Bekah is 16 Months Old!

Bekah has had a very special month, filled with growing, eating, talking, nap changes,  understanding rules : ) and spending time with two special people who are moving. 

Another part of this month has been prepping for Scotland! : )  I have been trying to plan out her "European Wardrobe" as it is very cold in Scotland. While trying on old clothes, I came across one of my all time favorite outfits of hers. I tried it on her, and though it could be said to look like she is wearing "highwaters," it still snapped up! Therefore, I kept them on for her 16 month pic as a tribute to that pretty Parisian themed get up. ( She actually took her 6 month pics in them!Wow!)

This month was a definite transition month in her napping. We tried for the 1 nap a day for a good 2 weeks, it seemed to be going well.  Then she acted like she needed 2 naps, we went back to that. And now, we are pretty good with just one, but it is harder if we are home doing nothing. I tried to be as flexible as possible with reading her tired signs and after a month of limbo napping, she might nap twice a day, maybe once a week . . I had to adjust to getting ready in the morning with her around ( either I wake up before her, take a shower at night, or the hair just doesn't get washed, or doesn't get blow dried : ) ), and now I have to say, those epic 2-3 hour naps are awesome!

And I will use this picture to represent the part of the month where she has had a "mind of her own."
I will start positively : ) .

- She tries to dress me now and gets upset with me when I don't always want to put on my bathing suit from the dirty clothes bin or a big sweater that she found in the back of my closet : ).

- She takes care of her dollies by smashing : ) her shoes on their feet : ) and giving them bottles

- she imitates Charlie by crawling on all 4's and panting, often times, she tries to put a ball in  her mouth  too!
- she still breaks out into "dance" ( hopefully one day, both "song and dance" : ) ) and has added quite a few moves to her otherwise bobbing and swinging head "routine", mostly on cue : ), like- kicking, pirouettes( turning in circles!) shrugging shoulders, swinging arms, tippy toes, running and wiggly fingers ( we all know this as jazz hands!)
- she is adding many new words to her vocabulary and knows now more than ever before, that talking is a great way to get people to understand you : )!
- she has decided, by no gudiance by me or zack, that my name is "mom." not mommy or mama, but 'mom'! it's funny, I refer to myself as mommy and zack says mama, but bekah says what I always thought her 13 year old self would say, "mom!" regardless of the number of sylables, it is still music to my ears!

 For the most part, she is listening very well, she has just been choosing to hit to show her frustration . . . Yes, my little baby girl sometimes . .  hits! I know this can be a normal stage to get through, but gosh, I sure wasn't ready for it! Thanks to great mommy friends and grandmas, I have been able to talk to them about it and put a game plan in use, which has made a difference! Basically, if she hits a friend because she is frustrated about something, instead of going into a long monologue about why it is not nice to hit, I have to talk to her like a "cave (wo)man" and tell her, "no hitting!" put her hands down by herside and get her involved with another activity. If she does it again, I will remove her from the group and talk to her on my own, maybe pulling out more than a caveman speech at that point. It lasted about a week and everytime we got together with people, I was really nervous that she might express herself this way! But after a week of showing her it is not okay,  she is responding well to my disappointment and dissaproval I am very proud of her. Each time we pick up a doll I talk to her about being gentle and if she is gentle with a friend I try to catch her in the act and praise her for it. Just last weekend, we hung out with many different friends and she did not use that form of expression one single time! In the meantime, Love and Logic and Happiest Toddler on the Block, here I come! And I know this is not the most blog worthy topic, but it always helps me when I hear about things that happened and then, things that helped, so maybe this can help someone else : ). I am feeling hopeful and good about it and for that I am grateful : ).

( notice this pic shows her walking away from the photo shoot, declaring it is over because she says so, fitting I thought : ) )

Funny how things get balanced out, while I was worried about her "keeping her hands to herself" , the next thing I knew, I had myself a baby that would eat pretty much whatever I put in front of her! She is now eating broccoli ( with nature's seasoning on top of course!) , most ways of cooking chicken, all pastas, mexican food, all fruits and alot at that! She has had such an appetite these days! I am very happy about this. Oh, and she can use a fork and spoon very well too!

With the Whitesides soon moving, we made sure to spend lots of time with Bekah's best friend Evie. I had the privilege of babysitting her on and off for a good 3 weeks and Bekah and I are so happy to have had such a special month with Evie! She was like a sister to Bekah! They read books together,

and played Bekah's favorite game together, the intriguing, yet simple game of "ball!" And "ball" would be her favorite word as well : ).

Throughout that month of taking care of Evie, Bekah had to learn alot about sharing and though it really was not easy for her or easy for me to know how to teach it so that it was fair for both girls, I can honestly look back and say that she improved so much! I really am proud of her and thankful to Evie for helping me to teach her! For example, she no longer grabs other people's sippy cups and throws a fit when I take it from her if she starts to drink from it.  I now can see her pick up the cup and ask her to give it to the person, AND SHE WILL! With not an ounce of saliva on that Non Bekah sippy cup! Prayer, patience and consistency sure has paid off during this new stage of toddlerhood : ).

Watching Mary Pat over the year love on Evie and discipline her has been such a great gift because this is one girl who knows how to be kind to others, listen to adults and just be a great role model for Bekah or any of her friends!! What a sweetheart she is!

Spending mucho time with Evie was on agenda, as well as Aunt Sarah! She would be moving the SAME week! Here we are practicing our skyping skills with Gramommy so that we can keep in touch with Aunt Sarah!

Bekah got a little excited, can you tell?

( More on their big move and our "withdrawl" soon to come!)

And speaking of Europe : ), we got to spend some fun time with Miss Hayley too! My dear college friend  lives over in London now, but was home for the summer, and so graciously came to see us! Now Hayley is one girl who knows how to use her phone, she is one of my favorite phone buddies, and here she is, teaching Bekah a thing or two : ).

Even though Bekah doesn't get to see Hayley as much as she would like, she sure did respond to Hayley's natural warmth, kindness and humor that everyone else loves her for!

Bekah knows how to spot a true blue friend when she sees one!

Prior to Bekah's first haircut ( more on that in a later post!) I finally managed to get her hair into some cute non spikey piggies, whoo-hoo!

Something else new this month has been the addition of a mother's helper every week! Once a week, a sweet middle schooler down the street comes over to play with Bekah while I get some things done around the house, it's wonderful! Not having grandmas in town and with Zack being pretty busy, it's been a blessing, I can always put something aside and know that it will get done when she comes : ).Bekah loves having the attention of a cooler older girl : ), and I enjoy having a moment to clean the house, cook, or even creat a blog post ( and that would be what is allowing me to write this very post!) Bekah is sort of having separation anxiety right now, so I feel like having someone else around can only help her with this:

We've worked really hard on a lot of things this month Bekah, and there is nothing else your daddy and I  would rather do, than help you grow into the beautiful girl  God created you to be! Not a day goes by where I don't feel my heart burst with love for you, whether it is when you say my name, giggle, grab for my hand, give me a bear hug, when you show me something new you have learned or when I go in and check on you each night before I go to bed! We  love you sweet thing!