As of last Tuesday, our "baby" is now just three months shy of 2!! That is truly hard to wrap my head around as I feel like it was just yesterday that I held her in my arms for the very first time. I miss the newborn snuggles, the baby giggles and the non-stinky toes, but I am loving every minute of watching our little girl grow into the woman she will someday be.
19 Months (7/6-8/6)
At 19 months old, Hazel rarely talked (and still does). Since she seemed to have little desire to use any words I thought I'd try harder to teach her the animal sounds. Unfortunately though, she is pretty convinced that every animal just says "rawr". 😆
20 Months (8/6-9/6)
At 20 months old, Hazel endured her first physical trauma when she fell off a rocking horse and jammed a toy baby bottle into her front tooth causing it to chip and push up into her gums. On the night it happened we never even noticed until I put her to bed and noticed that she seemed to be missing a tooth. The next day though, it was completely obvious as she was very swollen and black and blue. 😓
21 Months (9/6-10/6)
Now our little girl is 21 months old (or almost 2 in non-crazy momma language)!! She is fully embracing the toddler nature and is sure to let us know when something isn't going her way with a rash scream or a stamp of her feet. Like her brother Avery she has recently become a picky eater and often is seen pushing food off her tray and unto the floor or simply handing it over to Emma. She used to be a very good eater, but these days would rather live off of milk and fruit.
Despite her little fits, she is still a very sweet little girl. She loves being with her momma and rarely veers too far away. She also loves playing with her Daddy though and melts his heart when she meets him at the back door after work with a kiss. She also is constantly checking in on her brothers and always needs to know what they are up to.
Physically she is still our little peanut. I am actually shocked that I can continue to put her in size 3 diapers as I'm pretty sure both of the boys were in size 4 or 5 at this age. I haven't measured her in a while, but I did weigh her about a week ago and she was slightly over 24 pounds, which is probably a good 3-4 pounds lighter than the boys were at this age.
Hazel also now has all of her teeth except her 2 year molars (I think...she doesn't really let me look in her mouth much beyond the random hair ties I am constantly pulling out).
As I mentioned above, Hazel still doesn't talk much. She is slowly learning though and surprises us with a new word every couple of weeks. Her favorite word is some variation of mama, but typically this is no longer the adorable baby version that she used to say. She will run around the house screaming for "Mom!" or "Ma" like she is a teenager. She also uses the words 'hi' and 'bye' fairly often but most of the other words that she knows are used sparingly such as Dada, cheese and please (which she just started saying 2-3 weeks ago and still prefers to just wave her hands in our direction while screaming instead of saying). About a week or so ago, Hazel also learned the word "why" and now we often find ourselves in a circular conversation as she asks us "why?" in regards to every mundane part of life. Finally, her newest word is "ites". This one I just figured out on a shopping trip with her last weekend as she kept saying it over and over again. At first I couldn't figure out what she was trying to say but then I watcher her saying it as she pointed up at the all of the lights on the ceiling and knew that she was actually saying 'lights'. The words that she picks up seem so random, making them all even more entertaining for us. 😆
Another way that our little girl is quickly becoming a mini teenager is her love for clothes and shoes. Last weekend when we were shopping for some clothes for her brothers she was a tad irritated that the clothes were seemingly not for her. When I took her over to the little girls' section she was beaming and would pull on an article of clothing and then point to herself. When I finally picked up a shirt for her and put it into the cart she got a huge smile on her face. :) Similarly tonight when I received the Halloween costume that I ordered for her in the mail and opened it up she could not wait to put it on and was giddy as I dressed her in it.
As far as our routine with Hazel goes we are not as regimented as I think we were with the boys, but try to keep things the same as much as possible. She wakes up every morning at around 7, usually takes about a 2 hour nap after lunch and then goes to bed at about 7:30 each night. She enjoys getting ready in the morning, but no longer has patience to let me do her hair, which is why she frequently looks like she is a punk rocker. She loves to brush her teeth on her own, but hates to let us do it for her (although she IS getting better at this). She also loves to mimic the things I do while getting ready in the morning such as brush my hair, put on deodorant, brush my teeth and spit in the sink. She also loves to assist me with toilet paper whenever she can squeeze her way into the bathroom with me. (She knows that she is not allowed to pull the toilet paper roll for fun, but that if she does it to 'help' me it is OK).
At bedtime, our routine is brief as Hazel is a no-nonsense girl when it comes to going to sleep. After she is all ready we read our books (with one of her (many) blankies in hand, turn on her sound/light machine, spin the mobile above her bed and the she happily goes to bed. In all of that, the only thing that takes any amount of time is the reading part as our little girl now LOVES to read! She still has little patience for books that are nothing more than words and pictures (and will close a book that she becomes disinterested in mid-word), but she loves any book that is interactive. Her favorite books are Poke-a-Dot What's in the Ocean?, Never Touch a Polar Bear, and Toes, Ears & Nose!, but really any book that is interactive and nearby is fair game. My favorite thing about our story time though is watching her select the books to read. Sometimes she will let me choose, but other times she carefully studies all of the books on her shelf and then continues to inspect the front and back of a book after picking it up. She seems to make her selection very carefully. Once she has made her choice she will bring it over to me and then either happily jump into my lap to read it or run off to get 2-5 more books to add to the lineup for the evening. Then once we start reading, I inevitably have to cut her off because she will keep pointing at new books after I finish one for as long as I let her. I often find myself reading 4 or 5 books to her each night.
In addition to her love for reading, Hazel also loves to color (and we have to keep an eye on her as she is the worst of our three littles for coloring on things she shouldn't), take her baby for walks (if I make a crying sound she will go and soothe her baby doll and then loves to put her in the toy stroller and walk her around the house), play with ALL of her brothers' big-kid toys and play outside in her swing, truck or the sand box. In addition to taking her baby for walks, she also LOVES being taken for walks. None of my kids have loved the stroller like Hazel does. She loves to pull it out when she can reach it to tell us that she is ready for a walk and while her brothers always wanted out of the stroller so they could explore on their own, she is beyond content to let us do the work and push her around.
Finally, I hate to admit this but our little lady also LOVES television. We don't let her watch much, but with older brothers she still sees it on more frequently than I'd care to admit. I am surprised that she has patience for it as I doubt she really understands what is going on, but any time the TV is on (no matter what it is) she insists that she snuggle up with us on the couch to watch, usually with a blanket over her lap.
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| The most accurate picture I took of Hazel (or lack of...because who has time for pictures when you're a toddler?) |
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