17 Months! (and a day!)

A,

Here we are, another month that has flown by! You has a very busy month. You participated in your very first run! We did the Star Wars Disney Run at Disneyland. Daddy, Grandma, and I did the 5k and then you did the 100 meter dash! It was so much fun to be apart of it all. We then also spent two days at the parks. We did Ariel's Grotto for the first time with you. You were so funny! When the princesses were far away, you would point and be excited, and then the second they got close to you, you would clam up and not smile but just stare. You have also gotten bitten by the Frozen bug! You seem to love Elsa and ask to watch her now all the time. We actually went and saw Elsa, but you did the same thing where in line, you were very excited, but then I think you get star struck and again just stared when we actually saw her and Anna!

I am going to start with sleep this month, because you are actually sleeping! It is lovely for everyone :) You have now been consistently sleeping through the night, which makes mommy and daddy very happy! You still have a few nights here and there where you wake up, but it is not bad and you usually settle yourself. So, bedtime is now bath, book (usually), and then bed between 7:30-8 and you wake anywhere from 6-7am.

This month, we finally said goodbye to "mama milk". We had been working on weaning fully, but the last to go was the right before bedtime feed. You did much better than I thought you would! I think it was harder on me than it was on you! We still snuggle before bed, but mama milk is now officially gone. You are doing really well on the goat's milk though, which is good. We will try cow's milk again someday, but for now, we are going with what works! And you seem to enjoy it, which is what really matters. You have become a better eater as well. Before, you had the feast or famine thing going on, but now, you pretty much eat well at every meal! Blueberries are still your favorite as well as beans. You also still love your pouches and we will give you one if we feel you haven't eaten enough as we know you will eat one of them!

You are becoming more and more you own person and it is so fun to watch you grow! Your personality really cracks me up sometimes. You are talking more and more and have really gotten used to the word, no. You like to say it, a lot. But, you also have been saying please and thank you, more and more, which that I am happy about. You also will say two. You won't say one, or three, but if we countdown, you will always chime in with two! You also make up your own dances now which are of course the most adorable thing I have ever seen.

Watching you grow and learn really is the best thing I have ever done. I am truly grateful that I get to be your mommy (and I know daddy feels the same - even though you have not been very nice to him and say no to him when he tries to give you kisses!). I look forward to each and every day with you and watching you to continue to grow into the toddle you are becoming.

Love you always and forever,

Mommy

Parenting Fail - How we made our daughter afraid of birds

So, we may have accidentally installed a fear of birds into our daughter. We were out to breakfast yesterday and we sat outside. This place tends to have a lot of birds flying around, which has never bothered Aurora before. So, yesterday though, she had an extra crumby croissant that got all over her. Now, we know Aurora is picking up more and more and understanding more and more, but we sometimes forget that, and we forget that she doesn't understand jokes. So, when my husband jokingly said, Aurora, those birds are going to come eat you with all those crumbs on you. I think she understood what was said, but not that it was a joke. Because, suddenly she started pointing at any bird nearby and getting visibly upset.  We had to shoo the birds away and tell her the rest of the meal that she was ok and that the birds were not going to get her...

So, hopefully, this has not installed a life long fear of birds into her!