“What’s That?!”

Abby has turned into our little chatter box!  Her newest thing that she says is “What’s that!?” or “What is it?!”  We’ll answer her question and she’ll say “Oh.” or “Woah!” or “Wow!”  So adorable!!!  So of course she’s been saying “mama” and “dada” forever, but below is a complete list of her vocabulary so far (these are in order of when she said them first):

mama/mom

dada/daddy/dad

hello/hey/hi

more

teddy (6/20/09)

ball (7/4/09)

doggy (week of 7/4)

what’s that/what is it (week of 7/4)

oh/woah/wow (week of 7/11)

And she’s just learning so fast.  Such a smart-cookie!!  The first time I held up a ball and said very clearly “BALL” she said “bah!”  I’ve also been signing with her since she was about 3 or 4 months old, and she started picking it up a couple months ago.  It really helps with the stage she’s in, because if she’s screaming, I just ask her what she wants and she can tell me.  So far, she signs <more>, <all done>, and <milk>.  She thinks everything is <more> haha!  But I’m trying to teach her <bedtime/night night>, <hungry>, <eat>, <thirsty>, <drink>, <water>, <juice>, <diaper>, <help>, <scary/afraid>, <please>, <thank you>, <mom>, <dad>, etc.  But I think we’re off to a great start.  She also nods <yes> and <no> so it makes it easy for me when I ask her what she wants to eat or drink and so on, so she can answer yes/no questions.

She’s a much pickier eater these days.  And she’s almost completely off the jar foods – she mostly just has pureed fruit with her regular breakfast, and that’s about it.  It’s a different and more difficult world for me to have to find or cook real food for her 5 times a day.   I’m getting better at it even though it’s a little overwhelming.  And like I said she’s picky, so if I go through the trouble of making her something and she refuses to eat it, I have to make something entirely different – AND try to keep it as healthy as possible.  I usually feed her what I eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner – so that means I need to make sure I’m eating healthy too!  At Abby’s one year check-up, the doctor voiced concerns about her weight.  She hadn’t lost any, but she’s gone down in her percentile (I wanted to say “hello!  look at ME”).  So we had a follow-up appointment set, before which I was to work on getting her weight up, giving her pediasure, making sure she eats plenty, etc.  Well right before the follow-up on her weight, Abby and the whole family got a cold, and Abby got her first ear infection: (  Poor little goose was not a happy camper.  When I went into the doc’s office and explained the symptoms, she said it probably wasn’t an ear infection as I had feared, probably just a sore throut, but she’d take a look anyway.  “Oh yeah, the right side is pretty bad!  Good intincts mom!”  So that made me feel a little better (I have good instincts?  Where did that come from?  I didn’t even know!)  She was given ammoxicilin and she had lost her appetite during the sickness.  So when we went in to follow-up on her weight, Abby had actually lost 0.3 pounds!  I had to defend myself and remind the doc about the cold.  The doc didn’t kill me, but gave me another three weeks to get Abby’s weight up!  I asked what else I could possibly do to make her gain weight?!?!  She said to give her fatty meats, add lots of butter in her veggies, increase the pediasure shakes to 2 bottles a day, no juice (unless she gets constipated I added – because 1 of those shakes per day were making her constipated), plenty of ICE CREAM, lots of cheese, etc.!  Wow.  So that’s what I’m doing, and Abby’s loving the daily ice cream, I’ll tell ya that!

She’s stepped up her mobility from a beginning walker at 10 months, a pro walker by 11 months, and a runner by 12 months.  She still trips and falls every once in a while when she runs, but just says “OH!” and gets back up!  And of course, because she’s so mobile, we can’t take her to the movies with us anymore   She does not want to sit still at all!  Church is a work out also, chasing her around for 3 hours.  And grocery shopping is sometimes a nightmare.  Her new physical challenge these days is climbing everything she possibly can.  She climbs up onto the couch, up on top of the toy bins when they’re upside down, up onto the the ottoman, and stands up straight on the seat of her ride-along bike/car thing!  She’s a little dare-devil!  Some of these things are not easy to get to, and some are very small so she has to balance herself.  When she gets up there, she’s just so proud of herself and starts clapping, and we all start clapping for her too, if we weren’t already!

Oh! I almost forget to tell you about how the weaning went!  The hardest part about the whole thing was how much I worried and stressed about it – of course!  It went so well!  My biggest fear was that Abby wouldn’t get enough nutrients and she wouldn’t get full enough.  So I started giving her cow’s milk May 13th so she could try it, made sure she didn’t have any allergic reactions (because technically I should have waited another 2 weeks to give her any cow’s milk).  I just wanted to start the process and have her done by the time she was one.  I had been breastfeeding a ridiculous number of times per day, I knew I wanted to be done by a year, and I knewAbby was ready cuz she barely fed at all when she went on (it was just a comfort boob), and she was biting after EVERY snack!  So I went from 7 feedings down to 4 for almost a week, fed her extra solid foods, and juice and cow’s milk.  Then every few days, we went from 4 to 3 to 2 and 1.  Stayed at one for almost a week, then May 31 was the last time I breastfed her!  Since it was a slow process, I didn’t get too uncomfortable until about 6 days later, when I could tell I was starting to get clogged ducts and started worrying about an infection.  So I finally pumped (I had to use a heat compress for 20 min because nothing was coming out at first!), and no milk came back since!  It was wonderful! And ever since we weaned, Abby’s been extra extra snuggly and she’s been sleeping 12-14 hours straight at night, I love it!

A few last little Abby notes:  She’s got the funniest smirk these days.  She scrunches up her face and her eyes and tilts her head back, starts out with her lip pursed in a smile, then opens up and chuckles!  It’s so cute!  She’s also been rolling her eyes lately – not in an annoyed way, just….I don’t know why.  She just does it sometimes and it’s so funny.  She’s developed a bit of a raspy laugh which we just think is adorable!  Abby’s the best snuggler in the world.  She has a major shoe fetish – loves all shoes and has to have them on all the time!  She LOVES her teddy, it comforts her immediately!  She fake laughs if anybody else is laughing, hysterical!  If we can’t find our phones or a remote, we check inside the seat of her ride-along and what do you know – Abby hid it in there!  And she is just the best thing that ever happened to me and Joe!  I can’t believe she’s my little toddler now and not my baby anymore!  How did that happen?

Now for some special news: we’ve been trying for the last month for another baby, I just took a pregnancy test today, and I’m pregnant!  Took another one a few hours later, still pregnant, haha!  Joe and I are thrilled!  I’m a little worried about getting sick again and turning into a whale, and giving birth again, but it’s going to be great!!

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