The Bell Family Blog: June 2016

Miss Adalee turned 18 Months on Thursday, June 2nd - I can't believe my little girl is already a year and a half old!

At our pediatrician check-up this week, Miss Adalee weight in at 23 pounds, 13 ounces (70%) and measured 31.5 inches (45%). She actually weighs the same now as she did at her 15 month appointment. She had lost some weight over the past two weeks due to being sick with croup and an ear infection, but she is already gaining some of the weight back. Still a pretty average-sized girl. Miss Adalee has 11 teeth - all four central incisors (top and bottom), three of four lateral incisors (2 on top and 1 on bottom), and all four of her first molars (top and bottom). At her appointment, she finished her last round of immunizations and doesn't have to have another one until age 5...yay!!

Health-wise, Adalee had been doing really well - no sickness at all - until the past few weeks. Then the Friday before Memorial Weekend, I started to noticed a small cough, which turned into a really bad cough, which turned into a fever. Turns out Miss Adalee had croup, as well as a single ear infection. We were able to get her on antibiotics for the ear infection and a steroid for the croup. Within a two days she started feeling better and within a week, her ear infection was basically all cleared up. Now she is back to her happy and healthy self!

Miss Adalee is still a great eater, although she has started going through spurts where she doesn't want to eat breakfast, or doesn't want to eat lunch. She has become more skilled with her fork and spoon, and doesn't use her hands as frequently to eat. We tend to place her food directly on her tray to avoid giving her plates and bowls, as they eventually end up upside or dumped off the side of her high chair. When she is not super hungry, or when she isn't loving the options, she likes to drop her fork/spoon/cup/food off the side of the tray to see Mommy and Daddy's reaction. Tests our patience, but we are working through it. One meal at a time.

Schedule-wise, Miss Adalee typically gets water or apple juice with dry cereal, or sometimes a small portion of Mommy/Daddy's breakfast, in the morning around 7:00am before heading to school. Then once she arrives at school, she gets milk with a second breakfast around 8:30am. Lunch is served at school with milk around 11:00am, and then an afternoon snack with milk is given around 3:00pm. When we get home from school, sometimes one of us can distract her while the other makes dinner, but sometimes she is adamant about needing to eat, so she will get a small second snack with water. Then we try to eat dinner as a family around 6:00pm. Miss Adalee is fairly good about telling us what she wants - saying yes or no when we ask "Do you want water/milk/juice?". She also can say water - "wa wa" - and juice - "juush" - but isn't able to communicate milk yet. Overall Miss Adalee eats most things - the only exception has been Chinese food - she is not a fan despite multiple attempts!

No real changes in the sleeping department for Miss Adalee in the last three months. She still goes to bed around 7:30pm and wakes up around 6:30am - we feel so lucky that she is such a consistent sleeper. Because she just changed daycares, we have seen a decrease in the time she spends napping, but I am attributing that to her getting used to a new environment. She will take anywhere from a 1 to 2 hour nap after lunch at school. On the weekends at home she will nap anywhere from 2 to 3 hours, depending on how tired she is. Still sucks her thumb and strokes her giraffe for comfort when falling asleep.

Her vocabulary has made a lot of progress over the past few months. She now says a lot more of words - some more clearly than others: "ma-ma", "add-y", "hi", "bye", "ees (yes)", "no", "mine", "ball", "ook (book)", "bubble", "aug (again)", "more", and "kay (okay)". She seems to be interested in trying to learn her name. She often points to me and I say "I'm mama", then she points to Michael and I say "That's daddy", then she points to herself, and I say "Your name is Adalee", then she smiles. I feel like I have heard her say "Ada" in reference to herself, but that could just be me thinking to far in to it. The word "no" is probably her most commonly chosen word right now - sometimes I feel like it is the only thing she says - even when she doesn't mean it. I will ask her if she wants to read a book, she will say no, and then she will go get a book and sit in my lap for us to read. She also has learned most of her basic body parts, and can point to her eyes, nose, ear, mouth, tongue, hair, belly, feet, toes, hands, fingers, knee and elbow (Michael worked really hard on getting her to learn elbow...). She also loves to learn animal noises - knows that a dog says "woof", a lion says "roar", a cow says "moo", a duck says "ack (quack)", and a sheep says "baa". She also does really well when we ask her to do simple tasks, like putting her clothes in her laundry basket, throwing her dirty diaper in the trashcan, putting her books in her basket, or "dusting" the kitchen floor/cabinets with a paper towel.

Miss Adalee is fairly independent and likes to walk most places on her own, as long as she can hold Mommy or Daddy's hand when people she doesn't know are around. She also loves to walk up and down the stairs - holding on to our hand, as well as the railings/walls. She will crawl up the stairs on her own with us following behind, but she doesn't understand crawling backwards down the stairs, so we either have to help her walk or carry her.

Adalee loves to try out everything that Mommy and Daddy do. If Mommy is brushing her hair, then Adalee wants her comb to brush her hair. If daddy is putting on his shoes, Adalee wants to put on her shoes. If Mommy is cooking dinner, Adalee wants to be in the kitchen with her helping to stir whatever is in the bowl. If we are sitting on the couch, Adalee wants to crawl up and sit with us. While it can be a little tedious, I love how involved she wants to be. Miss Adalee loves being outside - everything from walking to get the mail, to our stroller rides before dinner, to playing in the driveway, or visiting our local park to swing and go down the slides. She loves to drive her car, as well as mow with her lawnmower and blow bubbles when she is outside. She is even "helpful" during yard work - when Mommy walks around the landscape beds to pick up weeds and sticks, Miss Adalee usually helps out by throwing "excessive" mulch into the bucket as well... :) The only outdoor activity Miss Adalee doesn't really like is playing in her baby pool. I think she is going through a phase of not liking larger bodies of water, because she also despises being in the bathtub right now - showering is fine, sink baths are fine, but if you put in her in the tub, it is a no go. Same thing with her outdoor baby pool - not a fan. We are hoping to get her to our local pool soon to see what happens there.

When we are inside, reading is still Adalee's favorite activity. We still read multiple books every night before bed. Her favorites are the ones that you can sing and the ones that have actions - all of Sandra Boyton's books are fantastic for this! She also loves to sing along to songs - itsy bitsy spider, wheels on the bus, twinkle twinkle, row row row your boat - and she knows the actions for most of them! Still loves to dance to music makers, play with her blocks and puzzles, and feed/rock her baby doll, but her new favorite toys are balls - any size or shape. She has learned how to throw and kick a ball, and now loves to play "pass the ball" with Mom and Dad.

We love you Miss Adalee and can't wait to see what the rest of your second year has in store for us. And we are so excited to see you become a big sister soon!

Adalee started attending her new school this week - the MacKids Academy! When we found out that Burns and McDonnell was adding a daycare facility in their new building, we were super excited! Not only is it a brand new facility, but it is also STEM education-based. The "nerd" side of both Michael and I loves that Adalee will have some early exposure to math, science, etc! Plus, now Michael can just take Adalee (and eventually the new baby) to work with him and bring them home when he leaves - no need for an extra stop! The only days it will not be ideal is when he is traveling and I have to drive the girls all the way to Burns and McDonnell before heading to Lawrence, but I think the benefits of this place far outweigh the extra time spent driving when Michael is out of town.

Miss Adalee was actually supposed to start on Tuesday, May 31st, but due to being sick over Memorial Weekend and the first part of the week, she had her first actual day on Thursday, June 2nd. The first drop off went as one would expect - complete meltdown - not wanting to let go of Mommy's legs. But her teachers emailed us a little while later and said that within 10 or so minutes, Adalee was already smiling and having fun with new friends. I am sure the first week or two will be rough with the drop offs, but after that she will get settled in. Fingers crossed!

Here are some pictures from Adalee on her first day at her new school...