16 Months

On Tuesday, our baby turned 16 months old! This is the most fun age thus far!

Here are a few of Marin's developments; mostly so I can look back on them someday with a box of kleenex and a cheesy heart.

* Marin now signs "milk", "more", "all done" , "please" and "thank you". She does so often and well. I am so glad that we decided to teach her these signs. It really helps her communicate. When she signs "please" she says "peas". It might be the cutest thing ever. She could ask me for a motorcycle on a tight rope with a sugar coated pit-bull on the back, and if she signed and said "peas", I still couldn't say no.

* Marin is becoming much more verbal. She talks in her own little language constantly. Every time we leave the house, Marin says "bye ("iiiiiii!") and waves to Norah. Marin also says, hi ("hhiiiii!"), shoes ("oosh!"), eye, nose ("ose"), fish ("ish"), Kathy ("tatty") mama and dada. She attempts at many other words too, but doesn't say them with any consistency.

* Marin knows the body parts, eyes, nose, mouth and sometimes ear. She is a little fuzzy on possession, if you ask her, "where is Marin's nose?" she might point to my nose. And then she points out every nose/eyes/mouth in the room. She also knows "tummy" and lifts her shirt wayyy above her head and pats her tummy while dancing to the song "pat your tummy" from her radio given to her from Auntie Mika. Then she likes to come and lift my shirt over my head to pat my tummy. Yeah- not good.

* Marin continues to love animals, especially dogs. When she sees a dog she says, "woof woof woof" (which sounds something like (oof, oof, oof) and then she hugs the dog and says "awwww". She also loves to make the monkey noise (oo-oo, ah-ah) while she bounces her head and giggles.

* Marin loves to help do everything. She likes to put her spoon in the dishwasher, feed the dog, dust and sweep (which really just spreads the dirt around more, but is sweet so I always thank her so much for helping), plant flowers and "help" in the backyard, unlock the doors (she holds the key and puts it up to the lock), fold laundry (basically unfold everything after I fold it). She got a little sidetracked on this one the other day. Here is a picture of her wearing a pair of my underwear as a necklace. (that's right, I'm posting a picture of my underwear. What has become of me?!). She also likes to brush her teeth, and put on (fake) lip gloss from my bathroom cabinet.

* Like any child her age, Marin loves to play. She plays pretty well alone. She loves to play dollies. She loves to hug her dollies, and put them in their stroller at my parent's house to take them for walks. If her dolly starts to fall or gets twisted in the seat, she stops and puts them back in correctly. She's a good little mommy. She also likes to kiss her stuffed animals (she makes a "mmmm wwwwah" sound when she does) and then insists that everyone around her, also kiss the animal. Marin also loves books and points to the pictures, she loves puzzles, and she loves to talk on her phone from Miss Marsha. She also likes to look at pictures and point to the people when you ask her where they are. For example, if you ask her "Where is Grandma?" she likes to find Grandma in the picture. So far, we still have not watched any tv to speak of, although, when Wheel of Fortune is on at my parents house (no, they aren't 100, but my mom is ridiculously good at solving the puzzles) Marin likes to clap along when they spin the wheel.

* Marin's petite. She's not at all short, but she's petite in stature. She just began wearing some 18 month clothes, and that is mainly just because they are season appropriate. She is still wearing her 12 month clothes on cooler days. I've had to safety pin the waist on many of her shorts or pants. This is one gene she definitely did not get from me.

* Marin continues to amaze me with her critical thinking skills. When she can't lift her buggy up the stairs, she climbs up one stair and then drags the buggy up after her. And she is still pushing her bench around to climb up on things when she can't pull herself up.

* Marin loves to run, run, run, run!

* Often times, when Marin is going to the bathroom, she stops what she's doing and squats down. She'll probably want to kill me someday for sharing that with you, but it's hilarious.

* Of course with all of these great things, comes some bad. Marin has developed a bit of a temper. We are trying our best to ignore her outbursts when they are over silly nothings (taking something out of her hand), as well as trying to teach her to be patient (stop whaling and get off the floor while I am making her dinner). The girl wants what she wants when she wants it. Perfect for her professional career someday, horrible indication of her teenage years. Pray. Pray very hard.

* For the most part Marin listens well to "Marin, no no" with little reasoning, but she is constantly testing her limits. There have only really been two times when we had to very sternly tell her "No!" and that was when we were in Florida when she didn't want her sun hat on anymore and I insisted that she keep it on, and she threw a fit and bit me in the process. I am not sure if it was on purpose or not, but it broke the skin and hurt like heck. Cue: "Teeth are NOT for biting Marin. Teeth are for chewing. That hurt mommy." Let's hope this is short lived.

* Marin is a great sleeper and a good eater. She always goes to bed or for a nap without a fuss, and she is constantly exploring the new foods that we give her.

Marin continues to be a very happy, very active, extremely social little girl. She is very kind, and very affectionate. Her adventurous, passionate streak will definitely keep us on our toes in the months and years to come, but as long as she doesn't look at us with her big baby blues and say "peas", we might actually accomplish some discipline.