18 Months Old!

Dear Scarlett,
You are now 18 months old!  Can you believe it?  I thought the first year of your life flew by, but it was nothing compared to the past 6 months. 

Somehow, right before our eyes, you have changed from a baby to a toddler.  You finally started walking at around 16 months, and you've been your own little person ever since.  You seem much happier now that you're fully mobile!  Now you love to run and dance and "jump" (which is really you just bending your knees and standing back up quickly, but we won't break that little secret to you).

You are still our little peanut, and weighed 17 lbs, 11 oz at your 18-month appointment.  You are also 2', 6" tall.  You still fit into 12-month clothing, although we are starting to experience a dilemma with your pants: when they fit around your waste, they are like capris, and when they're long enough, they fall down.  Life is going to be really rough when you are potty trained and we don't have the extra padding of your diaper to keep your pants up! Ha!

You are a bit of a picky eater, and it's hard to predict what you will eat.  One day you will love something and gobble it down, and the next you turn your nose up at the same thing.  You're very inconsistent.  Pizza is the one food we can always count on!  Whenever I ask you want you want to eat, the answer is usually "pizza, pizza, pizza!"  And occasionally  you'll say "cookies,"  which you actually pronounce as "coo-coo!" 

You've been talking a lot lately.  In the past week or so, you've seemed like a sponge just absorbing everything you hear, and repeating it.  Earlier tonight, I told Daddy that I have a cold and feel terrible.  Just like a parrot, your little voice exclaimed, "taa-ble!"  Daddy and I burst out laughing.  We are definitely going to have to have to be good examples and watch what we say around you now!  You repeat so much!

You've also recently started to put two or three simple words together.  You say things like, "no no, kitty!" (you love to yell at them),  "Hi, mama! [or whoever you are talking to]",  "bye bye dada", "oh no!" "oh boy," and sometimes you'll just ramble off a bunch of random words, like you're trying to show us how smart you are: "hi mama dada bye bye kitty nana pappa gapa [what you call grandpa and grandma]..."  Yesterday you had me laughing out loud when you put your sock on your hand and made it speak gibberish in a silly voice.  You must have seen someone else do that!

Your personality is coming out more and more each day, too.  You are one silly girl!  You love to laugh, and you love to make everyone around you laugh.  You can also be a little ham.  However, only when you are very comfortable.  When you are around anyone that you don't know, you freeze up and won't say a word.  I'm afraid you are going to be shy like Mommy!  

You are also a sweetheart, and you love to help out around the house.  You're starting to follow directions pretty well, so it's fun to let you help with things.   We're trying to teach you to pick up after yourself, and you're doing pretty well.

However, there are times when you just don't want to do something, and that's when your stubbornness comes out.  You definitely know what you want, and give us a little attitude when you don't get it.  We are teaching you that you don't always get your way.  I am hoping that we can teach you to obey, but still keep that little bit of fire in you.

 

I always loved the name Scarlett because it sounds feminine, but it's not a "sissy" name.  Although you were not named after Scarlett O'Hara, the name always makes me think of her a little bit, and she was definitely a strong lady with a mind of her own.  And it's funny, because you, little Scarlett, are the same way.  You are dainty and feminine in your mannerisms and even your interests (for example, you are still completely obsessed with Elsa and Frozen).  However, you are also a strong little girl.  Like I said, you know what you want, and you will put up a fight for it.  And you're not just into girly things, but you also love to play ball, play with cars, and you've recently developed a serious fascination with fire trucks.  I think your name matches your personality so well, and I just love getting to know you more and more each day.  God has certainly blessed us through you more than we could have ever imagined!

We love you so much!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

1 year old!

Dear Scarlett,
I am writing this almost a month late, but you are 1 year old now!  We can hardly believe it!

  

You have grown and changed so much in the past month (and year!)  You are less like a baby now, and more like a toddler.  We're so proud of the little girl you're becoming, and we love you so much!

You now have 8 teeth (4 on top, 4 on the bottom).  You are eating more and more real food each day.  However, you are still just a tiny little peanut!  At your 1 year well check you were in the 2nd percentile for weight, weighing in at 15 lbs, 6 ounces.  You are in the 12th percentile for height, at 28 inches.  Everyone continues to comment on how little you are, but you're healthy as can be!

In fact, you really haven't been sick at all in your first year of life.  There were a few times when you had a runny nose or a slight fever, but we think that was mostly due to teething.  I just want to say a big "I told you so!" to the people who were so worried about you being so small, because obviously you're one of the healthiest babies around!

On your birthday, you pulled yourself up in your crib for the first time!  You also had begun saying a few new words, including mama, dada, baby, bubble, no (which sounds like "nie")  pah for pacifier, and bah for blanket.  And since your birthday, your language has started to explode, and you say new words (or your version of words) practically every day.  It's so fun to watch you learn to talk!  

You got so many new toys for your birthday!  You love them all, but your absolute favorites are your little doll houses, your baby doll (which is the same size as you!) your elephant that plays music and spews out balls from its trunk, and your singing giraffe.  You also got a baby Bible, and you love it!  You always turn to the page that shows baby Jesus in the manger, and you love to point to the animals and to baby Jesus. I tell you that we will be celebrating that special day in a few months at Christmastime!  

On top of all of those toys, you are also obsessed with Elmo.  It's funny, because you don't really watch a whole lot of TV, so you don't see him on there very often.  But you have some Elmo toys and books and you love him so much!  We were walking through Target today and you spotted a big Elmo stuffed animal.  You gasped and shouted "Momo!"  (that's how you say Elmo, and it's adorable!)  It makes my day to see you discovering the world and getting excited about little things like that all the time.  

In the month before your birthday you did a lot of fun things!  Mommy was busy with my last externship for school, but we found time for some fun things!  We went to lots of parties for the 4th of July, went shopping on the weekends, and went swimming a few times.  You also spent a lot of time with Nana and Papa, Aunt Di, and Grandma and Grandpa that month since Mommy and Daddy were so busy!  

Here's what you looked like in your 12th month:

We celebrated your birthday with a big, pink-lemonade themed party with a lot of family and friends.  You had so much fun, even though you hadn't napped well that day, and were exhausted!!  You loved digging into your cake, and got frosting all over yourself!

Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you.  Your first year of life has been the best year of our lives!  You bring so much joy, and also teach us things about life each day.  This year went by so quickly, but I can't help but be unbelievably excited about the many, many years to come with you.  We love you more than words can say!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy 

11 Months Old!

Dear Scarlett,

You turned 11 months old on Wednesday!  Look how much you've grown:

I can't believe we only have one month until you're a year old!  Time has flown by, and I'd do just about anything to slow it down. But every day you learn something new, and this is a really fun age!

You continue to be one of the most curious babies I've ever seen.  You are constantly watching everything, and you don't seem to miss a thing.  This makes it hard for us to stay a step ahead of you!  When we go out to eat, you love to sit in a high chair and people-watch.  I tell you it's rude to stare, but that doesn't stop you at all!

The craziest thing is that you still don't crawl.  You have mastered the "Scarlett scoot" and you get around so fast that way, I just don't think you'll ever crawl like a normal baby.  In fact, you are starting to pull yourself up on things, and can toddle around pretty well if someone holds your hands, so I think you'll go straight to walking.  In any case, you are totally mobile, and just not interested at all in crawling on your hands and knees.

I say this every month, but you constantly make us laugh.  You dance around, make silly faces, silly noises, and just love to make everyone smile with you.  You love to sing!  I've been singing The Raindrops Song to you a lot, and as soon as I get to the part that says, "standing outside with my mouth open wide" you start yelling "ah! ah! ah!"  Sometimes you just randomly yell it when you want me to sing the song.  It is adorable!  I've started singing Happy Birthday to you sometimes too, and I pretend to blow out a candle when I'm done.  I want you to be ready to blow out your candle on your first birthday!  And you already have the hang of it.  As soon as you hear me the first line of the song, your whole face scrunches up in a huge smile, and you break into adorable giggles. 

You are so friendly, too!  When we go shopping, you love to smile and wave as we pass people.  It takes me forever to get my grocery shopping done, because almost everybody stops me so they can look at you, tell me how cute you are, and talk to you for a few moments.  You LOVE the attention!

You've gotten 2 new teeth this month.  These were the hardest ones yet.  There was a whole week where you woke up just about every half hour, every night.  Mommy and Daddy almost lost our minds!  But then all of a sudden, the first one poked through, and ever since then, I haven't had to get up with you once in the night.  (Knock on wood!)  

Your favorite toys right now are your Peter Rabbit stuffed animal, your Elmo stuffed animal at Nana's house, empty water bottles, your little bouncy ball (you love to roll it back and forth), spatulas, and Nana's chip clips.  Yep, that's right.  You love to play with her chip clips.  It's funny the things you get attached to!

You also love your blanket and pacifier.  When you're starting to get tired, I put your blanket across myself, and you just bury your face in me.  We always say, "snuggle!"  when you do this, and I think you think your blanket is actually called your "snuggle" now, which I think is pretty cute!

You've gotten even cuter this month, if that's even possible.  You love to blow kisses, do the motions to "Pat-a-cake," do "so big!", dance, give high fives, wave (you wave with your whole arm now, and it's so cute), give hugs (which are just you touching your head to things.  We also say "noggin" to you, and touch our heads together.  I think Aunt Di started that!)  Like I said...you learn new things ever day!

You're such a sweet little girl, but very sassy, too.  When we picked the name Scarlett, it sounded like a very feminine name, but also strong and not too prissy.  I think it fits you perfectly, because that's exactly how your personality is.  You are so sweet, but you are strong too.  We hope you never change, and that you go through life as a strong woman who stands up and advocates for herself, but who also has so much sweetness, femininity, and love for others.

This is what you looked like this month:

 I can't believe that your birthday party is being planned, and your invitations are all ready to be sent out.  Time has gone too fast.  But I am so excited for your future!  It's definitely bittersweet to see you growing and changing every day!

We love you so much!!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy

10 Months Old!

Dear Scarlett,

You are 10 months old today!

At your last doctor's appointment, you weighed 14 lbs, 3 ounces.  You are still so tiny, but much bigger than that 4lb, 12 oz baby we brought home from the hospital!  Your appetite has grown and you seem to eat a lot!  But you must have a very high metabolism, because you're just not gaining very much weight!  You will love this "problem" when you're older!

The biggest change in the past month is that you've become mobile!  The funny thing is, you're still not totally crawling on your hands and knees.  You can army crawl like a champ, using just your arms.  But the way you mostly get around is by sitting up and scooting around on your behind.  You've gotten really good at it, and you're really fast!  And it's kind of hilarious to watch you.  It definitely makes taking your monthly pictures a little difficult!  You didn't want to sit still!  That's why most of the pictures in this post are so blurry.

  

You've also learned a lot of other new things this month.  You love to sing and dance as always.  You've learned to do pat-a-cake, and you can do all of the motions at the right time!  Your receptive language is also growing each day by leaps and bounds.  In other words, even though you aren't saying any real words yet, you know what a lot of words mean.  Here are some of the words you understand: bottle, puffs, paci, blankie, "snuggle," (we tell you to snuggle and you think that means to bury yourself in your blanket), kiss, hug (you give us hugs and kisses on cue now, and sometimes spontaneously, too!), bath, hi, bye, kitties, ball, duck, keys, bubbles, bouncer, clap, sing, dance, no (although you don't always listen to that one!), etc. 

 

You are the friendliest baby, and have yet to meet a stranger.  You love to go shopping because you love to point, wave, smile, and STARE at everyone we pass.  This is kind of opposite of both mommy and daddy, because we are both somewhat reserved.  It is fun to see such a tiny little girl with such a big personality!  

You are also just so goofy!  You are constantly dancing around, making funny noises, funny faces, and just cracking up at random things.  You certainly keep us all laughing! 

Your favorite toys right now are your Sophie giraffe, your Peter Rabbit stuffed animal from Aunt Viv, a Frozen coloring book (you just like to look at Anna and Elsa on the cover), bubbles (Mommy blows them, and you like to pop them in my face),and all of your bath toys.  Bathtime is probably your favorite part of the day.  You splash so much, you drench anyone who is in the bathroom with you.  You also love to scream in the bathtub because of the way it echoes.

Speaking of screaming, you do that a lot!  Luckily, you never do it when you're mad.  You only do it when you're overly happy or excited.  It's like you become overtaken with emotion, and the only thing you know to do with all that excited energy is scream at the top of your lungs!

Lately it's been harder to put you to sleep at night.  You also don't always take the longest naps.  We think it's because you don't want to miss anything.  Lately, Mommy has resorted to singing you to sleep, and it usually works.  You seem to respond powerfully to music in many different situations (not all that different than Mommy and Daddy, as we are huge music-lovers as well).  Lately I have been singing "Songbird" by Fleetwood Mac every time I put you down for a nap or for the night.  I'm not sure how that even started, except that something about the melody seems to calm you.  And now I think you're just conditioned to fall asleep when you hear that song.  

 

This month has been very busy for you!  You had your first sleepover at Nana and Papa's house while Mommy and Daddy were in Columbus for the weekend, You celebrated your first Easter, Daddy's 30th birthday cookout, lots of shopping trips with Grandma and Mommy, a trip to the farmer's market, a trip to White House Fruit Farms, many walks through the neighborhood, and today, your 10-month birthday, is Mother's Day.  You've been awfully busy!

Here is what you looked like this month:

 We love you so much, and cannot wait to see what next month brings!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

9 Months Old!

Dear Scarlett, 

You're 9 months old today!  Look how much you've grown:

 Each month I keep thinking it will be impossible for you to get cuter since you're already so cute, but each month you do it!  The first few months of your life, all we heard when people saw you was "she's so tiny!"  While we still hear that occasionally, that comment has mostly been replaced with, "she has such big, blue eyes!"  We can almost count on it every time you meet someone new or see someone who hasn't seen you in a long time.  I have to agree with everyone...they are big, blue, and beautiful!  

Also, your hair is finally starting to really grow in!  It is light brown and very straight right now.  You're starting to look less like a baby and more like a little girl each day.  I hate it and love it at the same time I love watching you become independent, but I also hate the thought of you growing up!

You weigh about 14 pounds, and you're 26.5 inches long.  It is crazy to think that you've grown 7.5 inches since you were born.  I can't even remember what it was like when you were that small! 

You have learned a lot of new things this month.  You are really into imitating actions.  You wave back at people (with both hands, facing the wrong way, but it's adorable).  You have finally perfected clapping and you do it every time you hear the word "clap" or "patty-cake."  You're babbling up a storm, and sometimes you get so excited you just scream!  And I mean, you REALLY scream.  A lady at Giant Eagle told me you were going to break the glass in the freezer aisle -- that's how loud you are.  It's pretty funny, and unexpected coming from such a small baby.  Luckily you only do it when you're overly happy or excited, and not when you're upset.  You still like to dance, although the novelty is wearing off a bit.  You also sing in the sweetest little voice.  Sometimes you sing yourself to sleep.

You're still giving the rare spontaneous kiss to us, and have started to give hugs.  My heart basically explodes when I'm holding you and you randomly tilt your head, pull yourself close to me, and rest it on my shoulder while you hold on for a few seconds.  Those hugs alone are worth all the time we spent waiting for you.

 

You still haven't started crawling forward, but that doesn't seem to stop you from getting around.  You can crawl backwards and around in circles, and it cracks us up how you spin yourself around until you get to where you want to go.  You can also scoot pretty well when you're sitting on the floor.  We kind of think you might walk before you full-on crawl!  You just don't seem interested in crawling.

Your favorite toys right now are any toys that play music.  It's so fun that you already have a passion for music, just like Mommy and Daddy!  You especially like you're stuffed dog that sings to you, and your Fisher Price vintage clock music box. 

Speaking of music, this update would not be complete if I didn't mention your favorite song.  I'm not sure how it became your favorite, but you are absolutely obsessed with the song "Let it Go" from the movie Frozen!  As soon as you hear those first few notes of the song, your head flips around to wherever the sound's coming from, and you're completely entranced for the next 3.5 minutes.  We even use it in the car to calm you down sometimes, and it works every time.  I call it the magic song.

Speaking of chewing, your top front teeth sure are giving you trouble!  They've been trying to poke through for at least a month, and they've changed your appetite, made you lose sleep, and just made you all around miserable some days.  I can't wait until they totally come in!  Although I hate to tell you, but you've got a LOT more teeth coming in, so this is not the last of the misery!  At least it's a chance for extra snuggles!

This month has been pretty laid back around here.  The weather hasn't been nice enough to get out too much, so we've hung out around home a lot.  Mommy was on spring break for a week, and we had so much fun together!  We also did the usual fun family outings and visits.

Next month we'll be able to go outside, swing, take walks, and go visit daddy at the park at work!  We can't wait to spend as much time with you as possible!

Here's what you looked like this month:

We love you so much! 

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

8 Months Old!

Dear Scarlett,

You are 8 months old today!  2/3 of a year old!

I say this every month, but you are at such a fun age!  You are learning so many new things each day.  You are getting to the point where you notice that you get attention when you do certain things, so you do them over and over to make everyone laugh.  I guess you're a little ham!

For example, you have recently learned how to "dance."  Whenever you hear music, you bob your head and rock back and forth.  It's to the point now where we just say, "Scarlett, dance!"  and you do it.  You've done it a million times, but it makes everyone laugh every time!

You seem to understand what a few other words mean, too.  You know who to look at when we say "Mommy,"  "Daddy," or "Ellie."  And you look at us when we say your name, too.  When we say "Hi,"  you wave your hand.  And you try to clap your hands when we tell you to clap.

You babble constantly, too.  Lately you've been saying, "mamamama," "dadadada," "nanananana" (which kind of sounds like "no" and you mostly do it when you're whining), "babababa" and a few other sounds.  You like to kind of whisper your "s" and "sh" sounds too, which always cracks us up.  We're not sure what you're trying to say, but it seems like you're telling us a secret!

You've also recently started to give "kisses."  basically, you just open your mouth wide and press it into our faces.  You do it rarely and only when you're in the right mood, but it basically makes our day when you do it!

 You aren't super interested in crawling, but you recently learned to get up on your knees when you're on your stomach and crawl backwards.  You also roll over more often now, with a little support and encouragement.

You are such a curious baby!  You want to know what's going on all the time.  If we are in a new place or a busy situation, you refuse to nap.  And when I am trying to feed you at home, Daddy and the cats have to be completely still, because if anyone moves, you lose all interest in the bottle and want to know what's going on!  I joke and say you're just nosy.

Speaking of eating, you seem much more interested in solids than your bottle lately.  You have yet to try a food that you don't like, but squash and sweet potatoes are definitely your favorites! I guess you take after Mommy, because Daddy hates those foods!  You are such a good little eater, even though you still weigh a little under 14 lbs!

This month your favorite toys are your sock monkey, your little Alice in Wonderland toys, your plastic farm animals, and your little ball that makes a rattling noise.  Anything we let you get your hands on that is not a toy, is also your favorite toy (e.g. cups, spoons, lids, an old remote control with the batteries removed, etc).  You love to look at books, listen to music, play peek-a-boo, and dance.

 

This month was one of the snowiest I can remember!  Mommy had lots of snow days, which were all spent with you!  I loved every minute.  We also did some fun things like visit Aunt Julie for a day trip in Columbus, celebrate Great Grandma's 90th birthday, play in the snow, and had a girl's weekend with Mommy while Daddy was in Houston.  This month, Daddy also had surgery on his knee.  The same week, Mommy was sick, and you got sick for the first time!  It was no fun, but we all got through it.  

These months keep flying by!  As always, we wish we could somehow make time slow down!

Here's what you looked like this month:

We love you so much!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy