Sixteen Months

Ensley tries to repeat lots of words that we say now. She tells Kala to get in her bed-"Ka-Ka bea". She tells Kala no-"No No No No No Ka-Ka". Thank you-"NaNu". She askes for "cook-tie" at most meals and she helps us in the kitchen-"cooking" which sounds a lot like cookie. She tells us when she needs to "poopy". She calls my mom who is Mama Zannie-"Mamie", my dad-Papa D-"Papa", EJ's mom JoJo-"Do-do", EJ's stepdad Pop-"Pop Pop". She picks up a phone and says hello-"ay-yo". She rocks her baby-"bebee" "night night" by singing rock-a-bye baby-"bye bye bye bye bye". She asks to read "book". She calls clocks "tock tock". She calls hair dryers, vacuums, dust busters, drills, electric screwdrivers, etc-"zzshzsh" so you have to use context clues to know what she is talking about. She is still quite the diva very interested in her "shoes", "boots", bracelets.She tells us she is hungry but putting her fingers to her mouth and/or saying "num-num". She likes to eat bananas-"nana", cheerios-"ios", crackers-"cacka", tomatoes-"mena" and "juice". She says spoon and fork but it is difficult to understand if she doesn't have one in her hand. Her animal sounds have improved and broadened and she can point out most animals from cats to giraffes to zebras. She has a friend at school named Thomas-"Tata" and our friend's little boy Brennan is "B". We go over our friends' names on the way to school and church and she tries to repeat most of their names but they don't come out consistently. When we tell her it is time for school she says "Tata" and when we ask if she is ready to see Miss Jennifer (her teacher) she says "Tata".

Our pediatrician told me to try potty training as soon as she shows interest, so since she has been telling us when she is pooping we pulled the little toilet seats out. She has only poo-pooed in the potty once in a week and a half but we celebrated big when she did.

Her favorite toys are anything having to do with Old MacDonald and his farm which she calls "EIEI". She still loves "ball". She likes to listen to music and dance, mostly just Old MacDonald but she also likes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt "Na Na Na Na". She likes to play with her kitchen utensils and tea sets. She loves to swing and she asks to go out to swing by saying "weeeeeeeeee" while pointing at the door. She loves to clean. She pushes the swiffer around and picks up trash and puts it in the trash can and thinks it is fun...hopefully this will continue into the teenage years. A mom can dream, right?

She knows eyes, wink, blink, nose, smell, mouth, ears, neck, hands, feet/toes, belly, knees and knows hats go on our heads. She is a good helper when we are getting her dressed.

This week while we were all sitting at the table she got down and started crawling under the table. I said, "Oh what a cute puppy" and she replied by whimpering like Kala does when she wants something. She makes a vroom sound when she plays with cars or is pretending to ride a car.

She is still a great sleeper getting 10-12 hours most nights and about 3 hours in naps usually divided into a one hour nap and a two hour nap. She loves bath time! We usually have to drain the water and then she still plays with no water in the tub a few more minutes before we take her out against her will.

She is putting things together and remembering things. When she got her flu shot mid-October she started crying as soon as the nurse brought the tray with the needles on it. I thought it could have been coincidence but I know now that she knew exactly what was about to happen. We went in last week to have the doctor check her ears because she has had two ear infections but doesn't show any signs/symptoms so we never know she has one until a check up. The nurses walked in and she squeezed me yelling "owwwie". We assured her she wasn't getting an owwie and she calmed down only to find out, she had a double ear infection and needed an antibiotic injection. She again yelled "owwie" when the nurse walked in with the needles on a tray. Bless her heart! It broke mommy's heart. She is such a trooper and a tough little girl.

She got her first real owwie last week while playing with the humidifier which is a no no. It was wet around the edge and I don't know if her hand slipped on it because it was wet or if I scared her when I told her No but she slipped and cut her chin on the edge. She cried until I asked if she wanted her "boo-boo" bunny and then she just whimpered until we got it out of the freezer then she was fine. When I laid her down in her bed I saw that her chin was cut and when I got downstairs in the light I saw blood all over my shoulders from where I was putting her to sleep. She hardly cried at all and it was a nice sized cut.

She is such a loving little girl giving hugs and kisses freely and unexpectedly. She gets very excited when "Mommy!" or "Daddy!" comes into the room. My favorite things in the whole world are hearing her laugh and getting big bear hugs from her.

It seems like she does something new everyday now but I can't think of all the stuff she is doing. I need to start doing short posts weekly with her development so I don't forget things...we'll see if that happens.