15 Months

It's time for our monthly update. Again, this might be long, but it is my way of documenting and keeping info for Hailey's baby book.

Hailey's 15th month was a big change for her. In October I started watching my sister's baby Brooke. She was born on July 17th, so there is basically one year difference between the two kiddos. When Brooke started coming to our house Hailey thought nothing of it. Then, as time went by I think she started figuring out that Brooke was not going away. She started wanting more and more attention: crawling up my leg, laying her head on my leg, giving lots of hugs and kisses, banging on stuff to get my attention. I'm happy to say that only lasted a week. She seems to be adjusting well and does love having Brooke around....and so am I.

Here is what Hailey has been up to this month:

1. Talking- Hailey is getting more and more verbal. She as learned many new words and is using them a lot. I think her favorite word is HOT. In fact, everything is hot to her. Here are some of the other words she says: Baby, Jenny, Momma, Daddy, tractor, Elmo, hi, bye, ducky, kitty, horsie, monkey, eat, milk, more, please, moooo, quack, ooo ooo (monkey sound), ruff, meow, buzz (and she tickles her ribs) , roar. That is all I can think of right now.

2. Listens to commands- I am truly amazed at how well she listens. If you ask her to go get her baby, doll, Elmo, book, etc, she will. Here are some other things she does when asked: go upstairs, get your milk (looks around until she finds it), sit down, get your shoes (she even tries to put them on her feet, more like sets them on her feet), blow your nose...but the air comes out her mouth, and my all time favorite....time for bed. She puts her hands next to her head and then goes upstairs to her crib. Now...this does not mean she goes to bed. She just knows what it means.

3. Dancing and singing- She is really into singing. Anytime I sing to her, she tries to sing along. Basically it's just a bunch of nonsense humming, but it's cute. Dancing is really fun to her as well. If she hears a song come on, she starts to dance, wave her arms, and shoulder shrug. Most recently she has enjoyed singing the Hokey Pokey and Ring Around the Rosy. She does go in circles usually followed by tipping over from being dizzy.

4. Reading Books- Hailey still loves books, but the fun thing is she is now listening to the WHOLE thing.....even longer books like "Go Dogs Go." I would guess we read anywhere from 15-20 books a day. It is pretty constant. We read one, then she gets another, then another. Honestly, I'm a bit tired of reading them, but she loves. it. She is also recognizing and pointing to familiar objects in books when you ask her: sun, moon, star, car, duck, cow, horse, monkey, bee, flowers, tree, bug, frog, and many other things but I don't need to bore you.

5. Eating...still- I think this will always be on the list. She is getting pretty good at using a fork, as long as it is a "real" big person fork. The baby forks just won't stab the food.

6. Blowing- Anytime she sees a balloon she blows. Same with her bubbles. We are working on blowing her nose...which I know she won't be able to do for a good while, but we are getting into a routine and teaching her that's what you do.

7. Getting taller- When Hailey turned one, we began marking her height on the wall in the laundry room. I just measured her again on her 15th month birthday and she is already 3 inches taller than she was 3 months ago....yikes.

Well, that's all for now....updates again in a month