Megan at 19 Months

Megan is now 19 months old and becoming more and more independent every day.  In fact, she is having no problem just "chillin'" on the couch, recliner or our bed while watching Mickey Mouse.  The pillows and blankets are fun to lay on and under!  There have been a couple times where Megan has taken my bowl of left-over popcorn, sat down to watch TV and said and waved "bye" to us, signaling that she wanted to be left alone and was content.  Megan definitely gets more and more fun every day and sometimes I just can't help but to sit back and watch her play.  What a joy to have her in our lives!

We had a very good last month in the bedtime department, even with the suckey permanently out of the picture.  Doing simple chunky puzzles was added to the bedtime routine - about 4 or 5 each night and she is sure good at them when she's in the mood!  From there we would read one or more books as time allowed, say prayers and she would be out.  However, this last week has become more of a struggle because everything else in her room seems more exciting than getting jammies on and going to bed!  Daddy was often called for backup when changing her diaper.  I guess Daddy just has what it takes to get her to lay still.  Megan would much rather listen to books while sitting on the floor or alone in her rocking chair.  But when it comes to actually going in the crib and sleeping, she won't do it unless we've cuddled wtih a book first!  We try to get to bed by 8:00 but most nights it's 8:30.  Megan will sleep until about 6:30 or whenever I get up to take my shower!  I think she must dream about Mickey Mouse and know just when it starts.

Megan's verbalization continues to get better and better every day.  My favorite thing she's learned this last month is to say "Mama".  Megan emphasizes the second syllable so it almost sounds like she is a little French kid!  She isn't putting words together yet, although she will say some sentences like "Where did it go?", "Here it is" and "I don't know".  Other new words this month are: Oh no!, Oh wow!, tickle, push, bath, more (mo), bee, bubble, buh-bye, wash, go, quiet, baby and stuck.  We are also trying to get her to say "Trick-or-Treat" and right now that is coming out like "Tee-Tee-Teet"!  I'm sure that's going to earn her lots of candy this year!   We have a couple flies in our house that have almost become like pets to us.  Megan loves watching them and shen she spots one, she will exclaim "Oh, a Bee!".  Of course they don't stay around long so right away she's asking where they went and loves it when they reappear.  She likes to read books to herself and most of the stories are made up of the expression "Oh, no!" and lots of laughter.  Auntie Rachel taught Megan how to say "go" when giving piggy back rides.  We have her tell us to "go" when we have her in the stroller and shopping cart too and she has lots of fun with it.  She loves the word quiet and whispers it with a finger up to her mouth whenever she sees someone laying down or if the lights are low.  Megan has also started saying "um" kind of as a vocalized pause and is really cute.  Lately, Megan even has started singing into her play curling iron - using it as a microphone.  I'm not sure where that came from...Grandpa?

Other new things this month... Megan is really enjoying bubble baths.  We really hadn't done many at all before (unless Daddy gave her baths) but lately I give her a bubble bath as long as she will find the bottle of it - which so far is every bath night!  She has really started to know what our digital camera is and that it can play back movies of her.  Megan loves to watch herself in videos.  I'm consciously trying to make more videos because it helps occupy some time.  Megan still loves to help in the kitchen.  The other day I gave her a wooden spoon and a small mixing bowl.  She was beating away really fast and the next thing I know she is taking her sippy cup and dumping milk in the bowl to have something to mix!  Megan has had a runny nose for what has seemed like an entire month.  I guess it's the age, the weather and just plain comes with the territory of having a toddler.  The last thing I can think of to mention is Megan's fascination with trying on and walking around in our shoes!  I am always pleasantly surprised that she consistently finds the correct match to put on as well.  I can't believe how well she walks around in all of our shoes - especially my big clogs! 

Before we go, here a couple of fun random pictures from the past month.  Enjoy!

 

My little extreme couponer!