Babycakes: 16 months!

 

Health: 
Last month, I mentioned that Lizzie had an appointment to check out her eyes and be sure they weren't turning in slightly. We had her appointment in mid-September, and got the news that, yes, she does, indeed, have a slight case of what they call "esotropia". Esotropia is when one eye turns in. She has a type of cosmetic esotropia (sometimes she can appear to have an eye turned in slightly, but it's not actually) due to the fold of her eyelid (like mine) and that she has a wider nose bridge. Aside from that, her left eye does turn in just so slightly. It's hardly noticeable -- so much so that the ophthalmologist was amazed that I even caught it. No one else caught it, including her doctor, Andy or our parents. I just felt like I would notice it in some photos and sometimes when she'd look at me -- but I couldn't be sure, because I wasn't sure if she was truly looking straight ahead, or if she was looking slightly off to the side and I was just seeing things. So anyway, apparently Lizzie's esotropia is caused by being near-sighted. Her vision needs just a little bit of correction, hardly any. I guess the idea is that if you give a kid who is near-sighted glasses, their eye muscles will relax and no longer do that slight turn-in. So that's what we had to do... get girlfriend glasses!

When I found out she had to get glasses, I cried. Oh, I cried. I did a good job of holding back the tears in the appointment, but afterward was another story. So many mom worries... what if they fall off on the playground? What if she cries and they get hard to see out of and no one is there to wipe them off for her? What if they fog up and she can't see? And what if no one can see her pretty blue eyes anymore because they only notice her glasses? Andy reminded me kindly that I was being ridiculous and her glasses were not sunglasses, so that was silly. But still. And I think the tears came because, you know, your perfect child apparently has an imperfection all of a sudden! Not possible. Not possible!

But, it is.

And she's completely perfect, even with her glasses on :) She's adjusted so well to them. She doesn't mind them at all. We got some fake ones to begin with because we were first deciding on which color to choose (only one frame fit her face, so we had little for options... just three color choices: brown, grey and purple) and so I decided to make her wear those fakes 24/7 while at home just to see how difficult life with a 16-month old in glasses would be. But, to my delight, it wasn't a challenge at all. Sure, she hated them for the first five minutes we had them on, but after that, they became her go-to accessory. And I think once we got the real ones and they helped her see, she liked that aspect. We did have one break down where she ripped them off her face and threw them across the room (well, as much across the room as a little lady can) and shouted gibberish. I imagine she was scolding the world for her needing to wear these darn glasses for the next few years. But hey, I had my tantrum about it, so she's entitled to one (or five), too.

It sounds like she could grow out of this within two years, but maybe more like sometime between kindergarten and third grade age. 

In other health news, we're still stuck with four teeth -- the same four she got all in her 13th month of life. We have a hunch there are more coming (hallelujah!), slowly but surely... sleep has been interrupted, and the chewing and drooling is at its peak. Hopefully they break through soon :)

Sleep:
Due to the tooth situation, can be hit-and-miss at night. Sometimes up not at all in the night, but sometimes up two or three times. She's been going to bed at 7:30 on school nights because we have to get her up by 6:30 in the mornings (though she typically wakes on her own by 6:15 or so because of the noise we make after getting up).

Naps at daycare are, apparently, going well. They told me the other day that she's falling asleep completely on her own and sleeping nice and long. All right, girlfriend! I've been trying to imagine her on her little cot at daycare... too funny.

At home, her naps are great as well. Usually we get two to three hours in the afternoon out of her.

Diet:
Loves food still! But again, I think those teeth are wreaking havoc on her appetite some days and she's just not that interested. She's becoming more and more of a "spicy" and "hot" food fan... loves buffalo chicken :)

I've been letting her have a marshmallow here and there ("meh-yo" she says for them :)), which she loves. Favorite sweet treat, next to the elusive ice cream!

Her favorite foods right now would be roasted red pepper hummus (hands down, number one favorite!), Inner Peas from Trader Joe's, ice cream, buffalo chicken, sweet potatoes, raspberries and pineapple.

Social:
Lizzie is completely enamored by big kids, especially her cousins, Brayden, Mykenna and Noah. A few weeks ago they visited and Lizzie insisted that Brayden hold her during mass. When I tried to explain (seriously, why do I even try to reason with a one-year-old?) to her that Brayden might have a hard time holding her, she threw a bit of a fit at mass -- so he held her top while I supported her butt so he could hold her :) So goofy. But she loves them! It's adorable.

Apparently she's making friends like it's her job (and isn't it?) at the Y. I guess the teacher told Andy last week that all the kids love Lizzie. She's been holding hands with boys and apparently receiving hugs from one little boy in particular... oh boy. I guess she's also been tickling kids? Oh my. She's quite the little lady. :) She's a charmer.

Milestones:

New words this month: bike, dolly, bye-bye, buh-bye, daddy, mommy (believe it or not, she hasn't really said them much up to this point... or, at least, not this well), dolly, door, mine (not my favorite new word... definitely something she picked up at daycare! She definitely knows what it means and will even say "no, mine!" to us... oh boy), says "No" for my nephew "Noah" and can point him out in a picture. 

Girlfriend also knows where belly button, eyes, hands, fingers, toes, feet, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, hair and ears are -- I just forgot to mention it on last month's post! So she's known those since 15 months. 

Lizzie loves to dance and read books. She's starting to move her little feet when she dances and also includes her arms in the action as well :) It's a full-body dance sometimes! Adorable. She's also now tracking words with her finger when we read (not accurately, obviously), so I'm thinking she must be "getting" the idea that letters mean reading (I typically track words as we read in order to give her that impression). 

We're wearing 12 to 18 month pants, but only those that have the adjustable waist in them from BabyGap right now (and not all of their pants have that... bummer) -- and those that she's wearing, we have the waist cinched way, way, way in. Like, five holes on each side in. Leggings in that size are generally still too big, depending on where they are from -- but, unfortunately, she needs the length. She's not a terribly tall little lady, but tall enough to be too long for six to 12 month things. For shirts, we still do onesies and t-shirts in 6 to 12 months size for t-shirt days and those fit just fine. When it's long sleeved weather, we do 12 to 18 month things because that's the size I bought her for fall. Some things are a little big, but that's okay.

Based on super-accurate home measurements (;)), I think girlfriend is about 21 pounds and 30 inches, putting her around the 10th percentile or so for both.