Thursday, May 7, 2015

Growing Too Fast

Felicity is getting so big! She is picking up signs left and right, understanding so much more of what we say, following simple instructions (well... sometimes ;) ), and is so active! She is enjoying things that are SO much fun for me, like starting to do pretend play (pushing her baby around in a stroller, pretending to drink from her play cups), coloring with crayons, and bringing me books to read all day long. She will select a book and then back up until she reaches me, and plop in my lap. I am really enjoying her love of stories! Felicity now "tickles" us by doing wiggly fingers and making a high pitched noise. She is enjoying our (almost) daily walks with the neighbors so much more than she used to, and will relax in the stroller, eat her snacks, sing and talk. At the park, she does most slides by herself (!!!) and is now trying to climb ladders...terrifying for mommy! Felicity's language seemed to explode overnight and she's picking up a new word every few days. Her current word list includes:

dada
mama
moo
uhoh
no no
Addie (one of the children I babysit for)
choo choo
meow
hi baby
zoom
amen
quack
yucka (what I say for yuck/yucky)

There are parts of her growing up that are making me really sad, though! Even though her independence is super precious and exciting, it can also be hard sometimes. She has an opinion and doesn't always want hugs/kisses like she used to and is slowly learning to interact with other children as we struggle through age appropriate but hard things like hitting, throwing, sharing, etc. The hardest part so far, though, is self weaning. I didn't think Felicity would wean this early. In fact, I thought I would have to encourage it in the future (for fertility meds) and dreaded that day, as I have always liked the idea of baby led weaning. So, in a way, I am grateful that the process has begun. But, on the other hand, I never imagined it would start at 14 months! A little over a week ago she decided, cold turkey, that she no longer wanted to nurse to go to nap or bed at night. Those are 2 of the 3 times she nurses in a day, with the other time being when she wakes up between 4 and 5 and joins us in bed. Luckily she has not dropped that one yet, because I don't think my mommy heart could take it all at once! I'm hoping she keeps that at least a few more months. Though it's nice to have Steven be able to put her to sleep (he could before but not without me nursing her first unless I was not home), her weaning has also made the bedtime process *very* lengthy. We are trying a new routine, now that her old routine has gone out the window, but I think the combination of her quitting nursing at those times plus all the things she has going on developmentally was a recipe for disaster for bed time! Thankfully she is still sleeping well once she goes down. I'm happy to see my girl growing, healthy, and becoming independent but, man, it's also really hard! We went to baby story time today, after not having been for about 2 months due to nap time, and it became very, very apparent that my girl is a TODDLER. We will be moving up to toddler story time next week. Toddlerhood comes with a lot of hard changes, but it is also a blast. Although I can't wait until my sister has her baby (any day now!) so I have a cuddly newborn to love on again :).


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