15 Months

Well, now that we've gotten through all of the medical craziness (including a relapse second cold that took us to the doctor again, but not to the hospital, thank goodness) CB is healthy, but gets to have breathing treatments ALL WINTER LONG. The doctors have determined that she has "reactive airways," meaning now that we have had a second incident, they think she's got an asthmatic element to this whole thing. Eric had the same reaction when he got sick as a kid and he grew out of it, so hopefully hers will go the same way.

In other news, CB is 15 months old tomorrow! She's so much fun. She's a little firecracker, still friendly and happy and curious (sometimes too curious, like when we're trying to take her to the store and she wants to touch everything and run everywhere). She's jabbering up a storm. She regularly says "hi," "doggie," "kitty," "daddy," "yum," "yup," and "duck." She's also started saying other random words, which is so much fun. My parents just got home from their mission, and I taught her to say, "Daisy," which is what my nieces and nephews call my mom (Grandma Daisy). It sounded so much like some of the other words she loves to say that it was easy. My other favorites have been "balloon" and "cheese" (which sounded like "bah-oon" and tchee-se" but were in proper context) and FINALLY "bye." She says Mama, but rarely in the proper context. (It's okay. I know she likes me best.) She also makes some awesome dinosaur/lion roars, and she is really good at whispering. She can point to her belly button on command, and just today she pointed to her nose on command, which was fun. When she can't say something, she just makes a jumble of conversational sounds and gestures, nods and head shakes. It's so cute when it seems like she's trying to tell her own version of events.

She loves shape sorters and can put the shapes into the holes if I help her figure out which holes are the right ones. She loves taking things out of their boxes/baskets/bins, lining them up, sorting them, and putting them back in. She also likes getting the boxes all loaded up and carrying them to other places to do the same thing. The other day she was loading my mom's basket of decorative eggs (after arranging them on the end table very carefully) and my mom tried to move the basket closer. She went and deliberately moved the basket further away and continued carrying the eggs from the table to the basket one by one. She loves arranging things. Earlier this week she took the gourds that we bought for our Halloween decor and placed them very carefully on the doormat. It was a stunning effect, but we had to move them so we didn't trip our guests. She loves, LOVES stickers. She puts them all over herself and everyone else, and when she puts them on your cheek, she's likely to pat it to make sure it's secure.

She loves opening and closing doors, yelling in places that echo, waving goodbye to people and blowing kisses. She loves telling you when there is a kitty on her shirt. She notices everything. When we put our our Halloween decorations last week, she was the first to notice all of them, pointing and talking about them. When she wants to touch something, she points and crooks her finger at it like when you want someone to come, but upside down, like she's waving with one finger.

Pointing to a grasshopper

My favorite game is when I hold out my arms and she runs over and hugs me, then walks away and does it all over again. She loves being tickled by my dad, who hovers his tickle hands over her belly for a few seconds until she starts giggling in anticipation. When he stops tickling, she sticks her hand up and makes tickle motions at him so he'll do it again. She loves her daddy, and gets a huge smile on her face when he gets off work. They played their first game of hide and seek the other day, with Eric running around corners and hiding, and CB coming behind him and giggling like a maniac whenever she found him. Eric likes to take her on long walks, and she gets excited when we go and get her jacket and hat so she can go. She loves helping Grandma, which is so fun to watch. The other day my mom was wiping down counters and CB pulled a rag out of the door and started standing on her tip toes to try to wipe the counter herself.

Helping Grandma

She just started understanding clothes, and sticks her arms out to help us put her jacket on and her feet up so we can put her shoes on. She's more helpful with these articles of clothing than any others, I think because she now knows they mean she gets to go outside. While she runs away when I try to put on her pajamas, she is nothing but obliging when I try to put on her jacket.

She's starting to get more picky about her food - less excited about vegetables than she is about candy (incredibly) but she is great at feeding herself . . . and at begging for food. I think we'll hang onto her a little longer.

All in all, she's just about the sweetest baby that ever was, and we love her more every day (especially daddy, who thinks she's a million times more fun now than she was as a newborn).

And a couple more recent videos just for fun: