Month Sixteen

Dear Aeralyn,

You turned sixteen months old on Tuesday while we were all caught up in the start of a new year.  This past month has gone by so fast that it was hard for me to keep up with all the ways you have changed lately, but I’ll try to remember everything now. 

The biggest accomplishment so far this month just happened last week.  You are now completely weaned from nursing during the day.  I’ve had you daytime weaned now for a while, except for nap time.  But for the past week, I’ve put you down for a nap with only rocking you, and you haven’t even put up too much of a fight.  Nightime weaning is quite another issue though, but I am confident you will be completely weaned by summer, if not sooner. 

You have sprouted four more teeth this past month giving you a grand total of six teeth.  This has been so helpful because now you are learning to bite things into smaller chunks to make them easier to eat.  I was afraid you would just stuff big pieces of food in your mouth all the time, but you have only done that on a handful of occasions.  On another note about food, you have begun a love affair with ketchup.  You love to dip anything you can into it, and I’m also having an easier time getting you to eat meat now that you can dip it in your favorite sauce.  You ae quickly learning, however, that not everything tastes so great in ketchup.  Like cheese.  But you’re still willing to try it anyway. 

You have become so much more affectionate this month, and everyone is loving this about you.  I have to say that one of the best feelings in this world is when you wrap your little arms around my neck and lay your head on my shoulder for a quick snuggle.  You do this several times a day, and I can never get enough.  You’ve also learned to say “I love you”, and that just melts everyone into a big pile of goo.  You’ve got us all wrapped around your finger.

Along with becoming more affectionate, you have also become, how should I say it, more assertive I guess.  We joke that you are going through the “Terrible Two’s” early, but seriously?  If it gets much worse than this at two, I’m not sure what I will do.  If something doesn’t quite go your way, you will promptly throw yourself on the floor with the greatest dramatic flair and proceed to flail around and scream.  You did this yesterday for no apparent reason other than when you woke up from your nap, you were just cranky.  I’ve learned that the best way to handle these situations is to ignore you.  You will usually calm yourself down fairly quickly and we can all get back to what we were doing.   Most of the time you are pleasant and easy to deal with, so I won’t complain too much right now. 

For a while now, your favorite animal has been a cat.  You love your stuffed cat and any books that have a cat in them.  When we are out shopping, if you see a stuffed cat or a picture of a cat, you always point to it and “meow”.  So when we decided to get a real cat this month, I was a little worried at how you would take it.  Not that you would be upset or scared, but that you would be so incredibly excited that you just exploded with glee.  That almost happened, but thankfully not quite.  You love your new little kitty, and you try to show her that every second of the day.  We are still trying to teach you not to pick the cat up, especially by her head.  And not to pull her out from under the couch by her tail.  You are learning, but definitely testing me.  It is actually not as bad as I expected, and you are both getting used to eachother now.  I hope that you two will be lifelong best friends. 

I can’t wait to see what this next month, and year, brings.  I love you more than anything in this world!

Love,

Mama