22/23 Months

So I have been really bad at blogging!!  I kept thinking I would sit down and type it all up and the months kind of got away from me, as I was in my busiest season at work and nights came and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed!!

Luckily I wrote stuff down and even though I cant fully remember everything that happened, I have some special and hard lessions that I had to learn on this journey of "Motherhood"during this time.

22 Months

Apirl - SPRING!!!  This month was an all around great month for Addison.  We moved Addison out of her highchair into a big girl chair at the table and she now officially sits with us at the table for meals... I know she really feels like a BIG girl as she sits right at the "head of the table"  lol!!

After months of fighting for naps and then a week of fighting me at bedtime too...I finally did several LONG days of CIO one lasting 2 plus hours!! But that was it ...after that it was like something clicked and she has finally stopped fighting us for naps!!  This has been a really hard year...lots of changes, adjustments and just learning for her and for me... the biggest thing has been learning patience with naps!! But I was encouraged to try out the CIO method and for now it seems to have worked and I am soo happy!!  No more screaming, yelling, throwing things out of bed, YES, she stilll chatters a bit, but I think i finally got through to her!!  haha!! For NOW!!

She is still not talking a ton, no where near the rest of the kids her age, which is hard as a parent!! You feel like you have done something wrong ... Why is she not up to speed like the rest of the kids her age!!  However, she has learned the sign for please and it has made a world of a difference in knowing what she wants!!!  YES, everything is still No, when clearly she means yes, but her sign for Please has helped us in getting a little clearer of an answer. She also signs "More" when she would like more of something.  Please and More are her to very clear signs that we fully know what she is saying.. and it was exciting to see her learn them and understand them.  She has also learned where Eyes, Nose, Ears, Mouth, hands and toes are!! She will even say "Nose" as she points to it!  She has also learned "Choo Choo" for the train!! Now whenever we hear or see the train, she will give us an automatic.. Choo Choo!!Her BIG word of the month though.. was 2!! If you ask her how old is she going to be.. she will tell you!! 2!!  ITS SOOO CUTE!!!! Currently working on showing fingers.. but for now.. she will answer you and tell you how old she is going to be!!

Addison cut 4 teeth this month, all four of her "Eye" teeth as  they call them.  So She now looks like she has a full set of teeth in there!! And I am happy to report that she is finally really growing some hair!! lol!! Our little bald baby is finally getting hair!!  And I have really noticed that she now works with you to get dressed.. haha! She will actually try to dress herself!!

My parents visited this month for Easter and Addison had a GREAT time.  We did an Easter Egg hunt with Owen and I have to say it was hysterical watching the different personalities!!  Addison fully grasped that she was to go pick them up and she was on a MISSION to get them all in her bag.. worked out, as Owen was more interested in the outside toys!  So no arguments!!

23Months

This was a special month for us, as Addison finally started really saying "Words". She had been saying a few words here and there, but compared to most kids her age, she just wasnt there.  Finally the week before Mothers day It was like our little girl finally found her voice and really started grasping what we were saying and repeating back to us!!  It made it even more fun, as we were able to visit with my parents and brother and have them hear all her new words and even try out new words!! Everything is still No, when asked a question, however we are now starting to get a nod of a head for Yes!!  She is also now finally saying Please with her sign, however it does come out "Peas" but soo sweet!  She has also learned where Eyes, Nose, Ears, Mouth, hands and toes are!! She will even say "Nose" as she points to it!

Our biggest challenge this month, was after a month and half of finally not fighting for naps, Addison decided to start fighting them again.  It was really hard this time!!  I felt that Feb and March were nightmares for naptime and I thought we had finally gotten it all under control!! OH No I was in for a BIG surprise as naptime once again, became a major issue.  SCREAMING, Yelling, throwing everything out of her bed ..no matter what I did, she would just full out fight me for almost 2 hours before finally caving and passing out!!  Still not sure.. what we are going to do... but what I do know.... you really start to question if naptime is worth it!!

Addison has finally started to give kisses along with her hugs ..no sounds, but she leans in and will kiss you! Soo sweet!  You can say, can you give a hug bye and she will walk right over and give hugs!! She will also say Bye Bye!! Soo cute and sweet and I feel soo proud of her every time she does it!! A big thing this month was I finally decided to push her to drop her bottle!! Yes, I am a horrible mother, my daughter is a month away from being 2 and I still let her have her bottle in the AM and before BED.  I started with the AM and after a week of her not even noticing I dropped the PM. This was a little harder, as she then did not want it and would hand me the cup back.  Since my daughter has not always been the best Milk drinker and knowing that she still needed to have a little more milk in her, I then resorted to soft top sippies for about 2 weeks before finally getting frustrated as she just kept biting them to death and then milk was leaking everywhere! But I am happy to report she adjusted fine when I tried with the hard top and we are officially out of bottles!!

Our days are mostly spent outside now.. she LOVES to be outside.. screaming to be out there! Thankful we have a fence!!  Now to just get a cover for the patio!!