15 Months

Oh my goodness.... how is it possible that my baby is 15 months old?

We went to the Dr. today and here are her stats:

Height: 32 inches (90%)

Weight: 26lbs, 2 oz (90%)

Head: 46 cm (50%)

WooHoo... she's on the charts again!

She is a cute as a button little stinker! I say that with a heart full of love! Nicole is truly my snugglebug. Megan has always been a snuggler and even when she's on the run she still wants her mommy lovin' time. I really didn't think you could find a child that was MORE of a snuggler... oh yeah - that's Nicole. She will walk away only to turn around and run to me for one last hug. She just burries her face and sinks in trying to get closer and closer. Oh my goodness, I just love that! And she's silly. She will figure out what makes you laugh and then do it over and over and over again. She's also sneaky.... yesterday she figured out that if she pushed her new little tykes garage over to the couch, she could climb on it and then climb on the couch. AAAUUUGGGHHHH... because then she promptly falls off - usually backwards. She is the kid that you can't leave alone for a second because she'll be trying to scale something. This is my first experience with a climber. Megan was scared of heights... but not Nicole.

She's an eater... most of the time. The only problem is that "toddler food" is just not her thing. Sort of like how she refused baby food. Forget a piece of pizza cut up, she just wants the whole slice. And if her sister can eat it - so can she! You should see her trying to dip fries in ketchup like Megan or a chip in cheese dip. It's quite funny. She really doesn't want anyone to feed her - she'd rather have that fork or spoon to herself. And actually she's not to bad at handling them.

She loves to talk - most of it is her cute little baby talk. She's trying to say more words - like water (which sounds like ya ya) and bacon (which sounds like ma mah). You'll also hear all done, bye bye, ball, baby, ma ma, Dada, and Meh (Megan). If you don't understand her, don't worry she'll get her point across with an ear splitting scream. Let's just say that patience is something we will need to work on! :^)

She loves to dance and loves Sesame Street. Put them together and you've got the perfect morning.

One of her new "skills" is sign language. I have to admit that I'm not a big baby signer... mostly because most of the words that we work on, I've found the kids start saying about the same time they start signing. At least Megan did. Well we started this because we were asked to participate in a study at Emory University. They are always looking for children in the community to participate in various studies. I did a couple with Megan and it's always fun. So when the called with this I thought sure.... It's a 5 week study where for the first 4 weeks I teach 18 signs to Nicole. We have a little 10 minute session 4 times a week. I've had fun and Nicole doesn't seem to mind. When we got to Emory each week they play a game to see if they can identify pictures when the researchers make a sign. The first 2 weeks it was humerous because Nicole would pick the picture on the left side. Didn't matter if there was anything on the card, that's what she picked. So I wasn't really putting much into this because I figured she was just going to blow their data. ugh. Then last week we went in and Shazaam! She got every one of the right. I was shocked. They mixed it up to see if it was a fluke and still she was able to pick out every sign they made. wow. Now that said... it could totally be a fluke - we have 2 weeks left. This week we go in and I have to video me working with her (ugh) then we have a week with no signing to see if she retains anything. And then I get a nice Target gift card for all our hard work! WooHoo! The goal of the study is to see if kids can learn sign language from videos. We are in the other group to see if they learn signs from parents. They'll compare 3 groups, a control with no exposure except for the the testing times, the parent led group and the video exposure group. I'm looking forward to seeing what they determine. In the meantime, I have to admit that it's been super fun to watch Nicole start making some of the signs - like baby, banana, car, ball and hat. And it's been a fun little activity for us to do together while Megan was at school.

Nicole LOVES her big sister and her cousins. Here she is with Daniel, Megan, Justin and Anna.

Other Random things: Your hair is soooo long. I just can't cut it! She loves shaking her head and getting the hair to cover her eyes. It's so funny... unless we are eating. Then she ends up with food in her hair. You love being outside. Anytime (rain or shine, hot or cold) I get you out of the car and sit you on the ground to walk inside, you take off running to where your little convertible car is sitting or the wagon because you want a ride and want to play outside. It's sweet, but also hard because to take you in means that a tantrum is seconds away. Oh lord you can pitch a fit! To say that you are strong-willed is an understatement... I sure do hope we can figure out a good way to deal with that temper. I think that you must be a closet red-head. And you love your baby dolls. It is so sweet to see you feeding them and rocking them and taking them for a stroll.

Nicole we love you so much - you bring so much laughter to our lives. You sweet smile and giggles melt our hearts. What a blessing you are - Every moment of the day we thank God for adding another beautiful girl to our family. You will always be our little sweet pea! Happy 15 month birthday.