-She sleeps from 7:30 pm to 6-7am. We have tried putting her down later at night but she gets so tired and asks to be put to bed. The latest she has made it was 8. She naps twice a day still. Once in the am from 9-11 and once in the afternoon from 2-3:30.
-She signs sleep now and will sign it if she is tired and wants to nap or if she is being manipulative and wanting her binky. :) She only gets her binky and blankets at nap time and bedtime. It is nice she can communicate to us when she is tired because I usually go off of that cue as to when to put her down for her afternoon nap.
-She loves her teddy bear. So much that she squeals when she sees him, gives him big hugs and can even say teddy. She has not attempted many words yet so the fact that she tries to say his name is cute.
-She eats three meals a day and takes four 5 oz bottles. One when she wakes in the morning at 7, one after both naps and one before bed. We tried getting her to take milk out of a cup for awhile and it was a big fail. We decided to not push it after it wasn't working for 3 weeks or so. The biggest reason they wanted her to transition to a cup was for teeth decay and oral development. We found she had the milk in her mouth more and carried the cup longer than the 3 min it took to suck the bottle down so it kinda defeated the purpose. We will try again here soon.
-Breakfast most days is oatmeal, flax seed and a fruit/veggie cube mixed in for flavor. She likes to eat bananas, cheerios or life cereal on the side. She can eat her oatmeal with a spoon by herself if I help her scoop it onto the spoon. She dips the spoon and brings it to her mouth, usually not getting much. She is proud of that though and often insists on trying first.
-Lunch and dinner are whatever we have around the house. Favorites include: Morningstar chipotle bean burgers, beef and barley soup, black bean soup, yogurt, cottage cheese, chicken and up until recently cheese sticks. Any kind of cracker snack she will eat too, Annie's bunnies/veggie straws/goldfish.
-She drinks only water and milk. We have given her sips of those real fruit slushies from sonic this summer when we have gone out for a "cold treat."
-Favorite things to do include : Watching the kids get picked up from the school bus every morning, watering the flowers/playing with the hose, going down her slide, taking walks to collect rocks and fill up pails, watching construction machines work around our house and grandma/grandpas', riding in her taxi cab, reading books, singing songs and dancing.
-Rowan has her own playlist on the ipod now of songs she will listen to that aren't kiddy songs. It is a really random playlist and I don't know why she decided to like these songs but it's fun to see her dance along and get pumped up when they come on.
1. Paradise by Coldplay
2. Ceiling can't hold us by Maclemore
3. My songs know what you did in the dark by Fall Out Boy
4. 1,2,3,4 by Fiest
5. Counting Stars by One Republic
6. King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men
7. Moneygrabber by Fitz and the Tantrums
8. Roar by Katy Perry
9. Your love is like a river by Third Day
-She has two daddy activities that they do together and she asks for constantly. One is to watch the Coldplay music video to Paradise. It has elephants in it and she loves elephants. She will walk around the house signing elephant and making an elephant noise as soon as dad walks in the door every evening. She also loves to throw darts with him in the garage. I try not to do either of these so they are special daddy things for him to share with her since he started them.
-She likes to shower with me now. She sits on the floor and play with cups, pouring water in and out of them. She lets the water run in her face and doesn't mind being sprayed on. She will venture into the shower and ask for it to be turned on if we leave the bathroom door open.
-She is still learning more signs but just this week has started talking more. Until now she hadn't shown much interest in attempting words. She has tried out new vowels and consonants but not anything that sounded like words. This past week she said baby and teddy. She still responds yea to most things but has learned no. She tends to use it if she is joking or if she is tired and cranky. Example 1.....Mom- Rowan I see chalk on your face, did you eat the chalk? R-Nooooooo Example 2.... Mom- Want to sing ABCs? R- Nah! Mom-Want to sing Wheels on the bus? R- Nah! Mom- How about 5 little ducks? R- no response, which means I give in, sing whatever the heck you want.
-She now has 6 top teeth and 5 bottom teeth. The fifth bottom one is still breaking through, we just spotted it yesterday. I should have known by her nasty poops that this guy was coming. Why does that happen, it's so gross.
-Still in size 12 mo clothes although she has a lot of 18 month stuff that has been purchased for the fall/late summer that we are trying to wear even if it's a little big so it doesn't go to waste. Her bottom is def ok for 18mo but tops usually swim on her. Shoes are size 4-5 depending on the type. Cloth diapers haven't changed their settings at all and she is still wearing size 3 disposables.
-Her hair is getting long and got really blond this summer being outside. She lets me put pigtails in it now which looks adorable and like such a big kid. Her bangs are getting almost too long and thick to keep pulling back with an alligator clip but I don't want to cut it yet.
-Sleep time routine now includes a book and still the same lullaby song. You can reason with her now for naptime though. She understands first we do this then later we do something else. So if she is pitching a fit, I have sometimes successfully gone back in told her sternly it is nap time and we will play later and she has napped for me. It's pretty awesome when it happens.
-Along those same lines of reasoning, she will take a bite of anything to get a bite of something else. First your green beans and then some chicken, has gotten us to feed her veggies on a couple occasions. She also understands "one more bite then we are all done." I'm hoping if we keep following through on our end with these commands, she will do the same.
-Matt put up a basketball hoop on the back of the door and she likes to practice shooting hoops with dad. She also loves being thrown on the bed by him and wrestled around. I'm glad he is here for that rough and tumble stuff.
-She loves to go through my make up bag in the bathroom drawer and dump everything out. It drives Matt nuts for some reason but I don't mind picking up my mascara in the kitchen. She likes purses and bags in general. Putting things in and dumping them out never seems to get old.
-We let her play on the back patio/deck area by herself now. I will leave the kitchen door open and she will play out there while I do dishes. She likes to pick up all the heavy toys and love them around. We once found her with the gas tank toy on top of the slide, how she worked that up there I don't know.
- She also loves this sticker book my mom started with her. They are reusable stickers and she helps peel them off and stick them on the right object. She is especially fascinated by the people. She always wants to find the girl and the boy.
-She has been really into hugs and kisses and snuggling when she is tired. I am soaking every bit of that up :)
That is Rowan these days. She is so fun, pretty easy going and super smiley most of the time. I love that I have taken random days off work to spend more time at home with her this summer because we have had a lot of fun together. There are small reminders here and there that make me miss her being more of a baby but overall this is a pretty great age.
Love you silly girl!
PS: Happy Birthday Baby Girl Ryan! My friend Alicia had her baby today and I can't wait to meet her! Her and Ro are officially 15 months apart!
