I haven’t written an update post for Polly since her birthday, and even though I don’t intend to write monthly posts about her development, she has changed and grown so much in the last few months that I couldn’t not write a bit about her. In the six weeks between our New York trip and the New Year, she grew up so much! She learned so many new words, became so confident and independent, and gained quite the sense of humor.
She was at home sick on Friday — hence the serious face — and we took an afternoon walk to visit the cat and check on my dad’s newfound (second) retirement. It was a good opportunity to snap a few pictures to show just how big she is!
Height + Weight: We saw the pediatrician earlier this month and Polly was right under 22 pounds — bigger than Sophie at this age, but significantly smaller than Ella. I’m not sure what her height/length was, but I feel like she’s gotten really tall in the last few weeks.
Clothes: She’s wearing mostly 18 months, at this point, but can make 12 months and 2T work depending on the brand. We still favor Kate Quinn and June & January for our every day basics, but I made a major Target run last week for easy separates for “school.” Gran and Josh are tired of snaps and Polly must have access to her belly button at all time (more on that later), so one piece outfits are a no go.
Sleep: She’s still sleeping in a pack in play in her bedroom, but the girls rooms should be painted in the next week or so and carpet is next on the agenda. Hopefully that means our little lovey will be sleeping in her crib again by Valentine’s Day. She still takes two naps on most days, but one is shorter than the other. On the days when we only manage a single rest time, she seems to be happy enough, if not a little sleepier than normal by dinner time.
Schedule: Over the holidays, she was able to sleep until 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning, but now that the big girls are back in school she’s waking up at 5:30 again. Since she’s in bed by 6 o’clock most nights, that still works pretty well for her. Not much else has changed — three meals, a few snacks, and however many naps she decides to take on a given day.
Health: She had a fever on Thursday evening into Friday morning, but otherwise we’ve had a pretty uneventful winter. Her eighth tooth is finally making an appearance on her lower gum line and we’ll all be glad when it’s finally in place. She’s not the worst teether, but it definitely affects her appetite — particularly regarding fruit?!
Crying: She’s still not much of a crier, unless being left by mom, ignored by her sisters, or starving to death.
Likes: Polly loves her belly button. Loves. We joke that she doesn’t need a lovey, because her “bey button” is always with her. She rubs it when she’s especially tired or upset, but wants to have full access at all times. This is made even funnier by the fact that Ella despised her belly button and refused to let anyone touch it ever (even to this day).
She also loves wearing hair bows (and taking them out), but not thick head bands or hats. She’s obsessed with socks and shoes, so we moved them to her lower drawer where she can access them at all times. She loves spending time outside, playing in the rocks and terrorizing my parents cat (who usually leaps at her and terrorizes her back).
Polly loves Minnie Mouse (Muh Mouse) and will watch her on television any time she can. Her other favorite shows are Storybots and Masha & the Bear, but we try to limit TV to early in the morning or when we’re waiting for the next meal to be prepared.
She is still such a voracious eater and there aren’t many things she doesn’t like. A few new favorites are pasta (which she can ask for and it’s the cutest ever), roasted zucchini, chicken salad, cheerios with milk, oatmeal, and any and all fruit (unless she’s teething, WHHHYYYY?!).
Dislikes: She is nothing, if not a creature of habit and we’re still going strong with sixteen months of hating a diaper change. She screams and thrashes and refuses to be handled gently and we are biding our time until we can potty train her. She knows the difference between wet and dirty diapers and has made the connection that the potty is somehow related, so we’ll likely introduce it pretty early. I was potty trained at 18 months, so I’m hoping she follows suit.
She also isn’t a huge fan our of church nursery at the moment and when we tried taking her into the Christmas service, she was a disaster. During the holidays, there haven’t been enough young toddlers to justify a class, so she’s bounced between the babies and toddlers and is seriously confused. We all decided she should just stay with the 2s this week, so I’m hoping some continuity will help us conquer our fears.
Milestones: Our biggest milestones these days are all language related. She’s using two and three word sentences some — saying things like “daddy’s football” or “mama’s cup hot.” I can’t even begin to list the words she can us accurately, but she’s saying please, thank you, your welcome, here you go, all gone, outside, ride, baby, bottle, phone, and remote, to name a few. She calls Ella “yay-ya” and Sophie “beebee,” and we hope she never ever stops. She can tell you all sorts of animal sounds, pretends to read her books, and can do most of the hand motions for Itsy Bitsy Spider without help.
A few more favorites: She is such a sweet girl and I tell everybody I know that they should have a baby at forty – ha! I couldn’t have imagined how much fun we would have, but there isn’t a single thing that I regret or would change. She is such a light in our house and has brought so much joy and laughter over the last sixteen months.
She’s still firmly a mama’s girl, even though she loves her daddy a whole bunch. One of her favorite things to do right now is get into his lap, look him in the face, and say “I love mama.” She knows he will tickle her and fuss when she says it and it is seriously the cutest thing ever.
She’s also on a rocking kick and wants to be hold her and sing Rock a Bye Baby before I put her to bed each night. She loves “doing noses” (Eskimo kisses) and if I don’t do it before I lay her down, she screams NOOOOSE.
We joke that her favorite word is EAT and we can’t say anything that would indicate it’s a meal time or she’ll just yell it at us until we feed her. Words that our currently off limits in our house: eat, food, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, kitchen or any variation of the previous.
Polly is a thief and will quickly run off with your phone or the remote control, if you aren’t watching. The best part about her thievery is that if you get too close to catching her, she’ll just toss your missing item in the other direction. She stole a banana off of Sophie’s plate this weekend and before she could get it back, she threw it at her!
I’ll probably continue sharing updates every few months until her next birthday, since she’s still changing so much right now. I love every little thing she does and never want to forget them all!
