Lilah at 15 Months

Good morning!

How are you guys doing? Obviously a ton has happened since the last time I posted, but today I’m really going to focus on a 15 month update for Lilah.

So I wrote this post months ago, in the “before time,” but with everything that’s been going on, didn’t get around to publishing. Lilah is now almost 18 months (whoops!) so it’s now or never. I know I’ll want to remember these sweet times of early toddlerhood and am doing my best to focus on the good these days.

Here’s what Lilah’s like as a little toddler!

Milestones:

Lilah wasn’t quite walking in my last update, but that’s hard to imagine now! She started walking a few weeks after her first birthday and is now power walking (lol, not quite running, but close), climbing, and my personal favorite, dancing up a storm!

She is also talking and using baby signs a ton. The words she says that I can think of off the top of my head are: baby, bear, rabbit, dog, car, outside, bath, eat, cheese, taco, avocado (“cado”), Mama, Dada, James (“Mame”), uh-oh, bird, no, yeah, goblin (from a Little Bear book she loves lol), cookie, cracker, milk, Mimi (my mom), tree, blue and coffee. I’m sure there are a lot more, she’s at the stage where she frequently copies words we say.

She also knows the signs for eat, more, cookie, milk, dog, bird, rabbit, cat, ceiling fan (a random one she loves lol), flower, potty, cold and thank you. She loves signing and I am definitely the weak link here, I need to learn more so I can show her! She seems to make up her own signs sometimes too which is as adorable as it sounds. (Note: her signs do not always look like the actual sign, but she has a consistent hand movement she does for all of those things.)

A not so fun milestone – she’s got 6 teeth coming in! She only had 6 before this, so it’s been quite the teething extravaganza which has naturally resulted in some grumpiness.

Eating:

I try not to use the word “picky” too much, but the things Lilah liked to eat at 1 year were quite limited. I’m super thankful that her tastes have expanded quite a bit in these last few months and she’ll now eat almost anything, depending on the day. Her favorites are still fruit, cheese and bread of any kind, but she also likes zucchini, tomatoes, roasted cauliflower, eggs, beans (which she hated before), sometimes meat, sometimes carrots and a bunch of other stuff. She does not seem to like salmon, but she’s come SO far with what she’ll eat. She also really likes soup and smoothies (even one I make with fresh ginger and a bit of cayenne which really surprised me).

Lilah really likes eating with utensils, particularly if something is messy. She needs help getting some things on the spoon at this point, but is working on it.

She usually eats a lot at breakfast and lunch and not much at dinner, so I’m trying to work in more vegetables earlier in the day. She also of course goes crazy for pouches, which I know some people don’t like. My personal stance is that they’re not a substitution for other fruits and vegetables, but are a good “insurance” policy if your child is still learning to like veggies.

I especially like these because they have 1 1/3 cups of spinach in them which can be harder for kids to eat before they have their molars. (I hate it when I buy a green pouch and then realize it’s all applesauce with like a tsp of spinach.)

Sleeping:

Lilah loves sleep. If she’s getting tired, she’ll just lay down on the floor and such her thumb. She hardly ever complains about naps or going to bed at night. I know enough from James to know this is not always the case and is nothing we did, we just got lucky!

She transitioned from 2 naps to 1 a couple of months ago. The transition went pretty well. It took several weeks for her one nap to lengthen, but I knew this was normal this time so didn’t freak out.

She now naps from about 12:45-3 (sometimes 4) and sleeps from 7:30-6:30 or 7 most nights. I can’t remember the last time she’s woken up at night. She’s also totally content to hang out in her bed when she wakes up. She just rolls around and gives her teddy bears kisses haha.

Personality:

Lilah is so fun, silly and incredibly affectionate.

She blew a kiss to a snail yesterday and that pretty much sums up her personality. She’s very snuggly and loving. She gives James the sweetest kisses and it kills me every time. She loves running around and playing, but she also still loves sitting in my lap and snuggling.

She has an intense love of teddy bears and will read any book about bears, even chapter books I have for James.

She already loves pretending. She took a tiny Lego coffee cup from James’s room and walked around pretending to drink from it, saying “co-ee” on repeat. She also pretends to brush her hair with a little Duplo hairbrush and constantly pretends to talk on the phone.

Lilah also loves books. She now likes stroller walks because she just looks at books the whole time and is totally content.

She loves music, playing instruments and dancing, especially if James is doing it too (he calls this activity their “jam sessions” lol).

She also loves to draw with sidewalk chalk or crayons and loves playing with play dough (but unfortunately also loves putting it in her mouth).

The biggest change in her personality lately has been the disappearance of her intense stranger danger. Who knows if this will reappear after months of only interacting with us, but she at least waves (and blows kisses to) people we see walking around the neighborhood. Before we were all staying at home, my sister babysat for a few hours and Lilah didn’t cry at all, which would have never happened before.

Having Lilah (and James of course) around us all the time has definitely been a source of light in this challenging time. It’s so fun to watch them both grow and I honestly think they’re loving this time of being home more and spending so much time together – something I’m going to try to remember when we can venture out into the world again.

I hope you are doing well and would love to hear what your family is up to in the comments!

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