Halle: 14 Months

Halle turned 14 months on the 17th.

She seems to be changing from day to day...

Becoming more and more like a toddler instead of my little baby.

To celebrate another month come and gone, I thought it would be fun to list 14 things about her at this stage of her life!

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(1) She's WALKING!
She had been cruising around holding on to anything she could (furniture, people, walls) for months! Slowly this past month she started taking a few steps here and there on her own, without even realizing. I was convinced she could walk on her own if only she would believe she could! But I didn't want to push her. With some gentle "coaching" and strategic placement when putting her down, one day, a couple weeks ago, she started taking more steps on her own between me or objects. And that was it! She now knew she could do it and there was no stopping her! At first it even seemed like she tried so hard NOT to hold on to things. She was so proud and excited!

(2) She runs!!! Well, not really. But toddler style. Seriously - to elaborate on the walking, girl is an energizer bunny! She flies around and never seems to tire of moving. All of a sudden, she was so mobile! Up until last month she didn't crawl. At first she did this half scoot, half crawl motion across the floor but has since perfected crawling. And crawling up the stairs. And pulling up on things. And standing. And controlled sitting. Then back up and go! go! go! You get the picture.

(3) With this new mobility comes baby proofing! She is in to everything! Stair gates and cupboard locks have been installed. Doors need to stay shut. Any chance she gets to boot it over inside the fridge, pantry or bathroom, she takes it.

(4) And Loki's doggy bowls... She finally discovered how fun it can be splashing in a bowl of water or dumping his food on the floor. So unfortunately for Loki dog, his dishes end up high on the counter for most of the day until Halle is out of the room. But luckily she makes up for it by sharing plenty of scraps from her high chair ;)

(5) We have progress in the food department! Our fussy eater has made major improvement with finger foods. Although she's still picky about trying new varieties but we are continuing to work on it! Breakfast foods (breads) and fruit are her favourites.

(6) She has also taken a liking to ice cream! It is summer time after all. She is all about sharing our cool treats when we indulge and full on dove in to a giant Costco soft serve cone a few weeks ago. Sticky. Mess.

(7) Halle has always seemed to prefer 'stuff' over toys but I have seen a lot of changes in her playing this past month. She is more interested in toys now and appears to be problem solving more. Like putting her tea set cakes inside the cups, her farm animals in the barn, or her food in the kitchen cupboards. It's really neat to watch her make connections and experiment with play.

(8) She also started doing the cutest thing with her books... Which makes her seem like such a 'big kid'. She'll go to her book shelf, choose a book, walk over to me, hand me the book and turn around and sit on my lap. It is SO cute for some
reason and always makes me smile. She always smiles when she does it too. Like she knows I like it or something. Like she knows I'm happy she wants to actually sit still for a couple minutes ;) And sometimes she doesn't really want to sit
still and read the story, mostly just turn the pages... But I'll take it.

(9) When we FaceTime with family, it is her mission to hold the phone. And she thinks it is the funniest thing ever to try to run away with the phone. She pretty much thinks anything she is "not supposed to do" is hilarious. [I'm blaming Matthew for that trait ;)]

(10) She's mommy's little helper! Halle loves to help with the laundry - pushing baskets, pulling clothes out of the washer/drier, shutting the machine door, (ruining my folded piles)... I also let her "help" unload the dishwasher, after I've taken out the cutlery rack. So far it's been fine, no broken dishes, just a curious girl observing mommy. It makes me happy watching her enjoy being involved... And it makes me dream of the day she can do laundry herself, ha.

(11) One thing she has done all on her own is transition to one nap a day. It happened earlier than I would have liked it to, but apparently she was ready. And I'm glad to have that (pretty much) established before baby #2 arrives, even though we still have a few months to go! So she's currently napping once a day for anywhere between 1.5-2.5 hours and typically sleeping 12 hours at night. Sometimes the days seem long, with only one "break", but overall I'm happy with it :)

(12) Earlier this year when we were working on sleep habits, and now that she was older, I started placing Halle's baby bear and a cozy, that I call 'Lovey Bunny', in her crib. She didn't really seem to have an attachment to them or show a need for them to be there but I thought it might help with the routine we were setting. Recently things have changed
and Halle has taken more of noticing and liking to Lovey Bunny. She's often holding it when I come in after nap or wants to bring it to her change table or downstairs. She's not overly attached, or anywhere near dependent (which is a good thing) but for some reason I like that she snuggles and cares about this cozy.

(13) The animal she really cares about is, Loki. They have the best bond. At times they have a love/hate thing going though. Loki is all over her in the mornings and she is all over him in the evening, resulting in the other one becoming annoyed. It's funny, actually. But they are sweet together and they kind of play together now. Loki is definitely curious about her new walking skills and has sometimes been unsure of how to play gently. Halle has crossed the not-so-gentle line, too. Lately she has been all about pointing to (read: poking) his eyes. So, we are working on how they interact and establishing the whole dog vs. baby thing.

(14) Halle is "chatty" and full of sounds but doesn't have many words yet. But I love that she demonstrates understanding when you tell her things or knows how to respond to questions. For example, I ask her "can I have a hug?", opening my arms up, and she smiles, walks over, leans in, tilting her head on my chest and I pretty much melt every time. She also knows things like waving 'hi' and 'bye', can give high fives, and is learning how to share (sometimes) when you ask things like "can I have the remote please?" It's awesome. And just another thing that makes her seem so grown up all of a sudden.

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What I thought would be a quick list sure turned in to a lot of words! But I'm glad to have typed them here. Now we'll have something to look back on and remember this fun stage. It has been one of my favourites for sure.