16 going on...

Where, oh where has my baby gone?

When I look at my sweet baby, a little girl... a toddler looks back at me. Actually she glances at me and then takes off across the room to get into something, climb on something, or attack the dog.

She is growing up so fast!

• Weight: 29 pounds 4 ounces (99 percentile)


• Height: 33.5 inches (100 percentile)

We are gonna have one tall kiddo on our hands. Chris swears that she will be taller than me by kindergarten :)

She also has a head full of WILD curls and despite my best efforts she is no fan of hair accessories. Each rubberband and hairclip is promptly removed the minute I turn my back resulting in even more unruly curls.

She is all personality and makes the same silly faces that her daddy does. She loves to dance and if a good song comes on she stops what she is doing, swings her arms, claps, squats and spins around, stopping occasionally to make sure you are watching her.

She loves books (particularly the ABC Book and Sandra Boyton's Moo Baa La La La, The Going to Bed Book, and Hippos Go Berserk!). She plays for hours with her Doodler, Play Kitchen - stirring tasting and sharing imaginary food, Vytech Laptop Keyboard, and baby dolls. She can retrieve just about any toy you ask for and loves to look out the window. She is sure to announce anytime someone walks by with a dog (or BUH-BA as she lovingly calls all pets). She repeats just about every word she hears, so Mommy & Daddy are certainly watching what we say.

She can point to her nose, eyes (this is typically accompanied with very dramatic blinking), ears, tongue and tummy. She delights in lifting our shirts to poke our bellies too! She drinks from a sippy cup and wants to try anything she sees you drinking from a cup/straw. She recently started feeding herself with a fork and still refuses to let us feed her anymore than the occasional gold fish cracker.

She likes the idea of 'Tubby Time'. She claps her hands and smiles with excitement when she hears the water running and even tries to climb into the tub on her own, but once she hits the water the story changes completely. Having Daddy join her in the tub sometimes help to calm her down...at least until it's time to rinse her hair. After that all bets are off and she is sure to make her displeasure known until well after she is dried off and jammied-up. We are hoping this phase passes quickly.

She lets us know that it's time for a diaper change by grabbing her diaper and nodding her head or by heading straight for the changing table. Hopefully this means that potty training is around the corner and we will be introducing a potty seat before long.

Everyday brings new adventures, new challenges, new skills, and new discoveries. I continue to be awe of my sweet, smart baby girl and cannot wait to see what comes next!