17 Months

Taking the Home Depot shopping cart for a little spin.

The Packers are going to the Super Bowl!

Yum!

Unfortunately this love is not reciprocated

This is what happens while I take a 5 minute shower.  3 minutes in shower,

2 minutes to dry and dress, and this is what Sierra is capable of in that time. 

She's quite talented!

Watching some "Sera" videos on the computer

A play date with Beatrice.  Here cousin, have a bite.

A visit with Grandma

All bundled up!

Sharing baby's bed...

 Mr Potato Head!

 New Christmas toys make a very busy girl

 Lots and lots of days for puddle stomping this month.  Where 

oh where is Summer? 

Here are some current Sierra stats: 

• weight: between 22 and 23 lbs (between 3 and 10th percentile)
• height: 34 inches (98th percentile)
• knows the colors white, blue, green, yellow, pink, orange, and red(this one still gives her some trouble)
• knows the shapes star, heart, circle, and square
• counts to 10
• now says mommy and daddy instead of dada and mama
• current favorite animal: crocodile
• favorite foods include noodles ("nules"), yogurt, lentil soup, cheese, and berries of any kind

Sierra's language skills continue to improve as she now puts 3 and 4 words together (i see you, where are you kitty, come here crocodile ("dada"), baby is crying (then she proceeds to fake cry), etc.  She is also learning to pluralize words and use words in different tenses.  It's amazing to watch her little brain work.  My baby that used to not notice if a book was upside down will now always turn it the right way.  She always uses the pointed side of the crayon to draw with and has much more control of her art.  She can draw small circles and she tends to put "eyes" on anything she draws. 

Music continues to be a part of most of our day.  She sings along so well to the songs she knows which always gives me goose bumps.  Hearing her soft sweet voice could never get old.  And she also runs around the house singing at the top of her lungs at times (usually songs that are completely in baby talk and I am unaware of what she is singing about) and waving her hands about like she is composing an orchestra.  We sing a lot of Wheels on the Bus.  It generally goes something like this: The (Sierra chimes in dog!) Dog on the bus goes woof woof woof....... The (Sierra chimes in Nose!) The Nose on the bus goes sniff sniff sniff...... The (Papa!) Grandpa on the bus says I love you, I love you, all through the town.  Generally this goes on for long stretches of time.  We've sang about cheese, diapers, blanky, cars, you name it.   She also will decide the need for a song at random moments.  We will be playing and she picks up a toy points to it, looks at me, and says Sing!  So I do.  This is a song I made up about her beloved Crocodile...

Sierra loves the crocodiles because they are so green

Sierra loves the crocodiles because they dance and sing

Sierra loves the crocodiles and draws them all day long

Sierra loves the crocodiles and makes me sing this song

Crocodile you make her smile

Won't you come and play a while

Yes she will be a songwriter I'm sure:) 

A big thing happened this month.  We weaned Sierra from Binky!  We were down to binky only at naptime and occasionally bright and early in the am when she'd wake up before the dawn.  She was weaned from nightime binky around 12 months but it helped transition her from maniac crazy playtime to naptime in about 1 minute flat.  I won't lie.  I miss that plastic downer.  We had some rough naptimes and are still transitioning,  but she has handled it quite well.  I have to be much more creative with ways to calm her down before putting her in her crib and some days are better than others. 

Her current schedule is:

6am wake up (some days earlier)

8am breakfast

10am snack

12pm lunch

2pm-4pm nap (these times vary a little from day to day) snack after nap

6pm dinner

8:30pm bed

These are all really times that she has set herself and we are accommodating and make sure that we are home for her nap and bedtime every day (some days she falls asleep on the way home from town for her nap).  We are also very careful to always feed her at the same time.  This is important for all of our sake:)  Hungry child=yikes.  I am the same way if I'm hungry.  At least so I've been told.  We are consistent and she thrives on that.  I think most babies do if given the chance.  It's hard to understand the importance of this consistency if you don't have a child and can offend some.  We miss birthday or other types of parties that are around naptime, don't stay out late or generally go out after dinner at all, and don't travel far from home.  But our life is different now.  It's not about parties or trips.  Do we miss these things?  Of coarse!  But Sierra is our number one priority and we do all we can to help her learn and grow with confidence.