15 months

Little Miss Samantha is 1/4 of the way through her second year.  Which means Kaitlyn is 8 days away from being 1/4 of the way through her eighth year.  If I could figure out how to pause time, even just a little big each day, I would totally love that.

At 15 months, Samantha is growing by leaps and bounds.  She talks like crazy.  She says a lot of things that sounds like other things, like it seriously sounds like she says "Get Away From Me" when Dusty is trying to irritate her and things of that nature.  She's added "Stop" and "nuh huh" and "huh huh" to her vocabulary as well.

She's learned to dance.  Mostly, she likes to dance in circles and circles and circles until she is so dizzy she can't stand up anymore.  Then, while she is still dizzy, she does it some more.  She has some of the funniest expressions.  I wish I could get more photographed, but she's a cheeser when she sees a camera or my phone pointed in her direction.  So, some of these pictures are horrific quality.  I have to be sneaky with my phone otherwise I can't get any in the moment of what she's doing.

She loves to eat.  She's not terribly picky, but definitely prefers meat and cookies.  She will only eat now if she can use her fork.  She works carefully that to ensure each and every bite makes it to a fork before her mouth.

She loves her blankey we made last month.  One side is silky and the other side is minky.  I swear her sleep has improved so much with that blanket.  She cuddles against it.  It's really, really sweet.  She's also taken to her baby dolls.  She loves to push them around in a stroller.  A lot of her toys were once Kaitlyn's, and her stroller was used.  I mean used.  Used well.  Do you know how many stores I had to go to just to find a stroller used for pushing (until I find the perfect one I want) or at all?  It was crazy!

She really wants to start doing somersaults.  She does this constantly!  We have Kaitlyn starting tumbling this month and if Samantha keeps this up, she'll be close behind.

She's also big on head banging.  Against anything.  Preferably hard, in rapid succession.  For no particular reason other than we think she likes the head rush. 

She's just growing and learning so fast.  She hates being told no and loves to tell us "no no" when we tell her no.  But, even while she's screaming "No, No" at us, 80% of the time she'll listen.  She loves to help clean up.  Which means everything goes into the recycling bin or garbage.  She loves to garbage dig.  She loves Elmo and Big Bang Theory.  I swear, there is a good possibility my dreams of a primary colored, bright, energetic Sesame Street party are going to be pushed aside for a neuron inspired Big Bang Theory Party when she turns 2 if this keeps up.

She loves baths, but hates having her hair washed, and hates having water on her hair or face AT ALL.

We're in disposables still, but I'm hoping that since we end the adult doseage of laxatives tomorrow we can go back to cloth!  I look forward to not having leaks, blowouts, wing drop, smelly issues and excessive poo in my garbage can.  Anyone that says they don't like cloth because of washing poo diapers obviously hasn't experienced the fun of a blowout and the challenges of washing it out of delicate baby clothes.

Samantha loves playing dress-up.  She loves wearing crowns, necklaces, bracelets and putting anything over her head to be a dress.  She'll come tell you pretty.  She loves high fives and "fist bumps" for any reason at all. 

I love Samantha's room.  One of my big things in nurseries is having something they can grow with, then, as they make their big changes early in life, like potty training, big kid bed transitions and things of that nature, they have the security of their room being familiar.  Kaitlyn kept her princess room until we moved here, so she was nearly 5?  Samantha's room has been rearranged.  Isn't it amazing how what is convenient when they are babies can be a pain in the rear when they are toddlers?  She needed more room, she needed more toy space and less room for swaddle blankets and burp cloths.  She needed more room to play and read her stories.  It's funny, Kaitlyn moved into her toddler bed at 13 months.  She was climbing out of her crib all the time.   Samantha is no where near ready.  If I converted her crib now to the toddler bed, she would be out of it all night long.  I'm keeping her in that crib until she is either crawling out or I can't lift her in and out anymore. 

Samantha has her 15 month appointment on Monday, then I'll have an accurate weight/height measurement.