Ginevra @ 16 & 17 Months

Happy Sunday Humble Readers...

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend.  Things here are quiet now, but it was another busy day of cooking and crib assembling at the hobbit-hole.  I confess that I didn't make it to church this morning because I hardly slept at all last night due to back pain, and also that I didn't get around to making one of my intended freezer recipes.  So... I have 28 dinners (enough for my Beloved, Ginny, and I) and 23 individual breakfasts (breakfast burritos... the recipe said to bag them in twos, but they were on the small side and my Beloved and I are big eaters, so I packed them in threes).  The crib is 2/3 done. 

*****

Again, it's hard to believe that we're at the end of another month and that means that Ginny is another month older.  Actually, it's been two months since I last did an update due to some technical difficulties last month. 

It's hard to know where to start, she's grown and changed so much in the last couple of months.  She's gained a full pound over the last month, and I'm sure she's grown an inch or so.  I notice it mostly when she's in her high chair... she's so much taller than she was in January. 

She's very into cause and effect right now.  Taking things 'out' and putting them 'back'.  Open and closed is also very intriguing to her.  This causes some frustration when she does things like throw her stuffies out of her playpen or crib.  Ginny loves her shape sorter toy and her talking picnic basket.  And of course her stuffies... heaven help us if her stuffies (like her dogs Stanley and Rover, Mama Bear, and Pooh bear) are out of her reach.  She's slowly (and I do mean slowly) learning to help pick up her toys at night.  Since I repaired her baby blanket she's back to carrying it around, wearing it like a shawl, and playing peekaboo from under it. 

Her vocabulary has shown a fair bit of improvement when I consider the last couple of months.  She babbles constantly, and she's using a lot more words with purpose.  And she knows and understands so many more words than she says.  She knows quite a few body parts, and can recognize them on others too (when we ask her where her nose is, she points to hers and then to my Beloved's and mine).  Ginny also knows a lot of animal sounds (dogs, sheep, owls, chickens, cows She has a few words that we know are her own personal language (gie = glasses).  But she readily says Daddy, Mum, ball, num-nums (food), cup, tree, car, go-go-go (for leaving the house), go-ffff (goldfish crackers), hiya (on the phone), bear (anything with fur and four legs), baby, snow, hair, nose, toes, ticka-ticka (tickles),

She loves to dance, and bounce (particularly on the couch, which gives Mummy heart palpitations).  She's deals with her tumbles and oopsies well, only fussing when she gets a bit of a scare.  She can climb up on the couch with ease now, and has figured out how to get into the glider rocker as well.  With the way she climbs on the furniture, I won't be surprised if she's climbing out of her crib in the next couple of months.

Ginny still hates wearing socks and shoes, but then she comes by that naturally (Mummy hates them too).  When she's in the car, we always hear that rip of velcro and we know that her shoes have come off.  She's also discovered the wonders of nudity.  Particularly if we are slow to get her up in the morning.  If she's in a sleeper with snaps, that thing is off in a heartbeat, and recently she's learned how to get rid of her diaper as well.  It means that we're doing a bit more laundry these days. 

She's currently fascinated by babies.  She, of course, doesn't understand that there's a baby inside Mummy's belly, but she's very aware of babies and toddlers around her when we are out and about.  When she comes to my NSTs, she seems to be calmed by the sound of the Halfling's heartbeat.  I'm very interested to see how the adjustment period goes when the Halfling comes home with us.

Ginny loves Curious George and the Cat in the Hat, although Sesame Street is only good if Elmo is on the screen.  She loves dance music, and she also really likes Jennifer Hudson. 

She eats like a little horse, but without a doubt, chicken fried rice is her favourite thing.  I have to make sure to make it in big batches because she always has two helpings when I make it.  She's had pizza (homemade), perogies, Mexican food, curry, hot dogs, and french fries.  I'm ashamed to admit that she's had her first McNugget, but thankfully that didn't go over so well.  She does like fries, tho, especially with ketchup.  She loves grapes and bananas, peanut butter sandwiches, goldfish crackers, and cheese. 

Sleep, at night, is mostly a breeze.  She might fuss a bit when she goes down, but she sleeps almost every night from 8pm through until at least 7am.  Sometimes, Ginny will wake up around midnight crying, but if we leave her be she can soothe herself back to sleep, usually in a few minutes.  Napping, on the other hand, is hit and miss.  She still needs a good four hours of sleep during the day, but some days that's one long nap, and other days it's a couple of shorter naps. 

All in all, Ginevra's a busy wee girl.  I am still astounded to look back at pictures of her from this time last year and to see how much she's grown and developed.  (As you can tell by some of the pics, she's a little ham when the camera comes out.)