15 Months

Our little "bumble" as Zack likes to call her : ), is 15 months old! Just the other day, someone asked me how old she was and I accidentally said 13 months! I joked that turning one is similar to when you turn 21, the years/months after the big milestone sort of jumble together : ). Teehee, maybe I am the only one that happens to . . . : )

This was the best shot I could get of her next to her chart. At least it shows her height well! If you look real closely, you can see where I already marked her at 12 months, ( next to the 2 foot line)! I can't believe she has grown so much in 3 months!

Weight: 21 lbs

Height: 31 1/2 inches

Just getting her to willingly walk over to the chart was a task, I had to put a sticker on the wall!

"Did you forget something mom?"

Obviously I had to dress her in her 4th of July Best, but then I had visions of her standing tall and proud, waving her American flag, so I tried for that. Unfortunately, she got distracted by Rosie and thought she needed to wave the flag instead:

And then she started to play with her special cards I keep in a box nearby:

And then went back to the flag, hereby producing the best flag shot I could get,

This was one long photo shoot and even though I was kind of sad to not get my little American waving her flag next to the growth chart, I am appreciative of it's authenticity. She is a girl on the move these days! With her OWN agenda!
Including:
Her newest favorite activity, dress up! More often than not, Bekah is happy in her room. It's her favorite place to play. I'd like to say it's because of the calming pink walls, but I'm thinking it's all about her books and her clothes!

If you play with Bekah up there, eventually, she will hand you a hat to put on her, maybe a tutu, even a handful of necklaces to then,
produce a smashing ensemble, such as this!
In the mornings as I am getting ready, she will stand in my closet as well and point for certain things, like my own necklaces, to wear ( already she is borrowing my stuff!). She even points to the drawer that she knows her swim suit is in and wants to wear it, at all hours of the day!
She especially likes people to help her put shoes on, or in this case, sandals, even if she is wearing socks already (a fashion no no Bekah!)! She finds the "chain/bling" look especially attractive:
Speaking of fashion and appearances, this girl might need a trim sooner rather than later. Mommy just has to decide if she wants her to have bangs or not. If not, I should try to grow them out. I am leading towards her having bangs though, as I have never known a day without them : ).

Books have always played a big role in her life, and now more than ever, she really tends to each page. She doesn't need all books to be "lift the flap" or "touch and feel." She is quite happy with Rainbow Fish, How Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, Three Little Kittens and Fancy Nancy.
She really likes reading books at her table. Here she is looking so studious, the teacher in me just had to capture this moment!

This month, things just started clicking with what she accepts she can do and not do. The untouchables in the house are not explored as often and she has moved on. For that, I am appreciative and encouraged for the next "round" of disciplining. She is pretty good at accepting the word no, most of the time. . . .

I like to focus on a few things at a time, ( maybe it's the teacher in me wanting a "lesson plan") and right now I am working with her on:

-understanding our boundaries with the cell phone. Because I let her talk to her grandparents on it, she thinks she should use it all the time. I don't blame her for thinking that, but she really can't always have my phone : ), I want it too! : )

- and speaking of sharing, figuring out how to help her understand sharing with her friends, I know, it's going to be one of those TEKS that covers a wide span of age levels : ). I just want to pay more attention to it now and start working with her more on it.

-giving her boundaries with eating. Now she wants to eat whenever I am eating, so either I need to only eat when she is eating, including snacking or I just let her eat all the time : ) . I am leaning towards making most eating moments in her highchair or at her table. Charlie's greediness as she is walking around with the snack trap only adds to my decision there. : )

And speaking of eating, here she is with her friends at the Chocolate Bar taking advantage of the 1 dollar scoop for kids during the summer : ). This girl sure does appreciate her sweets, just like her mommy and daddy! Bekah doesn't do too much Baby Sign Language, though it's funny how she sure will bust it out if it means more icecream!

Isn't Hunter so cute with his smile? He actually smiles when you say "cheese!" Hmm . .. we need Hunter to teach Bekah that blogworthy skill : ).

You know how when you were a little kid, playing in the pool always made you SOO hungry? Maybe that is why she is wanting my food all the time, she is a water baby through and through!
Here she is at our neighborhood pool THAT WE LOVE!
You can find us up there at least 2-3 times a week, but on this special day, daddy got to join us! He got to see our fearless water baby! Even he was surprised with her sudden enthusiasm and confidence as she pranced through the fun wading area for toddlers!

I told her to give daddy a hug, and can you believe that she stopped playing and did just that? His hugs are irresistible : ).

Now, I was not the first one to say a kind word about our 2 week long Mommy and Me Swim Lessons a few weeks ago, BUT I will say that looking back, she has only grown to love the water more and more. The classes seemed silly at first, we really just stood around in the water and sang songs and blew bubbles, who knew it might make a baby's confidence grow?The teacher may have interacted with her once or twice each class ( I was hoping for a bit more instruction), but, the fact remains, she really does like it more and now when I take her to a pool, the worried and timid girl that I used to see, is no longer!

We have ourselves a certified blue ribbon winner! Teehee, when the teacher gave her her "completion ribbon" I had a mommy moment and couldn't help but get excited about her first ribbon! You better believe I hung it up in the kitchen as soon as we got home : ).

To go along with that, we broke out her little swimming pool for the backyard and I think she approved!

We had a great Father's Day weekend too. Zack was on call but we just observed it another day. Bekah got to spend some special time with her daddy, give him a card, and

give him many of her cute little puckered up kisses! Daddy you are the best and you have surpassed all my expectations I had for you as a daddy! You are a natural and I love the special bond you and Bekah have already formed and continue to strengthen each day, as you dance with her, play with her, sing to her, read to her and one of your favorites, watch Praise Baby with her!

Uncle Jeff's birthday is right next door to Father's Day, so we had a little celebration for him,

while we were celebrating the other special daddies in our lives! Happy Father's Day Dad and to you too Pops, can't wait to see you soon! We love you!

After Father's Day weekend was said and done, May May didn't go back to SA as she usually does, she stayed back with us, for a WHOLE WEEK! Oh the joy! I have never had my mom stay with me for so long and I just LOVE how on the day she left, I was sad, I really wasn't ready for her to go! Bekah and I couldn't get enough of sweet MayMay!

I ran errands, went to lunch with friends, got a haircut, worked on my faux scrapbooks : ), worked out, slept in, but more than anything, had fun showing mom our lives up here in Houston, such as our weekly Gymboree class:

It was especially nice to have her around while I tried to figure out how in the heck to get Bekah a passport! Lots of different people tell you lots of different things, but alas, we arrived at the place we needed to be, with May May along for the ride to keep Bekah entertained.

When Mommy May is around, it is like little fairies live with you- fairies who do the laundry, iron, wash the dishes, they even make the beds! With all that work to be done, she still made Bekah her number one priority and Bekah couldn't have felt more like a little princess with all her attention! The could have read books for HOURS if it was up to Bekah, that and dress up!


Mom, I love you and my week with you was so special! Thank you for all your work and most importantly, for being a wonderful mommy and a wonderful grandma!
Okay, so I know you have been wondering, "does Bekah own anything else besides 4th of July attire??" I am just now noticing that pretty much every pic on this post has her wearing one of 3 outfits. With Mommy May around to do the laundry 24/7 and the clock ticking to get a good wear out of those time sensitive clothes, if it was clean, I stuck her in it! But to attempt to balance out the post, here is a cute yellow outfit : ):

And her Watermelon outfit at Brinley's party, thanks for the picture Rebekah!

We also rallied up as much of her hair as we could this month and got ourselves our first set of piggies! Whoo-hoo! Fitting that she was wearing a bumblebee onsie, since they really do look like antennas!

Lately, if I have somewhere to go and Bekah needs to come with me ( like getting my bangs trimmed) I've been especially grateful towards our portable high chair for not only the way it always allows us to "eat on the go", but how it can keep her happy and safe while reading books. I love how much she enjoys books and how often they are the solution to a problem! Although we now know the feeling of thinking, "really, you want me to read that book for the 3rd time in a row??" She does this every time we read the 3 Little Kittens, once is not enough! It is very funny to see Daddy raise his eyebrows upon the 3rd time and muster up the ability to read it again! Happy Birthday to Gramommy too! She came in for a super fun visit and since she is the birthday bird of them all : ) , we had to celebrate her birthday with cake and presents!!

Thanks for your help that day Gramommy! We don't know what we would do without your special monthly visits!

This month is the first month where I think every single day how much I am going to miss this stage! I just wish I could videotape her all day long and capture the facinating way her personality is forming, what her humor is focusing on, the things that interest her, the loving nature I see coming out, how important language is to her now, the way she communicates and how her intelligence is blossoming! It is all so exciting, special, and unique, I don't want to ever forget this Bekah Personality in the purest, simplest, newest form! It's pretty much the most exciting thing you can do, getting to know your own child! And what a blessing it is to do it!