentarily - check!
- say "dada" or "mama" discriminately - check!
- say one word other than "mama" or "dada" - check!
... may even be able to:
- stand alone well
- indicate wants in ways other than crying - check!
- "play ball" (roll back to you) - we are so close to this! She does it by accident and then is so happy to share.
- drink from a cup independently - check! We've even moved past the sippy cup. She loves to drink from a real (plastic) cup now with Mommy/Daddy's help.
- use immature jargoning (gibberish that sounds as if baby is talking a made-up foreign language) - check!
- say three or more words other than "mama" or "dada" - check!
- respond to a one-step command without gestures ("Give that to me" - without hand out) - check!
- walk well - oh buddy not yet!
And as usual, here is a picture of Libby from a week ago with one of her famous bows and her Daddy's old cell phone.