Jensyn – 13 Months

Oh, little girl!  This month, you are losing some of that “babyness”.  I knew it was coming, but suddenly you have a great desire to be a big girl.

You’re always standing.
You’re playing with your big brothers’ toys.
You don’t eat any baby food.
You’re liking sippy cups.
You are “talking” all the time, and some of it might be real words.
You are playing and interacting with us so well!
You stare at strangers with a blank look on your face.  Most people don’t get to see what a HAPPY baby you are at home!
You love to play “chase” with your brothers. Since you crawl, you’re pretty slow…but you still go in circles all around the living room, giggling like crazy!

You love to clap!

 

You love to watch your brothers playing outside.

 

 

You still love to suck your thumb.  When we lay you in bed, you lay on your tummy, turn your head to the side, and suck on your right thumb.  Every nap.  Every night.  It’s just your thing.  And you never forget to wrap your fingers around your nose while you do it.

You like pretty much everything we feed you.  I have yet to find anything to spicy for your liking.  You got upset when I didn’t give you salsa on your tortilla chips yesterday.

You are very good about signing “all done” when you’re finished.  Over the weekend, at Danielle’s wedding shower, you even SAID “all duh” when you realized that Mama was eating ice cream.  If “all done” meant you could set aside your lasagna and have some ice cream, then you were ALL DONE…even if you’d only taken a few bites!

You don’t say a lot of real words yet, but you will randomly repeat words.  Today at lunch, you were saying “ketchup” over and over again because Max asked Mama for ketchup. 

Words I am SURE you say: yay, hi, Mama, more, Dada, all done
Words you may have said: Papa, bye, Alex, Grace, “guys” (for your brothers), “hey”, that (like “what’s that”
Signs you use: all done, bye bye (which you also use for hi and nigh-night)
Signs you recognize: more, milk, all done, bye bye

You had a great Easter!

 

You stand.  All the time.  You even stood straight up (without grabbing anything to help you) in the bathtub a few nights ago, and you “dove” over the edge of the tub trying to get out.  I’m glad I was right there, paying attention and ready to catch you!

You’re not walking, although you are pulling yourself up on just about everything.  You’re getting pretty good at cruising around tables and couches.  Just last night, you figured out how to walk behind your push walker.  You were giggling with delight!

You are crawling at super-speed, and I often “lose” you.  One minute, I’m emptying the dishwasher while you play by my feet.  The next minute, I’m frantically searching the house only to find you in the master bedroom, digging through a pile of tissue paper from the wrapping paper box we store under our bed.

You climbed the stairs all the way to the bonus room last week Wednesday.  WOW!  You were so proud of yourself that you grinned from ear to ear, giggling.  Now, you’re CONSTANTLY waiting for the boys to leave the door open so you can head upstairs.  You LOVE to be set loose in the playroom!

You look cute in your big brother’s hat.

 

You like to do silly things for a smile.

  

You point, point, point at everything around you.  This is a new thing in the past week.  Oh, it’s so cute!  You point where you want me to take you.  You point at Daddy’s car when he’s pulling in the driveway.  You point at people who you know.  That little finger is always pointing lately.

You are still nursing a few times each day.  Definitely bedtime.  Definitely 3 – 4 AM.  Usually once or twice during the day.  I’d like to work on breaking the 3 AM feeding.  Sometimes I go and grab a sippy cup of milk from the fridge instead of nursing you.  You fight it a bit, but you do eventually give in.  If I was more consistent, I might be making progress.  It worked with Alex when he was small.  With 3 kids, I’m just too tired to work at it.   If I’d just be more consistent, you & Mama would both be sleeping all night.  Eventually we’ll get there…especially since waking at 3 AM is a big part of why I’m tired!

You have the same night routine as your brothers.  Bathtime at 7:30 with all three kids in the tub.  After you’re in your pajamas, I hand you over to Daddy for a little special playtime with him while I finish bathing your brothers and brush their teeth.

Mama puts the boys to bed while Daddy feeds you a bowl of rice cereal and brushes your teeth.  Then Mama nurses you, you give Daddy a big grin and kiss him goodnight (you love that!), and Mama takes you to your room.  I’d like to snuggle and sing you a song like I did with your brothers at that age, but you’ll have nothing to do with it.  You DIVE out of my arms to get in your crib.  You lay on your belly, turn your head to the right, and pop your thumb in your mouth.  I rub your back and sing you a song.  That’s it.  You go to sleep.  No fussing or arguing.  It’s usually 8:15 - 8:30 when I close your bedroom door and walk away. 

You wake in the night for a quick nursing “snack”, and then you go back to sleep until 8 – 8:30 AM.  You wake happily, playing in your crib for a bit before calling out some baby gibberish to get my attention.  You will resort to crying if I don’t hear you or if I don’t get there fast enough. 

Usually, we’re ready for breakfast when you wake up.  I plop you in your high chair with some Cheerios and a cup of milk…

…and then we go about our day…naptime at 10/10:30 – 11:30/12, naptime at 2:30 – 4:30/5 PM…

You’re a happy baby, Jensyn.  We love watching you blossom and grow into a sweet, energetic little girl.

You are a BLESSING in our lives, and we are so thankful for you!