Hannah is acting like such a little girl right now. She has done some major growing up in the last couple of weeks. Our girl is 15 months old! This age is one of my favorites of toddlerhood. It’s soooooooooo busy but so much fun!
- 24 pounds 5 ounces {85th percentile}
- Length: 31″ {75th percentile}
- Clothing size: outgrowing 12-18m so anything I buy now is 18-24m
- Shoe size: toddler size 4 – new shoes for this girl!
- Number of teeth: six, though she just cut at least one bottom tooth
- Eye color: I’m calling them “alpine lake” – the most gorgeous greeny blue
- New words this month: lots! I really can’t remember them all, but some include: doggie, Jackson, daddy
- Favorite foods: fruit, pasta, crackers, cheese, pumpkin muffins!
- Least favorite foods: meat
- Favorite things/activities: playing with Ben, reading interactive books, playing with cars, taking things out of drawers or cupboards, waving at a dog passing by, going to the park, climbing, bath time, watching the garbage trucks, pushing her toy vacuum around
- Least favorite things/activities: being in her high chair, waiting
Walking has been a major theme this last month. It has been so much fun watching her turn into a true walker. She is getting very sturdy on her feet and now rarely crawls to get where she wants to go. While she still falls quite a bit every day I notice an advance in her walking strength. I can tell she is so proud of herself too.
One of my favorite moments from the month is walking down our very, very long gravel driveway at The Lodge. Ben was up ahead on his pedal bike, Jackson was alongside us and Hannah was on foot, walking, the whole length of the driveway {about the length of a city block}. I stepped back to enjoy the moment and take in this huge leap for our family. Hannah walked down the driveway while Ben was riding his bike. It was such a small and ordinary thing but it was so special to me.
There was one day right in the middle of her 15th month where something clicked with Hannah’s communication and she started signing repeating all of the things and figuring out how to sign a bit more. She now signs “please” and that’s usually her request to get something. She’ll point to something {or whine!} and then rub her belly or her chest {her sign for “please”} to ask for what she wants.
Sometimes her spoken words are clear as day, other times she repeats the syllables and the words sound a lot like “dada” – that’s by far her most commonly used word and it must be the most comfortable combination of phonemes. I’m starting to pick up on when she is saying the word “water” but it can be pretty hard at this point to understand what she’s saying. Either way, she’s working hard on getting the hang of speaking and has been repeating things so much more recently.
Following directions is something Hannah is excelling at right now. It is so endearing to ask her to go do something and have her get up and go and do it. She loves being a little helper when it’s time to clean up.
Additionally, we’ve discovered that she will start putting things away all on her own without being asked to do so. We have two step stools that live in the bathroom and Ben likes to bring the taller one into the kitchen to help cook. Hannah will frequently carry it back to the bathroom and put it away all on her own.
Hannah wants to do anything her brother is doing, including play with the same toy he’s playing with. She loves to take his cars that he precisely lined up in a special order. Naturally, Ben isn’t keen on this game. He knows that if he holds out his hand and asks for the toy back that almost always she’ll hand it right over.
More and more lately Hannah has been getting herself into all sorts of mischief. Another favorite pastime is opening drawers and cupboards and trying to pull as many things out as she can. When I open the refrigerator door she’ll pull all the condiments out of the shelf in the door – usually she puts them back, though! Now she’s starting to climb up into the refrigerator, though, so this will be interesting. It is amazing how quickly a young toddler can wreak havoc on the house!!
Long ago we nicknamed Hannah the “wrecking ball” and that is only becoming a more perfect name for her as time marches on. She destroys everything in her path. A few more of her favorites are pulling cheerios or crackers out of her snack cup and throwing them all over the floor, or pulling out the baskets of hats and boots and mittens and throwing the contents around – usually dipping something into the dog’s water bowl. If Ben is building a tower it doesn’t stand a chance of staying put for long before his sister comes and knocks it down.
To say Hannah is rough and tumble is an understatement. We’re working on helping her be more gentle. Hannah loves to walk around with a toy in her hand and unfortunately that toy becomes a weapon most of the time. Usually Ben and Jackson are on the receiving end of that and get bonked in the head.
Aside from frequent hitting Hannah is as sweet as they come, just like her big brother. She is such a cuddle bug. She has always been a super snuggly girl. I adore my morning cuddles with her. We sit together on the floor – her in my lap – snuggling while I read her favorite books and she has her morning yogurt.
Lately Hannah has been walking up to us – Ben especially – and giving the biggest bear hug. It is the sweetest thing! She adores her big brother SO much.
I’ve also recently noticed that she is very different when it’s just the two of us and Ben is away at school. She is much softer around the edges. I’m sure she enjoys not having to compete for my attention. I just love our time together.
I’m so SO happy to report that sleep is going so, so well this month! Alex took over bedtime with Hannah and it’s made all the difference. Alex is gently helping Hannah learn how to put herself to sleep, still with his support.
Very recently Hannah dropped her morning nap. We are still very much in the “figuring it out” phase because if given the opportunity she’ll either fall asleep in the car or stroller still, or at lunch. It seems like she needs anywhere from 2-3 hours of an afternoon nap and has been sleeping about 10.5-11 hours overnight. Everything combined with a little more consistency in our location {i.e. not going back and forth every 3-4 nights between Seattle and Leavenworth} seems to have resulted in Hannah’s “ah ha” moment with sleep.
Hannah has always excelled at fine motor skills and it has been really fun watching her master the use of her fork and spoon lately. It’s pretty impressive that she can feed herself with her utensils. She is so proud of herself, too.
Climbing is something Hannah has gotten into recently. Whether it’s up into a chair, up a ladder or to the top of the step stool, Hannah wants to climb it. She takes tremendous pride from getting to taller heights. She’s already figuring out if she slides her brother’s puzzle box over to the water dispenser on the outside of the freezer that she can reach the button to push to release the water.
Hannah and I have been loving our mid-week mornings together. We go for a girls coffee date most weeks and my girl is really starting to get into the steamed milk.
I could go on and on and on about Hannah and all of the things she’s into these days. She is such a happy girl and she’s not afraid to let everyone around her know it. We’re having so much fun with our girl and love how perfectly she fits into our family.
