14 Months Old

This post is mostly for me, so I can remember all the amazing changes this last month.

Weight: Around 21 pounds
Favorite Foods: Macaroni, Chicken, Pears, Banana, Avocado and Guacamole, Goldfish and Ritz Crackers and green beans
Favorite Activities: "I'm Gonna Get Ya" AKA Chase Lexi, Carrying bags and purses around, shape sorter, banging ANY noisemakers, bathtime, reading books with mommy
Teeth: Still only 6, but she is working on some more.

Lexi is growing like a week and developing new mannerisms everyday.  I liike to call this the month of the mimic, because Lexi is mimicing everything Nick and I do.  She can distinguish between items when we name them and go get different objects depending on what we say (ball, purse, baby, dog, milk, cup, etc)

-She is saying mama (MomMom), dada and Daddy (which sounds like Addy), Dah (Dog), NahNah (for milk...I'm not sure where this came from), and Duh (for done)  plus TONS of nonsense words.  she wakes up talking in her bed and doesn't stop until she's asleep.  She also is doing "all done", "clean up" "more" and "milk" in sign language.

-She is walking/trying to run EVERYWHERE.  It's amazing how fast she is in such a short time. 

-She understand when we say no and can redirect herself to a new activity (most of the time ;) )

-Lexi loves to bring Nick and I books and turns to sit in our laps to listen to the story.  This is a BIG change and one that I LOVE to see.  She still loves all books with moving parts, peekaboo flaps and pop up objects, but currently loves to listen to Big Red Barn and Llama Llama Nighty Night (which has none of these things) most of all.

-We have had the Christmas tree up the last couple weeks with no incident.  She has actually listened and not pulled ornaments off.  She is the perfect age for her second Christmas, because she is interested in all the decorations and Christmas books, but will listen and not tear things up.   I am getting so excited to experience Santa's arrival Christmas morning this year!

-She loves to HELP...close the dishwasher, open the fridge door, cook, put away laundry, close doors, get her diapers.  All chores take double the time now, but I love that we can do them together!

-Lexi just got interested in drawing with her "My First Crayons".  These are awesome because they have a chunky grip and she can really go to town scribbling.

-She LOVES to play outside.  We go on walks or play in the backyard at least 5 times a day now.  She can't get enough...especially if the dogs are involved!  She can chase them around and attempt to give them their toys for hours if we let her.

-She also loves bathtime.  She likes to pour water in different containers and started trying to pour water on her head.  She also likes to "brush" her own teeth after Nick and I do it first.

-She is trying to cut some new teeth and they have been painful.  Our wonderful sleeper has started to have disrupted nights again which is a sure sign that new teeth are on the horizon.

We just got home from Houston for Thanksgiving and had our first major family illness while we were away.  Lexi got a case of the 24 hour stomach bug, which she then passed on to me.  I ended up having to miss our family Thanksgiving, which I was devestated about, but Lexi was all better and went to "The Creek" with Nick and my dad.  You can see her above in her Thanksgiving outfit, lounging her her favorite little chair at Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bobby's house!

Halloween and 13 Months

How is it already November?  It seems like October just FLEW by in the blink of an eye.  We have had big changes in the Mauldin house this last month.  Lexi started walking and went from a couple steps to moving ALL OVER the house in just a few days time.  I knew when she took steps a couple of months ago and stopped trying that when she did start walking she would master it quickly.  And that is exactly what she did!  Life with a fully mobile baby has totally changed our life at home.  I thought I'd finally gotten into a routine and now all I do is chase Lexi everywhere. 

We have also had to keep our doggie door shut because she is obsessed with crawling through it to go play outside.  We spend a lot of time walking around the yard while she chases the dogs with their frisbee trying to coerce them into playing with her.  She is babbling all the time and has a special voice she uses for any dogs, that resembles a scream.  She also says "DAH!" for dog (and basically every animal that walks on all fours) while pointing to them. 

She is learning to mimic and loves to copy us when we play and use different objects.  Though she only knows a couple words, she is understanding many commands and short sentences.  When I say "Let's eat breakfast" she goes to her highchair and reaches up to be put inside.  If I say "No, No" she'll shake her head back and forth.  Lexi likes to pretend to walk around with objects or her hand up next to her ear whenever we answer the phone and pretends she's talking too.  She makes a vroom sound when she pushes cars or trucks around on the floor and she loves to figure out how things work.  She'll sit and concentrate SO hard trying to put pieces of something together or lids on containers.  It's so cute watching the little wheels turning in her brain.  She loves to bounce up and down and dance to music, especially if she has something in her hand that will make a rattling sound. 

She's drinking milk now and eats EVERYTHING.  She will try almost everything which is nice for us, because we can normally just feed her whatever we are eating for dinner.  She especially likes olives, avocado and macaroni and cheese and still loves salmon.

This year for Halloween, since she is obsessed with dogs, we dressed her up as a pink poodle.  She looked so cute and for a couple weeks before we practiced wearing her headpiece around and holding up her pumpkin to get "treats".  She looked so teeny and adorable toddling up to the neighbors holding out her little pumpkin pail.  It was a fun age to have her first "trick-or-treating" experience.