An online friend is having a coloring page contest, so I thought Aurora and I could have some fun. I colored my page, then set Aurora up with markers and let her look at my page as an example. She was more fascinated with the markers themselves than interested in coloring the page. :)
Drawing circles!
Big scribbles!
And, at the end, very colorful hands!
Our artwork. :)
Aurora loved her first experience with markers, so we'll likely try them again. But she has to be closely supervised since she loves trying them on other things besides paper. What a silly girl we have!
~Regina
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Aurora at 21 months
We took Aurora to the pediatrician yesterday. It was supposed to be her 18 month check-up, but due to a mix-up with our insurance and an (apparently) very busy doctor's office, we couldn't get an appointment until she was 21 months (3 months late!!). So, now that we have her "official" measurements, I thought everyone might enjoy an update on how she's actually doing. :)
Physical
Height: 34 1/4 inches-90th percentile--and almost too big for her to stay rearfacing in her carseat :(
Weight: 25 lbs, 4 oz-50th percentile
Hair: light brown/dirty blonde, slightly curly at the ends
Eyes: same as before, hazel (brown and green)
Teeth: 12 (possibly working on her eye teeth, but we can't quite tell yet)
Her fine motor coordination is excellent (in my opinion), especially when it comes to drawing. When asked, she can draw dots, lines, or circles. Sometimes she will ask us to add hair to her circle drawings--but she has yet to have us put faces on them. She loves doing puzzles and can generally wiggle the pieces into their places quite easily. She sometimes gets frustrated with some of the more irregular shapes, but with encouragement, she often can do it by herself. She also loves stacking, lining up, and organizing her blocks. She had also figured out how to open most of the doors in our house, but we finally found some doorknob spinner that work on our oddly-shaped doorknobs--so the closets are safe from her again!
She's doing quite well with gross motor skills as well. She recently conquered jumping, which is absolutely precious to watch. One of her favorite activities is throwing her balls down the hallway. I am often surprised at how far and how accurately she can throw them. Running is her favorite form of travel. Spinning around in circles is a fun, goofy activity, too. :) She climbs on everything she possibly can and for those things she can't quite get onto, she hangs by her hands and swings from them.
Personality
Aurora is full of it. Just plain full of it. Full of energy, full of goofiness, full of determination, full of intelligence, full of stubbornness, full of intense emotion, even full of a strong sense of how things should go and where things belong. She's quite the handful, but a precious handful. She loves to explore and learn and be in the middle of everything--provided that the "everything" is in a place where she's comfortable with people she knows. She's very cautious and even shy when it comes to entering situations that involve unknown places and people. She's fairly structured and routine-oriented, though she also has a knack for throwing all routines out the window after about a month of loving that particular routine. She loves to be a little helper in everything from mixing the dry ingredients of cookies, to wiping down the table, to putting her toys in their boxes, to picking up laundry for washing.
Talking
Aurora jabbers almost constantly and seems to have a lot to say about everything, but most of it is not understandable. The words that we do understand are: mama, dida (daddy), hi, die-die (bye-bye), ie (light), eye, aboba/boba (Aurora), num num num (food, yummy), amle (apple). She also makes a number of sounds that signify the item that makes that sound: meow, moo, bark (dog and all other 4-legged animals that she doesn't recognize), grow (dinosaur, lion), vroom (car), rumble (motorcycle), sss (sock, shoe, potty). Beyond that, she knows around 40 signs--I'm not going to list them all--so she generally makes herself understood fairly easily. She tries to imitate a lot of words and her attempts are very precious and amusing. She enjoys making us laugh, so she tends to try all the harder to say things, which makes her even more hilarious. That's probably her goal. :)
Sleep
Ah, the thorn in our side--her sleep! We had figured out her sleep and it was going wonderfully, but after about 4 weeks of great sleep, she decided she had had enough of that. Overnight, her sleep patterns changed and we were back to trying to figure out what to do to fix it all. That was 5 weeks ago and we still haven't figured it out. This kid just refuses to stick with one thing when it works. She may be teething, but painkiller doesn't seem to make a difference for her sleep, so we aren't sure that's actually the problem. Too bad she can't talk to tell us what's going on. So here we are again, spending 1-2 hrs every night soothing her to sleep and getting up with her 3-5 times a night.
And for anyone who's thinking of ideas for us: No, cry-it-out does not work. Yes, her bedtime routine is set in stone. Yes, we've tried walks before bedtime. Yes, we've dropped the nighttime bathtime (she gets rinsed after dinner and that's it). Yes, we get as much physical activity and outside time as is possible with this weather. No, she is not ready to drop her naptime. No, she does not simply need less sleep than she used to (I can tell). Yes, the doctor checked her for ear infections. No, she will not sleep better if she sleeps with us. No, I am not willing to night-wean yet (trust me, we've tried having Wil go to her rather than me). Yes, her room is dark, cool, boring, etc. Yes, we've tried white noise/pink noise/nature sounds/lullabies--the lullabies are her preference for now. Yes, she has a lovey. Yes, we've switched to all-cotton pjs. Yes, we've tried infant massage. Yes, we've tried weighted blankets/swaddling/weights of other kinds. Yes, we've tried painkiller/teething tablets/teething gel. Have I covered all the multitude of suggestions I've considered in the past month? Probably not. But if you have a really out-of-the-box idea, I'd love to hear it. :)
Favorites
Color: still yellow
Food: beans of all kinds--refried beans, baked beans, chili!
Toy: toss-up between the water doodling pad and her doll stroller
Non-toy play thing: the pumpkins on the table
Word: mama!
Person: mommy
Daily activity: dumping all her toys out
Annoying thing to do to mommy or daddy: refuse to go to sleep
Hair style: brushed with nothing else done to it
Sleeping position: on her tummy with her legs tucked up
Music: whatever mommy's singing :)
Book: the dog rhyme one that recently was torn to pieces :(
Night-time activity: fight sleep and stay up late
Movie: Veggie Tale's Jonah
Drink: water
Place: living room, surrounded by toys
Acrobatic feat: picking up my exercise ball and lifting it over her head
Hair accessory: hat
Dangerous activity: trying to walk down the stairs by herself
Sweet activity: "nose kissing" (rubbing her nose against mine or Wil's rather than giving us a real kiss on the cheek)
Body part: nose
Animal: toss up between dog and duck
That's all for now!
~Regina
Physical
Height: 34 1/4 inches-90th percentile--and almost too big for her to stay rearfacing in her carseat :(
Weight: 25 lbs, 4 oz-50th percentile
Hair: light brown/dirty blonde, slightly curly at the ends
Eyes: same as before, hazel (brown and green)
Teeth: 12 (possibly working on her eye teeth, but we can't quite tell yet)
Her fine motor coordination is excellent (in my opinion), especially when it comes to drawing. When asked, she can draw dots, lines, or circles. Sometimes she will ask us to add hair to her circle drawings--but she has yet to have us put faces on them. She loves doing puzzles and can generally wiggle the pieces into their places quite easily. She sometimes gets frustrated with some of the more irregular shapes, but with encouragement, she often can do it by herself. She also loves stacking, lining up, and organizing her blocks. She had also figured out how to open most of the doors in our house, but we finally found some doorknob spinner that work on our oddly-shaped doorknobs--so the closets are safe from her again!
She's doing quite well with gross motor skills as well. She recently conquered jumping, which is absolutely precious to watch. One of her favorite activities is throwing her balls down the hallway. I am often surprised at how far and how accurately she can throw them. Running is her favorite form of travel. Spinning around in circles is a fun, goofy activity, too. :) She climbs on everything she possibly can and for those things she can't quite get onto, she hangs by her hands and swings from them.
Personality
Aurora is full of it. Just plain full of it. Full of energy, full of goofiness, full of determination, full of intelligence, full of stubbornness, full of intense emotion, even full of a strong sense of how things should go and where things belong. She's quite the handful, but a precious handful. She loves to explore and learn and be in the middle of everything--provided that the "everything" is in a place where she's comfortable with people she knows. She's very cautious and even shy when it comes to entering situations that involve unknown places and people. She's fairly structured and routine-oriented, though she also has a knack for throwing all routines out the window after about a month of loving that particular routine. She loves to be a little helper in everything from mixing the dry ingredients of cookies, to wiping down the table, to putting her toys in their boxes, to picking up laundry for washing.
Talking
Aurora jabbers almost constantly and seems to have a lot to say about everything, but most of it is not understandable. The words that we do understand are: mama, dida (daddy), hi, die-die (bye-bye), ie (light), eye, aboba/boba (Aurora), num num num (food, yummy), amle (apple). She also makes a number of sounds that signify the item that makes that sound: meow, moo, bark (dog and all other 4-legged animals that she doesn't recognize), grow (dinosaur, lion), vroom (car), rumble (motorcycle), sss (sock, shoe, potty). Beyond that, she knows around 40 signs--I'm not going to list them all--so she generally makes herself understood fairly easily. She tries to imitate a lot of words and her attempts are very precious and amusing. She enjoys making us laugh, so she tends to try all the harder to say things, which makes her even more hilarious. That's probably her goal. :)
Sleep
Ah, the thorn in our side--her sleep! We had figured out her sleep and it was going wonderfully, but after about 4 weeks of great sleep, she decided she had had enough of that. Overnight, her sleep patterns changed and we were back to trying to figure out what to do to fix it all. That was 5 weeks ago and we still haven't figured it out. This kid just refuses to stick with one thing when it works. She may be teething, but painkiller doesn't seem to make a difference for her sleep, so we aren't sure that's actually the problem. Too bad she can't talk to tell us what's going on. So here we are again, spending 1-2 hrs every night soothing her to sleep and getting up with her 3-5 times a night.
And for anyone who's thinking of ideas for us: No, cry-it-out does not work. Yes, her bedtime routine is set in stone. Yes, we've tried walks before bedtime. Yes, we've dropped the nighttime bathtime (she gets rinsed after dinner and that's it). Yes, we get as much physical activity and outside time as is possible with this weather. No, she is not ready to drop her naptime. No, she does not simply need less sleep than she used to (I can tell). Yes, the doctor checked her for ear infections. No, she will not sleep better if she sleeps with us. No, I am not willing to night-wean yet (trust me, we've tried having Wil go to her rather than me). Yes, her room is dark, cool, boring, etc. Yes, we've tried white noise/pink noise/nature sounds/lullabies--the lullabies are her preference for now. Yes, she has a lovey. Yes, we've switched to all-cotton pjs. Yes, we've tried infant massage. Yes, we've tried weighted blankets/swaddling/weights of other kinds. Yes, we've tried painkiller/teething tablets/teething gel. Have I covered all the multitude of suggestions I've considered in the past month? Probably not. But if you have a really out-of-the-box idea, I'd love to hear it. :)
Favorites
Color: still yellow
Food: beans of all kinds--refried beans, baked beans, chili!
Toy: toss-up between the water doodling pad and her doll stroller
Non-toy play thing: the pumpkins on the table
Word: mama!
Person: mommy
Daily activity: dumping all her toys out
Annoying thing to do to mommy or daddy: refuse to go to sleep
Hair style: brushed with nothing else done to it
Sleeping position: on her tummy with her legs tucked up
Music: whatever mommy's singing :)
Book: the dog rhyme one that recently was torn to pieces :(
Night-time activity: fight sleep and stay up late
Movie: Veggie Tale's Jonah
Drink: water
Place: living room, surrounded by toys
Acrobatic feat: picking up my exercise ball and lifting it over her head
Hair accessory: hat
Dangerous activity: trying to walk down the stairs by herself
Sweet activity: "nose kissing" (rubbing her nose against mine or Wil's rather than giving us a real kiss on the cheek)
Body part: nose
Animal: toss up between dog and duck
That's all for now!
~Regina
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Jabbering
Aurora was in fine form tonight, jabbering, trying to talk and entertaining us. I took a video that was just too cute not to share immediately.
~Regina
(For those reading on facebook, please visit wilnregina.com to view the video.)
~Regina
(For those reading on facebook, please visit wilnregina.com to view the video.)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Pillows
I've been trying to come up with fun, active things to do on cold afternoons.
As you have already seen, Aurora is fascinated by pillows,
So yanking all the pillows off of the seemed like a good idea.
Aurora agreed.
Now she tries to pull the pillows off the couch herself, but she's a bit small to wrestle the massive pillows. :)
I guess we have at least one well-loved indoor activity for long winter afternoons!
~Regina
As you have already seen, Aurora is fascinated by pillows,
So yanking all the pillows off of the seemed like a good idea.
Aurora agreed.
Now she tries to pull the pillows off the couch herself, but she's a bit small to wrestle the massive pillows. :)
I guess we have at least one well-loved indoor activity for long winter afternoons!
~Regina
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Our Night in Haiku
Pizza for dinner--
a very tasty meal!
Baby needs a bath.
Sleepy baby wants
to nurse and turn out the lights.
Baby quiets down.
Daddy starts a roast
to eat daily at lunchtime.
Oops! He forgot it!
Mommy smells some smoke.
The smoke detectors do, too.
Terrified baby.
Baby wails long;
sleep is now a long-lost dream.
Mommy is not pleased.
Daddy rocks the child.
He hopes that she will sleep soon.
Only time will tell.
a very tasty meal!
Baby needs a bath.
Sleepy baby wants
to nurse and turn out the lights.
Baby quiets down.
Daddy starts a roast
to eat daily at lunchtime.
Oops! He forgot it!
Mommy smells some smoke.
The smoke detectors do, too.
Terrified baby.
Baby wails long;
sleep is now a long-lost dream.
Mommy is not pleased.
Daddy rocks the child.
He hopes that she will sleep soon.
Only time will tell.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
More Quiet
You would think I would learn my lesson quickly and check on Aurora as soon as it gets quiet.
But, you see, I enjoy quiet so much that I hardly think about what mischief could be occurring. It usually takes a little giggle to knock me to my senses and remind me that a toddler is on the loose in our house.
And sometimes, the quiet doesn't mean an awful mess, just harmless exploration (or an attempt at self-doctoring).
And, no, she did not need a band-aid, she just thought it would be fun.
Except that she hates band-aids and won't leave them stuck where they belong.
Silly kid.
~Regina
But, you see, I enjoy quiet so much that I hardly think about what mischief could be occurring. It usually takes a little giggle to knock me to my senses and remind me that a toddler is on the loose in our house.
And sometimes, the quiet doesn't mean an awful mess, just harmless exploration (or an attempt at self-doctoring).
And, no, she did not need a band-aid, she just thought it would be fun.
Except that she hates band-aids and won't leave them stuck where they belong.
Silly kid.
~Regina
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Why Aurora was so Quiet
As ever mother knows, if it's quiet your child is probably doing something he or she shouldn't be. I would say Aurora is an exceptional child, but she's certainly not the exception in this case!
This time it was the vase of flowers on the table...
Apparently they needed rearranging.
But it took her longer than she expected to get it looking just right.
What creativity! Plopping flower heads right into the water! Do you think I could patent it and make millions? ;)
Whatever the case, she was quiet proud of herself.
~Regina
This time it was the vase of flowers on the table...
Apparently they needed rearranging.
But it took her longer than she expected to get it looking just right.
What creativity! Plopping flower heads right into the water! Do you think I could patent it and make millions? ;)
Whatever the case, she was quiet proud of herself.
~Regina
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Funny Sleeping
Aurora loves her big girl bed and everything about it, but most of all she loves her pillows.
So you would think that most mornings we would find her on her bed like this:
But no...
Absolutely not.
Never.
Ever.
So, if that's the case, what do you call the crazy "bed" head she has when she wakes up?
~Regina
So you would think that most mornings we would find her on her bed like this:
But no...
Absolutely not.
Never.
Ever.
So, if that's the case, what do you call the crazy "bed" head she has when she wakes up?
~Regina
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)