18 month check up

We went in for Miss M's 18 month check up (last week).  She screamed from the moment we walked into the office until the moment we left the office.  It's like she sensed the horror that was upon her...getting weighed, being measured for height and head circumference, and of course two shots!

She weighed in at 23 pounds and 9 ounces. I assume this is pretty accurate as she weighed 23.5 pounds on our scale.  I am unsure about the doctors measurements this time because Miss M was having none of it. She tried to climb over the doctor to get to me while she was on the scale and when that didn't work she proceeded to stand up as though jumping was her only other option.  Her weight puts her in the 50-75% which is consistent with previous measurements.

She was measured at 32.5 inches long. Again, I am unsure how accurate this is with her inability to be still enough to be measured. I imagine it's close enough to accurate since it places her in the 90% and she's always been in the 90% for height.

Her head measured in the 98% which again is consistent with previous measurements.  She will no longer have her head measured since the head growth has leveled out (per the doctor).

We are supposed to be feeding her as much dairy as possible due to her not drinking milk.  I can only offer her milk products. I can't guarantee she will eat them.  The doctor informed me we could feed her one Tums a day to supplement her lack of milk product. I was a little leery of feeding her a Tums because I wasn't sure she would appreciate the chalking taste in her mouth but it seems she likes them. She asks for more after she finishes the one for the day.

I have counted the number of words Miss M can say which includes animal sounds and it's approximately 15.  The doctor said that kids at 18 months can usually say anywhere between 5 and 50 words. Good grief that's one heck of a range.  I am not concerned about her speech development. The doctor isn't concerned but wants us to call her in three months if she hasn't significantly increased her words.

Here are some pictures from the week. As mentioned before she loves Handy Manny.  Handy Manny wears a hat and thus she wanted to wear a hat.  Thankfully, Grandma D bought her a hat once upon a time ago.

It surprises me every time I find her in something that she couldn't get into before.  For example, our bathroom drawers. There was a time when she could barely pull the handle out. Then she could only reach her hand in the drawer where she was playing the lottery in what she was able to pull out.  Now she can get into the drawer and pick out exactly what she wants. She has an uncanny ability to find lip balms.  She pulls the cap off and then shoves her finger inside and rubs the balm all over her cheeks. It's gross and ends up ruining all of the lip balms I have in the cabinet. Yes, I could move them but I don't think about it until she's ruined yet another one.

Weekend activities

We ended up at the zoo Saturday. We aimed to go to the farmers market but it seemed like a lot of work to man a large stroller and a toddler. I didn't have the strength it would need so we went across the street to the zoo.  

Miss M wanted to play with new things today at the zoo which was fun. 

Miss M likes to get into the lazy susan and pull stuff out. She usually is drawn to olive oil, balsamic vinegar and tea bags.  She had her toy tea cup and some tea bags so I thought I would set her up to have a tea party.

Once she got bored with her tea party, I got her three plastic cups with a little water in each and some straws. I thought she would just play with the straws in the water...and she did...until...she combined the tea bags into the water or the water into the cup with the tea bags and before we knew it she knocked over the deep red liquid and had her homemade tea all over the counter, cabinets, inside the cabinets, the floor and on her. It was an amazing mess.  Andrew had the privilege of cleaning it up while I laughed at her genius.

We also went to the Chipotle Fest.  Aunt Nessa and Chris were there and said it was kid-friendly so we loaded up and headed to the park.  They had bands playing, a kids area, food and drinks, and educational stations. It was a really neat experience and will be more fun with Miss M as she gets older.  We did take advantage of the children's area and decorated a t-shirt (which will fit when she's 12) with fabric markers and Chipotle themed stencils. Miss M essentially drew on the stencil and little on her shirt.  Andrew and I helped decorate her shirt for her.

 Aunt Nessa helped Miss M realize she had pockets in her sweater. Miss M was trying to put her wet wipes (which she's annoyingly obsessed with) in her pockets.

Zoo

I have gone to the Zoo everyday this week.  One day, while the babysitter was with Miss M, I went to the Zoo to use their parking lot so I could run along the lake front.  

I have decided the Zoo is the best place in the City to hang out especially has the weather becomes more like fall. There are minimal people at the Zoo which allows for a lot of space for Miss M to run.  It's a great place to learn about animals and burn energy. 

Miss M (the girl who doesn't always like people) wanted desperately to hold Gabe's hand at the Zoo.  He wasn't so thrilled but because he's so sweet he obliged her.

Eventually she started pulling him along.  Miss M knows her way around the Zoo and had no time to mosey.

End of Summer Vacation

We (our family and two other families) rented a house on a small lake in Michigan this past weekend.  It was a four bedroom home and was relatively kid friendly. It was more kid friendly than the last house we rented in Florida. Miss M and I drove over Friday afternoon and Andrew came over Friday night via the train. The only unfortunate thing about the weekend was that it was a bit chilly.

We had more food and beverages than we could possibly consume in a month let alone a weekend.  The children were on their best behaviors and played well together (although they don't really play together rather plan in the same area).

Miss M loved the water.  She was fearless (especially in comparison to the three other children).  She marched herself into the water and tried to sit herself down in the water regardless of the depth of the water. She's cautious enough of a toddler that she didn't get too crazy.

There was a small dock which the children were drawn to.  Miss M didn't catch on to the excitement of running back and forth on the dock until Saturday afternoon when Andrew was available.  Thankfully. It was way too stressful for me to be apart of but Andrew didn't think it was a big deal.  I, however, do not think it's a big deal for Miss M to go up and down stairs but Andrew can't be apart of it.  Luckily Miss M has two parents who have different fears for her life!

 Here is Gwen and Spencer just being adorable.

 Here is Helen and her boys.  Don't you want to squeeze those boys?!?

 Our family picture from the weekend.

 I tried to get creative with my photography.  It's an acorn on the railing of the deck as the sun is setting.

Oreos

I occasionally buy mini Oreos for Miss M (and myself) to eat.  Recently she has been twisting them open (okay, I don't know if she's twisting them but she's getting to the middle) and eating the frosting out of the middle and leaving the cookie part on her tray.

How does she know to eat the middle of an Oreo?  She doesn't get it from me because I would rather have the cookie part (which is why we're an excellent team).  Also when I eat an Oreo I typically eat the entire cookie and I don't deconstruct it.

She's so serious about her cookie.

Pics from the roof

We often go up to the rooftop deck to watch airplanes go by thanks to the two airports near by and the ever present airplanes. 

It's all fenced in so it's a relatively safe place for Miss M to run around.  There is a picnic table on the roof which is probably the most dangerous thing since she wants to climb all over it and it's not in the best condition and I am worried Miss M is going to get a splinter and then I am going to have to deal with it.  I am definitely more worried about me fixing the splinter situation than I am about anything else.  

We had a great day and she was really smiley so I was able to get a few pictures without her shoving her hand in my face and/or crying about the pain she was in from looking at the camera. 

 She's not mad here. She's getting ready to smile based on the succession of pictures.  It's so funny. I just laugh when I see this picture.

 This is the smile that the face above eventually became with a few more clicks of the camera.

She climbs on everything

I often find Miss M climbing on her music table near the window. Normally she just wants to look out the window and watch the trucks and airplanes.  Learning how to climb on her music table prompted her ability to say "stuck".  In fact, truck, duck and stuck all sound pretty similar so you need to pay attention to her situation to figure out what she's talking about.

She loves to climb.  Slowly she's learning how to get out of the situations she finds herself in.

I stopped trying to make her get down from places and just let her climb unless it puts her life in danger. and there is very little that puts her life in danger in our apartment. It's not worth the fight.

PJ's

Miss M received these pjs from Gramma Lu for Valentines Day.  I would say they officially need to be retired when the cold weather hits.

The girls pjs are too short.

Baby capris pjs?!?

They make me laugh.

I should start her Christmas list and put pjs as a priority!

Iowa invades Chicago

This weekend Iowa played NIU at Soldier Field.  It was insanity.  The city was bleeding gold. People from Iowa take wearing their Iowa gear very seriously.  This weekend was be bold wear gold (or something like that) and luckily we have connections who could get us some gold gear so we didn't look like outcasts.

There were lots of people in town and lots of people at the tailgate but we were lucky enough to have Craig and Jessie stay with us for the weekend (no sarcasm intended).  This was Jessie's first weekend away from Jack.  She did awesome! There were no tears!  I don't think I could have left Miss M at six months with anyone but that's mainly because Miss M wasn't a very cooperative/easy/nice baby. I am leaving Miss M for a weekend in a few weeks, and while I am really looking forward to vacation, I hope I can handle being gone as well as Jessie handled being away from Jack.  

The tailgate went off without a hitch and there was a lot of food left over (which is sadly now residing in my apartment). It's all junk food too. I should just throw it away but I am having a hard time releasing the chips into the trash when all I want to do is eat them.

Craig was our grill master.  Don't let the pondering fool you.

Annessa and Chris joined us for the festivities and wore appropriate attire.

Annessa got her KU jabs in with the chairs and the cheers!

Miss M found some money. Miss M likes money.

Miss M and I met a few people at Navy Pier and she enjoyed running all over. It was nice to have six other people to help keep and eye on her and corral her.

I don't really know what this is but it's funny regardless thus it needs to be available for others.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend and it was fun to see so many familiar faces but it was an exhausting weekend.  Thank goodness this only seems to happen every five years.  Until next time!