C & T plus Baby Makes 3!: Letters to Reese- 14 & 15 Months!

**I'm really regretting my decision to not keep up with Reese's monthly photo shoots because it's not holding me as accountable to take pictures on the 18th, and write these monthly posts. Things have been hectic around here and I constantly find myself saying, "I have to write that down for the blog!" when Reese does something new or something worth mentioning, and then life happens and I don't get around to it. I'm going to combine months 14 and 15 and try to catch up the best I can. This post is going to be super long**

Reese,

You turned 14 months on September 18th, 2012 and 15 months on October 18th, 2012. You are quite the little person now, and definitely not my little baby anymore (although you will always be my baby ;-) whether you like it or not!). You've done lots of new things and it's been so fun to watch you grow and learn!

You are currently in:

12-18 month clothing
Size 4 diaper
Size 5.5/6 shoe

At 14 months

You are:

-Obsessed with light switches

-Very attached to binkies/lovies/ your blanket etc. *this all started when you turned one.

- Had your first real babysitter (not family or friend) for Mommy's dr. appointment in October, Melissa. She has since watched you 3 or 4 more times. You do great when you stay with her!

-We took away bottles once on 9/29, and then again on 11/1. The first time you went on strike and refused to drink any milk out of a sippy cup and had drank about 2oz. in 3 days. Mommy and Daddy gave in and decided you weren't ready and that we'd try again. Just about a month later on November 1st we tried again and things went much smoother and we haven't looked back since! No more bottles in this house!

-Transitioned to one nap and go down around 11-11:30am and sleep for about 2 hours. This has been one of Mommy and Daddy's least favorite transitions yet. You really threw us for a loop with this one. For the longest time you were like clockwork with your morning nap at 9-9:30ish and your afternoon nap around 2-2:30 with both naps lasting around 1.5 hours. When you first started the transition to one nap, you'd just flat out refuse your afternoon nap by throwing everything out of your crib and not falling asleep. The problem was that you were absolutely exhausted since you had been up since your morning nap at 11ish and all sleep experts suggest that toddlers go to sleep withing 3- 4 hours after their last nap. If we went by that rule, you would have had to be in bed for the night at 3pm, ha! So, we began the transition to one nap by slowly pushing your morning nap (which was going to be your only nap) back later and later in the morning. Mommy made sure to take you out of the house to play dates and places that would keep you awake (i.e places with lots of stimulus). Eventually you got it, and now your one nap has lengthened from one hour--- which was dreadful, to 2-2.5 hours which is LOVELY.

Some favorite pictures from your 14th month:

Mac n' cheese and watermelon!

Going for a walk in your wagon wearing your Merrimack College sweatshirt!

Cleaning your tray after eating.

"Cleaning" the dining room chair

My sweet girl at the park

So tired after swim class and a run to Target

At Endicott Park

Reading with daddy

Helping Mommy with laundry

Painting with Emma

Emma giving you kisses at breakfast

Not happy about wearing a hat and mittens

At 15 months

-You LOVE to dance and we have a couple of dance parties a day. You love to take Mommy or Daddy's phone and put them on the Bose docking station to have Pandora play loud.

-You LOVE to help do "chores" around the house- empty the dishwasher, put the blankets away, load/unload the washer/dryer, empty the dryer's lint filter, cook, put things in the trash or recycling bin etc., etc. I'm serious! You seriously are the biggest helper and are most happy when you pull out all of the cleaning products (with my supervision of course-- plus most everything is green anyway), and put on my yellow cleaning gloves.

-You are obsessed with shoes- your shoes, my shoes, daddy's shoes, etc. If you see a pair lying around, you immediately put them on and try to walk around, no matter how big they are on you!

-We found out you are going to be a big sister to a little SISTER come April (even though Mommy and Daddy were convinced it was going to be a brother!)

-You want to be held a lot when daddy is home, and he spoils you by picking you up. I make you walk a lot more. I'm just trying to prepare you for when my belly is too big to pick you up, and/or when your little sister is here and I can't hold you all of the time.

- Your communication is improving, you still do a lot of the "eh eh eh eh ehhhhhhhh" all.day.long. which is a bit annoying (sorry, but it is!). I try to tell you constantly to "Use your words", and make you look at my mouth when I say certain things. We do a lot of modeling for you. "Reese, you'd like to come UP? Up? Okay, Mommy will pick you UP".

-Some words you are saying (some more consistent than others) are: mama, dada, nana, papa, light, yes, this, that, and Emma (your little friend's name).

-Consistently on 1 nap- you go down around 11

-You watch the iPad in the car-- Yo Gabba Gabba and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are your favorite.

-We do lots of playdates with friends and do Mall Tots, Bonkers, the library, the play place at the Mall, friend's houses, etc.

-You did your first art and craft with Jilane- painting. Mommy started to let you play with markers this month and you LOVE it! We are hoping that Santa brings you an easel and lots of crafting supplies.

-We chose a daycare for you- and you start on January 9th. This deserves a post in itself, but basically the short of it is that we wanted to get you started in a program and get you on a schedule before your little sister's arrival. Daddy and I think it will be great for your socialization, for you to be away from Mommy, and for Mommy to have a bit of a break and be able to spend some 1:1 time with Little Sister when she arrives.