The sleep routine we started last month of putting you in your crib instead of rocking you has continued to improve. I don't know how we'd made it so long rocking you for 14 months! Were we crazy???!! Yep, we were crazy, overprotective parents, but it's so hard to stop doing something that works. Especially when it comes to sleep!
The biggest thing this month is you're no longer nursing. Honestly, if it were up to you, you would have stopped a couple of months ago, but Mommy has had a longer time letting go. I always thought you would nurse for at least a year and a half - or even two years - and that it would be something that you'd always want. Not so! You're much too active to sit still long enough to nurse! You'd barely been nursing anyway, (lately you'd only stay on 5 minutes once a day) so we started skipping a day here and there and before we knew it, you barely even noticed we'd stopped. And since it was so gradual, it didn't have an affect on my supply either. I was sad when I thought about it ending, but now I realize that it gives us more time to do other things. :)
Lately, you've also taken to falling in love with your dolls. You love your Dolly (pictured above sleeping in your arms) and now you've really taken to Violeta - a dog that talks and says your name. It's really cute. You like that her collar lights up when she talks. She sings songs and talks about things she likes. Some of the songs are so catchy that even Mommy and Daddy can't stop singing them! "I'd like a cat, please, it's my favorite animal. I'd like it to be pink, please, that's my favorite color. I'd like it to eat sweet potatoes, please, that's my favorite food. And I'll call it Mila, just like you!" You can program the dog to know your name and your likes and it puts it into it's songs. It's funny, but whenever it interjects the programmed information, it's so unnatural! There's always a pause before and after. So it says, "And I'll call it... Mila .... just like you!"
Here's a picture of you playing with Violeta. You've started taking her everywhere! She's not machine-washable, so I'll have to figure out a way to get her away from you after you've fallen asleep so she can dry overnight. My concern is that you'll wake up during the night and look for her and you won't be able to go back to sleep without her. We'll figure it out... but in the meantime, she's starting to get pretttttty darn dirty pretty quick!
Now, on to this month's language development. These are the words you know how to sign: You sign "airplane" whenever you hear a noise that sounds like an airplane, you sign "banana" when you see one, you sign "more" when you're eating something you like, and you know the sign for "daddy" (we're still working on the sign for "mommy"). You understand a lot of words now too (in Spanish): books, let's go, eat and crackers, to name a few.
Words you actually say are: water (agua is "abua"), daddy ("da-da"), tree (arbol is "abo"), back pack ("bagbag"), potato ("papa"), spider (araña is "aña"), Dolly ("doh"), Violeta doll ("doh"), actually any doll or toy is "doh" and you've been saying "app-tah" which we just figured out means "uppa" or "up." The most exciting word you've been saying is "ya-ya" which is what you call your Aunt Blanca. You've picked it up because Jorge calls her "ñaña" which in Ecuador is what you call your sister. So you've heard him call her that and you call her that too! So now we call her "Tia Ñaña" which translates to "Aunt Sister" - too funny! And, boy, do you LOVE your Tia Ñaña! Whenever she comes over, you're all over her! Mommy and Daddy cease to exist, haha! I don't blame you though, Tia Ñaña is always a lot of fun. And it's nice to know that we have a baby sitter that you're more than happy to be around, LOL!
You have also been making sounds that sound kiiiiinda like "ma-ma" but honestly, I'm not convinced. I think you're trying to say "mum-mum" which are your favorite snacks. It had occurred to me that maybe you didn't say it because you didn't have to call for me, since I'm always around, so when you'd wake up in the morning or from a nap, I'd come in and say, "Hola mi amor, es mami!" ("Hi sweetheart, it's mommy!") - since that's the only time I'm not around. Now you've started saying something that sounds like "ma-ma" when you want to be picked up from your crib in the morning. I'm convinced it means, "Get me the hell outta here!" But maybe it's the beginning of mama?
The funniest thing you say now is "poo-poo" - and it's not just that you say it, but HOW you say it. Ok, let me give some background. First, you must understand that as a stay at home mom that's home with you all day by herself, Mommy has no privacy. None. Mommy's gotta go to the bathroom? Mila follows. And I can't close the door on your face. So - whatever - I just go with the door open. I figure maybe you'll catch on to what I'm doing and maybe you'll go too? And when I change your diaper I make a big deal about poo-poo so you seem to know what it is. So in effort to make the connection between poo-poo and the toilet, whenever Mommy is on the toilet, regardless of what I'm ACTUALLY doing there, I'll say excitedly, "Mommy has to go poo-poo!" Then when I flush, I'll wave to the toilet and say, "Bye bye, poo-poo!" And since the other times whenever I've said "poo-poo," it's when I'm wiping your tush during a diaper change, you've seemed to have caught on. So the other day, Daddy came home from work and shortly after he said hello and played with you, he went to the bathroom. You do that gesture as if asking, "Where'd he go?" So I said, "Daddy is in the bathroom. Daddy has to go poo-poo!" (I could hear daddy clarifying from the bathroom, "Pee-pee!!!!") You looked at me for a second and then squatted, reached to put your hand between your legs as if wiping, and said "Duuu-duuuuuu!" (as in "poo-poo!") It was the funniest thing EVER!!!!! Oh my gosh, I nearly died!!! And now you do this whenever we say "poo-poo"… hilarious!!! I need to get you on video doing this!
Oh, Mila! Every month that goes by, you just bring us so much joy! You make us laugh so much! You're so curious and smart and it's just such an absolute pleasure having you as our little girl. I'm so glad you're ours.
We love you dearly!
Your Mommy
15 month status update
23 lbs., 11oz.
32 inches long
Mila you are growing up way too fast!
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