22 Months

Dear Autumn,

It has been a month since you turned 22 months, and since I didn't write much down along the way, this one will be short.

I'm pretty sure you still have the same amount of teeth, no molars yet.

You LOVE Mother's Day Out. You know all the names of the kids in your class and the teacher's names as well. There is so much fun to be had there and you look forward to going to "school".

According to Miss Jennifer, therapy is going well. You go back there with her with no problems and from what I hear you are really making progress. We took you to the pediatrician's office due to a rash you had under your armpit (we think it was mostly due to dry skin) and you had gained a pound in 2 months. They were very happy with that. I'm not saying your eating habits at home have changed, but you are growing and we are happy when you put on weight.

Oct 25
Patty Cake is very popular right now. You say, "Pah cake, pah cake" and then you wait for us to continue the rhyme until we get to the roll it part. You say "row it, pah it," and then you put your finger up to mark it with a B, and then when we say put it in the oven, you put your arms out, hands up (usually pointed towards the actual oven). After we say "baby and me" you clap and say, "yay!" And a lot of times you don't wait for us to finish the whole song before you start clapping.

Oct 28
Disney Days at Cornerstone Preschool - You wore your Minnie Mouse "Trick or Treat" shirt and had lots of fun at different Disney themed stations around school.

Oct 29
You've started kissing your own boo boos. You got your finger caught in a clothes pin and said, "Ow!" but then you gave your finger a kiss. I asked if I could kiss it and you said, "No". Right after that you hit your elbow on the table and tried to kiss your own elbow!

Oct 30
Okay? Kay? You still don't say "yes" but if we ask you something and your answer is yes you say "mm hmm, okay".

Nov 1
You've started saying "me". If you want to have someone close you in a box you say, "Close me?"

Nov 7
Uncle Mike
Grandpa (instead of Granp-mah)

Nov 10
Sky, ground

Nov 18-22
Frosty snoooowman, down, broomstick in hand!

I was telling you that we were going to go home, take a bath, brush your teeth and then put you to bed. You said, "Sound good!"

While staying at Gram and Grandpa's you started saying, "Look at me!"

You are a total sponge, repeating most of what we say to you. Some of it is absorbed and repeated later, some of it is just a mimic of us saying the words.

Retrospective Perspective:

One Year Ago

Next up: Christmas!

Love,

Momma and Daddy

21 Months

Dear Autumn

Welcome to 21 months! We seem to have hit a rough patch in the last week or so. I'm trying hard to figure out what has changed, but I haven't a clue. Is it teeth? Is it a growth spurt? Is it not enough sleep? Is it the impending Two's? I don't know. There is a lot of good mixed in with the hard times, but the hard times are hard! You come up with new things to say every day and it is so amazing to watch your brain work. Of course, I think sometimes your brain goes on overload and that is when the whining and moaning and groaning starts.

You've been working on your 16th tooth for over a month now. The last time I got a good look at it it was tearing through your gums and your finger tends to have bite marks all the way up to your palm.

Mother's Day Out is going well. Drop off can still be dicey, but I know you recover well. I enjoy my time away from you, though most of my time is spent watching tv at a normal volume without closed captioning. I do run errands sometimes, but I really enjoy being in the house by myself. When I pick you up you are very happy to see me. If I try to stay and talk to your teachers you keep getting in my face and saying, "Bye! Bye!" over and over. You even try pushing on my arm, even though I am holding you. Once we get in the car I give you the cup of milk that you should have had around 10:30, but you are too busy to drink and I try to get you to calm down so that you can take a nap. Since the drive home is pretty quick you are always awake when we get home, but I can usually tell you to put your head on my shoulder and I can carry you upstairs without a problem. The problem usually arises when you only sleep for an hour and a half! Not enough, Little Girl!

We've been to 2 sessions of Speech Therapy so far. These first two have been trust building with Miss Jennifer with a little bit of eating at the end. We've talked about getting you more secure in your booster seat so that you can concentrate on eating rather than your posture.

Here are my notes from the past month:

Sept 30
Pick uh up
Get

You spilled water on the floor, so you said "Clean" and Daddy gave you a napkin to wipe it up. You then put it on the floor and used your feet to move the napkin around to mop it up. I said, "Where did she learn that?"

Oct 5
On Monday when I dropped you off you got upset (as usual), I knew you were fine. When I picked you up I was standing outside the door because there were people blocking the door. I saw the director on the other side of the group and she sort of gestured, but I didn't think she was directing it to me. I went to the door and you saw me and went nutso (love that!). As we were leaving the director stopped us and said that you do so well every day and every time she stops by the room you are really happy and you interact with her. I said, "Yeah, but she still cries at drop off." She said that is normal, but that she just wanted to tell me how happy she was that Autumn was doing so well in the program. That was nice to hear from the director!

Oct 7
Ms. Lori said that you don't talk very much at MDO which surprised me because you are such a chatterbox at home. She said that you talk about the dogs and the rainbows at the changing pad, but not much else. You also painted for the first time. You painted a purple dinosaur and Ms. Lori said that you did it the best. She said most of the kids just held the paint brush, but you actually moved it around and if Ms. Lori told you a place that needed more paint you would paint it. She said you followed directions very well! You also glued tissue paper onto a paper and Ms. Lori said that a lot of the kids get frustrated because they get glue on their fingers but that you handled it all very well and enjoyed yourself very much.

Take
Keep

Oct 12
You were feeding Baby some plastic food and you said, "Try? Chew?"

Oct 13
We were at Target today. We walked by the bath towels and you started saying, "Elmo shirt? Big Bird shirt?" over and over. I finally saw that you were looking at bright red and yellow fuzzy bath mats that were the perfect color for Elmo and Big Bird!

Oct 14
I asked what color Sully's shirt was and you said, "Buh-lue!"

Oct 15
You were getting your nighttime diaper put on and you had Mary Annabelle in your hands. You said, "Hi, Manamaw (Mary Annabelle)! "Hi, Autumn!" It is the first time you've made your doll talk back to you.

Oct 19
I got my first piece of information from you about school today. I asked if you saw Emma and your face lit up and you said, "Emma!...Shoe...Uh oh...Fall down!" I guess you're leaving the rest up to me to fill in the blanks...

Oct 20
I told Emma's mom at your open house what you told me and she said that on the note that came home on Monday it said that Emma's shoe kept falling off! Your teachers confirmed it! I was so proud of you!

October - Working In the Yard from Deb on Vimeo.

October - Getting Dirty from Deb on Vimeo.

Retrospective Perspective:
October 22, 2008

Love,

Momma and Daddy

20 Months

Dear Autumn,

Twenty months means 4 months away from turning 2! It really does seem far off because it is next year, but 4 months goes quick in AutumnLand. Things seem to be going pretty well overall. Happy, happy girl!

You have 16 teeth! That is a lot of teeth! The latest on top have poked through rather nicely and the bottom two have both just started poking out. You have your fingers in your mouth a lot more lately so I can tell they are bothering you.

Over the past 2-3 months or so there has been a change in your morning routine. For the longest time you were happy to be brought into our bed after you woke up to play. We'd play and laugh and just have a ton of fun until you started getting hungry. Daddy would get you up, change you and then we'd just have fun. Now when Daddy brings you into the bedroom and tries to put you on the bed you throw a fit! Clinging to him and telling him to "Walka walka" out of the room. I don't think it is that you are really hungry, I think you just don't want Daddy to put you down and leave. So if Daddy has to run back upstairs for a conference call I have to do some heavy coercing to get you to stay in the room.

You are still enjoying Mother's Day Out but drop offs have still been a bit hard. I know you stop crying within seconds of me leaving, but you still cling to me as soon as we enter the classroom. The last time I dropped you off one of the teachers was out so there was a substitute and the other teacher, but they were both busy so no one could take you. You did cling to me for a bit, but I was able to set you down in a chair, hand you an Ernie doll, give you a kiss and leave. Since no one was paying attention to you I didn't want to leave. I figured out that there is another window that I could peak in. Fortunately you were sitting in exactly the right spot so I could see you. You looked around for a little bit, but then I saw you handing the doll to someone. That meant that someone had acknowledged you and so I left! When I came to pick you up the teacher told me that you were "happy all day and well adjusted". I think that is great! I'm happy with "well adjusted".

Eating is still bad, but we're going to a feeding evaluation on the 23rd and we should find out more on that.

Naps are still the same. Usually about 3 hours. They still interfere with your lunch because you're tired and all you talk about is a nap. "Autumn sleep?" You make snoring noises and rub your eyes and there is very little eating. It doesn't matter when we start lunch because you have equated lunch with "almost nap time".

Here are my monthly notes:

August 24
Rubber Duck!
I cook?
I fall
I jump

August 31
You went to your very first Meet the Teacher this morning. You walked holding my hand across the parking lot, down the hall, around the corner, down another hall and then you put the breaks on at the door to the room. Miss Diana came out to meet you, but you wouldn't go in, even when you saw the butterfly curtains. I had to pick you up and bring you into the classroom. You sat on my lap while I filled out paperwork. Eventually you did get down and start playing. We met the music teacher, Miss Kitty and the bible teacher, Miss Vogt. You even went to the director willingly when she mentioned she would take you outside! You did very well today, and so did Momma!

September 2
You had your first day of Mother's Day Out. And you did very well!

Hand
Dirt
Nah (nothing - as in, what's in your hand? Nah)

September 3
I fall down

Autumn has discovered what her voice sounds like when she plugs her ears with her little fingers. She'll be walking around saying, "Hi hi hi hi hi hi" over and over and then she'll walk into view and that is when I finally realize she's not talking to me...

Sept 10
Big truck. big truck, come? come?
Yellow ghool buh (yellow school bus)
Watcha George?

Sept 18
Polka
Dot (She doesn't say Polka and dot together)
Ping-gone (penguin)

Retrospective Perspective:

September 21, 2008
Eating watermelon

September 22, 2007
#5

September 23, 2006
Moving out of the apartment!

September 22, 2005
Leaving for Hurricane Rita. Lucas is in the back there...

Love,

Momma and Daddy

19 Months

Dear Autumn,

19 months. Unfortunately as I am writing this you are 19 months and 2 weeks, plus a few days. I had all the pictures uploaded before the 22nd, but we're in th emiddle of getting the house settled and it is difficult. You have sailed through the move like it was nothing! Any of my concerns have been proven unfounded. You took over the new house. It is yours! You knew where everything was within the first day and you were settled. You slept in your pack n play for the first week and a half because we couldn't find the screws for your crib! But you did wonderfully.

Your two upper teeth have come in and are slowly moving in fully. I can't see anything on the bottom yet, but I think they are close to the surface.

I've been trying to get you ready for Mother's Day Out (me too!). More on that later.

Since things have been in an upheavel, I'll just move on to the things that I have recorded that you do day to day:

"Momma come, Momma come"
"Momma sit, sit, Momma sit"
"Momma help"
"Wrap Baby, wrap Baby" - you want us to wrap Baby in a blanket
You give kisses to Phoebe
After calling me in for my part in the bath "Mom-MA!", once I appear in the bathroom you smile and say, "Phoebe!"

Lowgurt (yogurt)
home
Chomp Chomp
Tall, I tall? (while standing on something)

You just picked up Daddy's Hawaiian shirt and dragged it over to me saying, "Dada!"

George
Man Hat (The Man with the Yellow Hat)
Hunley (Hundley)
Gno-key(Gnocchi)
Com (Compass)
Griuel Squirrel)
Chark-ie (Charky)

Thunder
Goat (with a very pronounced "t")
Fruit bar

New House

Retrospective Perspective:

August 21, 2005

Hopefully I'll be more on the ball for your 20 month post!

Love,

Momma and Daddy