15 months

Ainsley was 15 months last Tuesday.  That meant another well baby checkup, without shots this time.  This appointment was much different than any previous appointments, because Ainsley didn't want to sit on my lap and patiently wait to be called back for her appointment.  Instead, she wanted down so she could run around the mostly empty waiting room.  She discovered the big fish tank and had to stand in one of the waiting chairs to look at the fish.  I think a few of the other Moms in the waiting room were a little annoyed with her "squeakers", but Ainsley seems to like them and that's all that matters! 

I bribed Ainsley with yogurt bites once we got back to the room while we waited for the doctor to come back.  I'm pretty sure Ainsley ate half a bag of yogurt bites during our wait.  It was the longest wait we've had at the doctor's office, and I was wore out by the time I got out of there!  Ainsley weighed right at 27 pounds and was 30 1/2 inches long.  I thought she would be closer to 30 pounds, but she has slimmed down quite a bit already from walking.  I actually just told Joel the other day that her boobs are getting smaller!  (She's going to love me talking about her boobs when she's older!)

Ainsley's been gagging/choking/coughing/throwing up more often in the last few weeks than normal, so I mentioned it to the doctor while I was there.  She seemed a little concerned, and thought we needed to have a "swallow study" done, just to make sure everything was okay.  We ended up having that done on Thursday, and I'll post another blog entry with all the details on that later.

The doctor asked if she has started to throw tantrums, and boy, has she!!!  They said that it is normal for her to be throwing tantrums and that they'll peak around 18 months.  She especially fights me when I'm changing her diaper and will flail all around so I can't get a diaper back on her.  Telling her "No" also causes a meltdown.  

Throwing a fit the other night while Daddy tried to get a diaper on her

She is changing and learning new things every day.  It's amazing to watch her explore the world and figure things out.  I love seeing the "light bulb" go off when she figures something out.  Her favorite book is currently "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and will walk around the house looking for the book saying "row, row, row".  We have to read the book multiple times a day, and while I'm sitting here looking around the living room for it, I don't see it.  I'm wondering if Joel hid it from her again, because he's tired of reading it! 

She was being quiet the other day, so I went to check on her and this is how I found her.

Just looking at my books, Mom...

You can give her a command and she'll do what you ask.  She'll bring you something if you ask for it, and will also put things away.  I have to admit, I've already taken advantage of this new found skill a few times.  She's brought me the remote, phone, a book, and has put a few toys back into the toy basket for me.  If you ask her if she's ready to go "bye-bye" or outside, she'll start walking around the house looking for her shoes and once she finds them, she'll bring them to you and then try to "help" put them on.

Speaking of trying to put her shoes on....she also tries to put her socks on.  If you ask her where either her shoes or her socks go, she'll point to her feet.  She's also started walking around the house looking for random articles of anyone's clothing and will put it on her head.  She's gotten into her drawers of her dresser a few times and pulled shirts, skirts, and pants out and will walk into the living room with them over her head.  The other night, I jumped in the shower while Joel was outside.  Ainsley was in the house with me and I shut the bathroom door, so she couldn't get out while I jumped in the shower.  I peeked out of the shower to see what she was getting into, and she had my (clean) underwear on her head and was tugging at them, whining because she couldn't get them back off.  I think I had to pull them off of her head at least 5 times while I was in the shower.  Tonight, it was Joel's shorts that she found in our bedroom that she got on her head, and then later, it was one of her hats from her bedroom.  It's so funny to see what she comes up with.

Yep, those are my underwear around her neck...no worries, though.  They were clean!

If you come to our house, you'll more than likely step on a bracelet somewhere in the house.  Ainsley loves bracelets and will put them on and then look at you, cueing you to say "Awwww....she's sooo pretty".  It always puts a big smile on her face and then she'll shyly put her head down into her chest and take it off and repeat the process.  She carries her bracelets, sunglasses, and phone around in her purses.  I still don't know how in the world she knew what to do with a purse, but she's walked around with a purse on her arm like a pro ever since she got them. 

Another new "trick" she's learned in the last week is saying "E-I-E-I-O".  We have a book "Old McDonald has a Farm" and I sing the song for her in the car, and she'll say "e-i-e-i-e-i-e-i-ooooo".  She loves when Old McDonald has a puppy-dog and will "ruff-ruff" with me.  She's also started snorting and scrunching up her nose to make the sound of a pig. 

I know I've said before that she's into everything, but I've come to the realization that she really wasn't into everything then.  I know for a fact, that NOW, she's officially into everything!  We can't walk out of the room and leave the remote anywhere within her reach, or she grabs it.  I'm not exaggerating when I say she has to have eyes in the back of her head, because she can be playing with a toy, not paying attention to what I'm doing and as soon as I stand up and step foot outside the living room, she's on her feet running to wherever the remote is.  She'll also stand on her tip-toes and reach on the end tables, countertops, nightstands, or anything else that she can barely see over to grab whatever is in arms reach.  Tonight, it was Joel's glasses on his nightstand that she thought she just HAD to have multiple times.  My makeup drawer in the bathroom is still another favorite of hers...along with the toilet paper roll that she's discovered in the last few weeks.  She's pulled the toilet paper all off the roll multiple times already.

We had one of her baby monitors plugged into the living room outlet and she found it the other day.  She walked around with it up to her ear for quite a while acting like it was a phone.  That ended once the thing started beeping like crazy because she'd pushed too many buttons and made the thing crazy.  Crazy enough that Joel had to get out the "funny pages" to figure out how to get it back to normal.  Here's a video of her walking around with it.

Playing with the baby monitor again...

This is what happens when you take it away from her....

Happy again!

I picked Ainsley up this afternoon from Lisa's, and she told me that one day in the last few weeks, Ainsley discovered a box of kleenex while Lisa was rocking Blake to sleep and managed to pull all the kleenex out of the box, and when Lisa walked up behind her, she had kleenex all around her sitting on the floor.  I can't believe that none of the other kids ratted Ainsley out while she was having fun with the kleenex!!!  I do have to say that Ainsley still loves going to Lisa's, and if we ask her if she's ready to go to Lisa's, or if she wants to go to Lisa's tomorrow morning, she'll start looking for her shoes! 

On our way home from Lisa's this afternoon, we made it across the train tracks right before a train came through town.  Ainsley has been saying "choo-choo" when you show her a picture of a train for a week or so, and there's been a couple of times when we're in the house playing with the front door open and she hears the train and perks up.  This afternoon her eyes lit up in the backseat of the car and she immediately started saying "choo-choo" after she heard the first whistle.

I know all the kids like to dance at Lisa's, and I'm pretty sure it's where Ainsley picked up spinning in circles while dancing.  She'll spin in circles and just giggle.  I'm hoping she'll get her dance moves from her Daddy, because her Mommy's are non-existent!  Here's a video of her dancing with the puppy dog Grandma and Grandpa Bowman got her for Christmas. 

Talking about Ainsley giggling....her laugh is contagious!  I love when her laugh comes from down in her belly and her whole face lights up.  Here's a video from the other night of her laughing and then screaming at the end in delight!

Her new favorite foods are strawberries and kiwi.  She's had strawberries a few times before, but didn't really care for them enough to ask for more.  I gave her a couple the other night, and she kept asking for more (using sign language).  I was afraid to give her too many, because I was worried they would make her sick.  Of course, my intuition was right on the "getting sick" part of her eating too many strawberries/kiwi.  One night after eating quite a few (too many, I'm sure) strawberries, she was in the bathtub when she leaned over a little in the tub and I saw poop under her!!!  I freaked out and yelled for Joel to come in and help me.  I pulled her out of the tub, while Joel used some toilet paper as a "pooper-scooper" and got it out of the tub.  I was leaned over trying to get some of the toys out of the tub, holding onto Ainsley with the other arm when I felt something warm on my leg.  She peed on me!!!!  We couldn't win that night! 

She obviously didn't want to eat her peas this night!

Joel thought it was so funny a few weeks ago when Ainsley started saying "Trista" and he would encourage her to say it instead of Mommy.  Well, she doesn't say "Trista" very much these days; instead, she walks around the house yelling "Joel"!  She no longer says "addy" (Daddy), but instead will make an "O" with her mouth and yell "Oel"!  The other night Joel went down to the basement to take his shower, and she stood in the kitchen at the basement door yelling "Joel" until he came back up.  Here's a video of her yelling for Joel.  She sure loves her Daddy!!!!

We turned her carseat around to forward facing a few weeks ago.  They recommend leaving the car seat rear facing until the child reaches two years of age now, because their neck muscles aren't developed enough to support the weight of their head.  I wanted to wait closer to the two year mark before turning her around, but it was getting really hard to get her in the seat in my car, and she couldn't stretch out her legs facing backwards.  Now that we've switched her to forward facing, she looks so little in her carseat.  She looked huge and was cramped facing backwards, but turning the car seat around makes her look completely different.  She likes being able to see us and seems to be more comfortable now.

Ainsley still loves to go outside, and I found her a little Princess car at a garage sale last weekend to play with outside, which has just added to the excitement of going outside.  Joel had her outside yesterday afternoon and he said she took a dive off the sidewalk and into the grass.  She came in with scratches on her face and arm (from the grass).  Yesterday morning, it was still a little wet from the rain the night before and she fell down and had dirt/mud all over her face, arm, and shoes.  I know I can't protect her from ever getting hurt/dirty, but I don't like it when she falls and gets hurt/dirty!!!

My baby already knows....we can't go outside without sunscreen!!!

Peek a boo!

You can kind of see her cheek that was all scratched from falling.

Having fun with Daddy!

I know I mentioned Ainsley's "squeakers" earlier, and I have to tell this story from the other day.  We're currently on our second pair of these shoes.  They're shoes that are suppose to encourage kids to walk, and they squeak every time they take a step.  We ran into RP Lumber the other day to look at siding colors, and Joel put Ainsley down to run around while we talked.  As she walked, all you could hear was "squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak".  The guys behind the counter thought they were pretty funny and just laughed at her.  Like they said, we don't ever have to wonder where she is, because we can figure that out by listening for her!  We noticed last night that Ainsley's figured out how to walk backwards and she thinks she's pretty big stuff while doing it!

I'm sure there are more new things that Ainsley's started doing over the last few weeks that I'm forgetting, but I swear, she learns something new every day.  I love watching her discover new things and figure things out and can't wait to see what things she'll learn next!

She fell asleep the other day on the way home from Lisa's.  When we laid her down on the floor, this is how she slept!

Wore out baby