13 Months and becoming a Toddler!

Hey everyone!

Zoie flew past her 1st birthday, and is running full speed into toddlerhood. She started walking 2 weeks before she turned one, and got the hang of it pretty quickly. She loves to run, squat, spin, stomp, step backwards, bounce, and dance (sway side to side). She loves to climb, belly-flop onto her bed (especially the dog's bed), and shake things. She also LOVES water and splashing!

Towel snuggles from her Great Grandma!

This point in her babyhood/toddlerhood is so interesting, because observing Zoie is like looking into a mirror. She mimics everything we do! It makes us so aware of what we do (and what we shouldn't be doing). It's amazing how quickly she can learn a new "trick" we teach her.

Language

Each day I discover new words she understands. You never really know unless you ask her, right? "Zoie, point to the tiger!" And she does. WHAT? When did she start understanding that the picture of a tiger is called a tiger? I wonder how many repetitions of a word to object she needs before she remembers. Sometimes I feel like I don't spend enough time actively teaching her stuff, and then I sit back and realize how much she picks up!

We've been doing sign language with Zoie for a few months now, and just recently she has really shown interest in communicating her needs and interests with the signs we've taught her.

• "Fan" - she loves ceiling fans, so we taught her to point up and swirl her hand around in a circle. She'll point out the fans in a restaurant or shop when we're out and about, or she'll answer when we ask where the fan is.

• "Milk" - she signs the standard ASL opening/closing of her fist. She just started signing "milk" while she is nursing sometimes, or right before she latches on.

She's saying "woof"!

• "Potty" - the ASL sign is putting your thumb between your index and middle finger and shaking your fist back and forth, but Zoie pinches her thumb next to her index (like holding a piece of paper) and shakes her fist back and forth. Babies always invent their own versions of sign language! Today, she looked at me and clearly signed "potty" right after nursing, so I took her into the bathroom and she went #2! WIN!

• "Dog" - okay, this isn't sign language, but Zoie says "woof woof!" and "dog!" when she sees a dog, a photo/drawing of a dog, or hears a dog barking! It's so cute.

• "All Done" - this was Zoie's first sign she learned. She signs by flipping her hands palm-up and palm-down several times (standard ASL). She initiates it on her own sometimes when she's done with her meal, or done with a particular food I'm trying to get her to eat. She mostly signs when I ask her, "all done?" but it's hard to tell if she's just making the sign in reply, or if she's actually done.

• "Up" - Zoie says "up!" and throws her hands up. Sometimes she does it when she wants to be picked up, other times it's just for fun repeating us.

• "Sit on your bottom", "spin", "bounce", "clap", "roll the ball", "kick the ball", "high five", and "wave hi/bye" are all actions that she does when you ask her.  

I'm starting to teach her a string of choreographed moves... 3 bounces and a spin so far! We'll see how many moves she can memorize in sequence :)

Nursing

Nursing is still going strong! She's so busy during the day, so she really only nurses before/after naps, and maybe 1 or 2 more times during the day.  We just started another attempt at night-weaning though, so lately she's been nursing a little more during the day.

We gave up on night weaning a few months ago - we spent over a week staying up for hours in the middle of the night trying to sooth her back to sleep without nursing. NOT FUN! We finally gave up and gave in. Maybe she just wasn't ready?

Recently though, Zoie reached the point of wanting to nurse every 2 hours at night! Not okay anymore... This mama needs SLEEP! We're a few days into night weaning round 2, and it's going a lot better this time. It seems that she is beginning to understand that if she waits until her regular wakeup time at 7am, I'll bring her into my cozy bed and she can feast as much as she wants!

Sleep

Zoie has switched herself from two naps to one, which has been convenient for getting out of the house and doing things! It's usually a long nap, anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours.

Her nighttime sleep is a work-in-progress, as I mentioned the night weaning project. She goes to bed around 8pm, and wakes up around 7/7:30am (still with some waking up in the middle of the night).

Since we're night-weaning, we've been trying everything else to sooth her back to sleep. Holding her and walking, rocking, bouncing, snuggling in the rocking chair, humming, shushing... you get the idea. Once she is night-weaned, step #2 will be keeping Zoie on her bed while rubbing her back or just being with her while she learns to fall back asleep herself.

Eating

"Get this food AWAY!"

We seem to be entering the picky toddler phase. Zoie has learned that food is something she can control, and she loves to be in the driver's seat! I have to keep reminding myself to let her eat what/how she wants to eat. We do not want to make food into a battle!

It's fun giving Zoie all different foods to try. It's surprising what she likes, and what she doesn't like. A delicious cheesy quiche? GET IT AWAY! Raw tomato? YUM NOMNOMNOM! Sweet juicy peach? THROW IT ON THE GROUND! ... It's a bit of a trying process, but it's fun.

Zoie mainly eats food that we eat - we skipped purees entirely. I have a few special toddler snacks for her, like freeze-dried fruits and bite-sized yogurt snacks and peanut butter crackers. I'm always on the lookout for nutritious ready-to-go food, and I keep homemade turkey meatballs and mini egg & cheese omelets in the freezer for quick meals.

Sometimes she scarfs food, other times she hardly eats even though I think she's hungry. At least she still nurses, so I'm at ease with her nutritional intake. She also likes cow's milk! She'll drink about half a cup in the morning, and half a cup in the evening.

Relaxing for a moment with her milk and monkey.

Each day is new and interesting with a baby-becoming-a-toddler. Such an incredible experience to watch a person develop! Step by step, you watch this little person discover the world and test her abilities. She learns that she has control over herself, and can communicate her wants and needs. What an amazing realization for a kid! We all take self-expression for granted - but man, what a gift!

Cheers,

Martha

Happy 11 months, Zoie!

So much learning!

Now that our girl Zoie is 11 months old, she is exploding with knowledge! I swear, it happens overnight. Suddenly, she understands words! And more words! Now we're challenged to keep pace with teaching her new words, gestures, and sign language.

Things really got rolling last month when my grandma played patty-cake with Zoie several times over our weekend visit to Chicago. I didn't think much of it, and James and I found ourselves singing the nursery rhyme once we got back home in Kansas. Suddenly, Zoie lifted up her arms to "throw the cake in the oven"! She remembered the motions that her great grandma taught her!

Since then, Zoie has [finally] learned how to clap her hands together, and will promptly do so if you ask her. She also claps if I tell her "good job!" - which always cracks me up.

Baby sign language hasn't been a huge priority for us, but Zoie just recently started signing "all done" sometimes when I ask her! It's so encouraging when you get a response - We'll definitely keep up with teaching her more baby signs.

Zoie's little hi/bye wave has become completely adorable - on the plane to Seattle, she greeted every single passenger with a smile and a wave! If she gets shy from the attention she creates, she starts playing peekaboo and hiding around my shoulder.

Using the Potty.

Potty training a baby? What? YES! But it's not really training. 

I started the process by creating a cue word when Zoie was 4-5 months old. Every time I caught her in mid-pee, I would say "psssss!" This usually happened when I was changing her diaper and the fresh cool air against her skin would make her pee.

Who knows if the cue word was really necessary, but the first time I balanced her over the little potty chair and said "psssss," she peed! I was impressed. And she did it again and again! Depending on how many times we offered the potty during the day, we'd catch at least a few pees each day. Definitely saves money on disposable diapers and cloth laundry.

When we're not at home, Zoie happily uses a regular toilet. It requires a little more involvement to hold her body weight over the big potty, but it works!

In fact, Zoie just learned to poop in the toilet during our Seattle trip two weeks ago! Every morning after we nursed, I took her to the toilet and she did her business. It was like she suddenly discovered that a toilet was MUCH easier for elimination than struggling to push into a diaper. I was SO excited the first time she #2'ed in the toilet that I snapped a photo and texted it to my husband. Is that weird? Being a parent is such a strange experience :)

We're lucky that Zoie is pretty consistent with her once-a-day poop. If she doesn't go in the morning, I just watch for signs of "pushing" and quickly offer the potty. I've only had to clean up TWO dirty diapers in the last several weeks! HAPPY MAMA!!

I just started teaching her the sign for potty (make a fist with your thumb tucked between your index and middle fingers and shake your fist back and forth) - as soon as she can TELL me when she needs to potty, there is nothing holding us back from becoming diaper-free in the near future!

Getting closer to walking!

Zoie absolutely loves to move. She wants to walk [run] so badly! Her favorite thing to do is to grab onto our fingers and take us on a walk. If you pick up the pace and guide her along fast, she'll shriek with delight and her little legs will run to keep up!

She's not quite balanced enough to walk on her own, but she is just starting to take a few independent steps! I'm mentally preparing for chasing this girl once she starts walking. She will be everywhere! 

Adventures in eating real food!

For the most part, Zoie is a pretty adventurous eater. She'll eat almost anything if she's hungry for food. She especially loves berries, fruit, avocados, eggs, chicken, ground beef, cheese, yogurt, crackers, hummus, steamed veggies, and beans. 

Dog's gotta eat too, right?

However, there are days when all she wants to do is nurse! This is mostly when she's sick, or when teething is painful. Other days, she refuses to nurse until bedtime and only wants real food and water.

Breastfeeding... and night weaning.

Nursing is still going strong. She likes to nurse in the morning, before and after naps, and before bedtime. Sometimes a few extra times during the day too, and several times at night. I don't think Zoie is going to give up nursing any time soon!

However, we're finally at a point where I feel okay about night weaning. Zoie is eating solids really well, she's not sick, and she's not struggling with teething at the moment. My goal is to secure a good 6-hour stretch where she doesn't nurse, so I've chosen 11pm-5am to "close Mom's diner". Let me tell you, it is NOT easy! I mean, nobody likes to see the closed sign when they pull up for a meal!

Once Zoie gets used to falling back asleep without milk (I'm offering a sippy-cup with warm water instead!), I'm hoping she'll start sleeping through the night a little better.

This all takes a huge amount of patience - Night #1, Zoie was up for 3 hours telling me JUST how much she liked my new nursing plan! After three hours of rocking, singing, swaying, shushing, she finally fell back asleep without nursing. Success!

Last night (Night #2) actually went really well! Instead of 3 hours, it only took me 20 minutes to rock Zoie back to sleep without nursing. Second time she woke up was at 4:30am, so I went ahead and nursed her. Close enough :-)

Hopefully this good momentum continues tonight!!

First birthday is right around the corner!

Hard to believe our little Zoie girl is almost 1 year old! My parents are flying out to celebrate with us. What a wonderful year this has been! It's been such a joy to watch this girl grow. Time drifted by pretty slowly while James spent 5 months in Afghanistan, but these past few months together have flown by!

Cheers,

Martha

Family of three! Yipeeee!

It's about time! We're all together again!

Finally, our lives have returned to normal! It's been so awesome to have the three of us together again. James returned from his deployment in Afghanistan mid-January, and it's been such a luxury to relax and settle in to the comforts of family life.

Five months as a solo-mama was an interesting challenge. Thank goodness Zoie is such an easygoing baby, otherwise I can't imagine the difficulties we would've faced! We had lots of support from my parents, James' parents, and our friends. I also made new mommy friends with babies, and having regular playgroups kept the days zooming by!

Nights were always the loneliest, but luckily I got to talk to James almost every evening. Skype and FaceTime made it feel like he really wasn't so far away. We'd share stories, swap pictures, discuss problems, plan goals for the future... just like like we were hanging out face-to-face. James even "helped" me unbox our new iMac and set it up while we were video-chatting! He also participated in our big family white elephant swap during Christmas via Skype (although he had to wake up before dawn to chat with us, haha!). And of course, Zoie had plenty of video daddy-time, so he saw her growing and developing over the 5 months. 

What an amazing day when James finally returned safely to the US! Although we live in Kansas, James flew into Seattle, WA because he had orders to spend a few weeks training the next group deploying to Afghanistan at Fort Lewis before he returned home. But hey, what luck! I'm from Seattle! So of course, Zoie and I hopped on a plane (her 5th trip in her 6 months of life!) and met up with our beloved soldier.

When James stepped off the plane at the airport, Zoie and I were waiting at the gate along with my mom and dad. I couldn't believe he was finally here!! We tossed aside the Welcome Back sign we made and all hugged him. Zoie didn't even seem hesitant, she definitely knew her daddy. It was so sweet to watch the two of them together! James spent time taking her on escalator rides and showing her all the visitor brochures while we were waiting at the baggage claim. I think my heart melted just a bit :)

We got to spend three weeks in the Northwest with James, my family, and our wonderful Washington friends. It was awesome, having James return AND getting a vacation! We enjoyed some good seafood, explored Pike Place Market, visited the aquarium, and ate at our favorite restaurants. Also during our visit, the Seattle Seahawks WON the 2014 SUPER BOWL!!! The entire city was wrapped up in bright green and dark blue, it was an awesome time to be in Seattle!

Back to Kansas - there's no place like home.

At last, we've settled back into a routine together at home. Babies really do thrive with consistency, Zoie has been a happy baby! It's been such a joy to see her bonding with James again. She loves playtime with her daddy, being tipped upside down and zooming around the room like an airplane! Zoie also loves sleeping on James' chest. Much better than sleeping on mama's chest - the milk is too distracting!

We took Zoie sledding for the first time!

This girl has been busy growing. She is now 15 pounds, and measures 25 inches from head to heel. Still a shorty, but she's steady on her own growth curve. Hard to believe she'll be 8 months old in a week!

Yum, food!

Food has been a fun adventure. I was all excited about starting Baby-Led Weaning and going straight to food Zoie could pick up and feed herself, but it was not working so well. She gagged on everything! It was hard to watch. So we started spoon-feeding, but letting her help hold the spoon. She still gagged on pureed food! But after a week or two, she became comfortable with texture and swallowing food. She enjoyed applesauce, yogurt, mashed avocado, sweet potato, egg yolk, and sauce from dinners we cooked. 

And then we got bold and started giving her chunks of fruit to gnaw on. And it worked! She didn't gag or choke, and she loved holding the food herself! Now that we've overcome that hurdle, Zoie doesn't love spoon. She would much rather attack a whole strawberry or chew on a piece of cheese. It gets pretty messy... but that's okay. We've had lots of laughs and some great photos!

Sleep... or lack thereof.

It's kind of funny, the most common question I get when strangers ask about our daughter is, "does she sleep through the night?" - I'm not sure what they're expecting, but the answer is always no. I'm sure she will one day! I usually get up 3 times/night to feed her. We just started feeding her greek yogurt about 30 minutes before bedtime, and it seems to keep her tummy full for longer so she doesn't wake up to nurse so often. I'm optimistic that sleep will continue to improve, but for now waking up a few times isn't that big of a deal.

Speaking of sleep, I love her little floor bed! Having her sleep on a twin mattress on the floor instead of a crib makes it so easy to nurse her at night - I just lay down next to her! She crawls off occasionally, when she's looking for me (well, my boob more specifically) in the night, but it's not an issue. Her whole room is baby-friendly with a gate in her doorway.

New developments!

• Sitting - she can sit independently.
• Standing - she just started pulling herself up to stand (without help!), and will take steps if you guide her along.
• Crawling - still not a full crawl, but she can get places quickly with her inchworm-crawl. She also scoots upside down backwards on her head (it's pretty weird!)
• Teeth - Zoie has her first two bottom teeth.
• Bath time - she loves to splash and play in the bathtub! Definitely a favorite activity.
• Imitating - if you click your tongue at her, she quickly replies with her own tongue clicks.
• Playing with the dog - our dog Brownie is the best form of entertainment for Zoie! She'll just watch her and laugh. She especially loves to be held while we chase Brownie!
• Potty - we've introduced a tiny potty chair for Zoie. We offer the potty (balancing her on the seat) right after naps, and whenever her diaper has seemed dry for a little while. So far she pees in it 1-2 times a day!

Zoie's signature "upside down head-scoot"
- a surprisingly effective mode of transportation!

So happy for BATH TIME!

I love each stage as Zoie develops, it's such a joy to watch her grow! We're really getting to know her little [big] personality and see glimpses of what she'll be like as an older child. I feel so honored to be her mama! She brings so much happiness to our lives, and to those all around us.

Cheers,

Martha

Welcome 2014! Is Zoie really almost 6 months old!?

And you know the best part about 2014? JAMES COMES HOME!

Finally, we can see the finish line! I can't tell you exactly when, but my hubby will be back soon from his deployment!

It's been quite the ride being a solo-mama for the last 5 months. Fortunately, we've been blessed to have a happy, healthy, easy-going little girl! Both our families have been a huge help with keeping me and Zoie busy - time has flown by! And what would I do without them to help take care of our house and vehicles? Zoie and I have been well cared for, and we're very thankful!

Zoie had her first Christmas here in Kansas with
both sets of grandparents, and her uncle Thomas!

Now that Zoie is nearing 6 months, her personality is blossoming. I'm beginning to see what kind of toddler and kid she's going to be. It's pretty exciting watching her become her own little person!

She likes to do things on her own!

So... about those [various] bottles I kept trying to feed Zoie with? She has refused every time. But a sippy cup with handles and a nice sturdy spout to play with? Zoie loves it! She can't get enough! She needs more practice with actually drinking the liquid (we've been practicing with water), but it's one of her favorite activities!

Zoie also insists on sitting up. Leaning back in a nice recline? Nope, not for her. She loves sitting upright in her Inglesina high chair and being involved at the table. The BabyBjorn bouncy seat I thought was so cool? Now she won't tolerate it for more than a couple minutes, it leans back too far!

It goes without saying that she still doesn't like being cradled when held... unless she's super super tired!

She has started laughing, rolling over, and scooting!

Zoie started laughing at Brownie chasing her tail last week! I mean, Brownie did look ridiculous, but Zoie found it hilarious! It was such a joy to hear. I get lots of little giggles and tons of smiles, but only that one true laughing spell. Since then, I've been trying all sorts of goofy things to try and get Zoie into another fit of giggles. I'm sure my dog is silently laughing at my crazy attempts...

Morning giggles!

This girl likes to move! I can tell she's going to be all over the place as soon as she's mobile. She's awesome at rolling onto her belly, but gets stuck (like a reverse turtle?) and can't quite roll back yet (besides a few surprise rolls!).  She has also learned to arch her back and push her legs to scoot backwards! Looks pretty uncomfortable to scoot on the back of your head, but I'm not going to judge.

And now introducing... FOOD!

I know it's recommended to wait until the baby is 6 months old before starting solids, but man that's hard to do! Zoie already steals fistfuls of food, grabs onto beverages (watch your beer and hot coffee!), and tries to suck on silverware and plates.

So, I've followed her cues and have let her taste a few things.

First up? Steamed carrots! Verdict: not a fan. To be fair, I did burn them a teeny bit... but I thought they tasted okay!

Next up? Apple! Verdict: an interesting flavor, and a good texture to gnaw on. The other day I was eating a tasty Fuji, and Zoie (as usual) wanted it. So I nibbled off the skin and offered it to her. She went for a combination of latching onto it, and gnawing it with her little gums. So funny to watch!

Nomnomnom... I even gave her a chunk to hold on her own!

I think baby-led weaning is the best route for Zoie, since she prefers to use her hands and be in control. For those of you unfamiliar with BLW, it just means giving your baby food they can pick up and feed themselves, instead of the parent spoon-feeding purees. Since she'll still be nursing until at least 12 months (probably longer, she's a big fan of the boob), we won't have to worry about her getting the nutrients she needs. The first year is all about practice and trying new flavors!

The next time I post, our little family will be TOGETHER again! Zoie can't wait for her daddy to return, she has so many exciting things to share with him! She was a tiny, sleepy 4-week-old newborn when James deployed - she is now a spunky, bubbly, chatterbox of a baby that's almost 6 months old!

Somebody's excited for their daddy to return!

Happiness awaits :)

Cheers,

Martha