Branstad Family: 16 Months...16 Stories

1. Lainey had her 15 month check-up last month. Healthy as can be. She was 30.5 inches long (47%), 24.6 pounds (88%), and had an 18.5 inch head (82%).

2. Lainey is now in the toddler classroom at daycare and has transitioned very well. She's the youngest toddler by quite a bit but she loves being with the "big kids." The teachers tell me that the other toddlers take care of her. One time she sat down really fast and some other kids thought she fell down and ran to help her! It's so sweet to see her interacting with the other kids. We've noticed she's much more jibberjabbery and expressive now. She is a little sponge and learns so much so fast. Also from her transition to the toddler classroom, she's down to one nap a day, usually around 1.5-2 hours.

3. Alaina's favorite new treat is M&M's. She had her first candy on Halloween when we gave her a couple M&M's. Now she definitely knows what candy is and we hid the candy in the pantry cabinet with a chair in front of the door. This didn't stop Lainey. She pushed the chair out of the way, baby-cross-fit style, and got in and ran off with some goods. Now we have a carabiner with a rubber band locking the door. Man, we're bad at childproofing!

4. Her favorite toy is her baby doll. She likes to give her dolly a kiss, put her in the cradle, cover her up (with blankets, toys, clothes, and whatever else may be nearby), and rock her. Then she takes everything out and does it all over again. And again. And again...

5. If you really want to make her mad; just come at her with a wash cloth. Melt. Down. City.

6. Lainey gives leg hugs and it makes my heart melt. Out of nowhere she'll run up to us and give our legs the biggest squeeze. It's awesome.

7. One day she stood on her rocking chair (which is frowned upon - see #9), grabbed her "Goodnight Moon" book off the table, and held it up and said "Moo, Moo." (moon)

8. New words: "Nay Nay" for what the horsie says, down, Opa (for Grandpa Jim), duck, MINE, boom boom, owie, and "Ny, Ny, Ny" (for No! No! No!). She repeats "oh wow", "oh my," "oh boy," and "oh man." And just this weekend, she started saying "Lainey." We can point to her and say, "who's this?" And she says "Lainey." It's pretty sweet.

9. She's been using some of her new words against us. When she stands on her rocking chair she looks right at us, smiles, and says, "down!" When she pinches our nose or grabs our hair she says "ow!" When she grabs something she's not supposed to have and you try to take it from her she says "MINE!" And the best one yet: I was feeding her lunch and she decided to throw a giant handful of mixed vegetables and her sandwich over her shoulder. That usually means she's done so I got her down from her high chair. She then walked over to her sandwich, bent over, and shook her finger at it while saying "Ny, Ny, Ny". It was cute and funny the first time. And maybe the second and third. But now it's a thing when she throws her food overboard so I'm not sure how I feel about it now!

10. She wants to put on her own mittens, socks, and shoes but she still lacks some dexterity to do it. She can, however, get my socks on her feet.

11. Whenever she sees a flower, even as as a puzzle piece or in a book, she sniffs it. Except she blows air out her nose, which is hilarious.

12.Sometimes, okay most of the time, we give her a toy to hold during diaper changes to hold her attention and prevent any log rolling, kicking, touching poop and privates, and the like. Her new game is to throw the toy over the table and put her hands up in the "what happened or where'd it go?" position. She also does this if she hears a funny noise or sometimes if we ask her where something is. But we don't ask her where Opa is because if he's not right around the corner we may have a very concerned and tearful Lainey.

13. She watched small snippets of The Wizard of Oz and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer when they were on TV and was riveted. I was happy to find out Lainey and I share the same good tastes in movies.

14. She knows the actions to If You're Happy and You Know It. She points to her cheeks, claps her hands, throws her hands up in the air for "Hooray" and stops her her feet and says "boom" "boom" for the stomp your feet part.

15. Her favorite song is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." About 5-7 times a day she looks at me and puts her fingers together in the spider action, which translates to "sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, Mom". Her eyes light up when I start singing and she does the spider movement, drops her hands and yells DOWN, and sometimes puts her hands up for the sun part. Lately, it's my favorite song too.

16. Lainey's had a couple Christmas milestones in the last couple weeks. While it's not her first Christmas, she met Santa for the first time last Friday at Madison Lakes Christmas on Main Street. Unfortunately, she wasn't a fan. When we got near him she started crying and clung to me like a monkey. The very nice and patient Santa told me I could sit on his lap too if that would help. It didn't. But we got a photo (see below) and will try again next year. We were hanging around and Santa came by us later and she warmed up to him just a little. While daddy was holding her, Santa asked if she wanted to pet the fur on the wrist of his coat. She did but only for a split second. Lainey also participated in her first church Christmas program last Sunday. She goes to the PB&J class (Parents, Babies & Jesus) for Sunday School and their role in the program was to bring gifts to Baby Jesus. Lainey went right up to Baby Jesus and left her gift like she was supposed to but on the way back bypassed John and I all together when we tried to retrieve her to watch the rest of the program. She thought she was free! Even though it was just a quick little part, it was so nice that she was able to participate at such a young age.

And now Lainey will tell you with pictures what she's been up to the last month.