Adriana Leigh is Seventeen Months Old!

Adriana continues to be the brightest part of each of my days.  I just finished reading an email from a hateful parent, and I have chosen to write about Adriana before I go to bed so that my day ends on a good note.

Adriana can now say 16 words.  Some of them sound quite similar because they start with the same sound, but she always uses them correctly.  The words she can say are Mama, Daddy, ball, bye-bye, boom, chip, cheese, chair, Elmo, milk, more, Zeke, Poppy, puppy, poop, and no-no.  She also recognizes the letter A, and recognizes the number 1 most of the time.  She can tell you the sounds that m, p, and t make.  She still loves babies and flowers.  Right now, she is fascinated by faces.  She is constantly pointing out eyes, noses, mouths, tongues, ears, cheeks, and hair.  She thinks it's hilarious when people wear hats.

I found a developmental milestone chart on babycenter.com, and I can tell you that Adriana can do all of the following:

• Turns the pages of a book
• Has temper tantrums when frustrated (like her mommy)
• "Helps" around the house (cooking, laundry)
• Takes off one piece of clothing by herself (mostly, her coat)
• Likes riding toys
• Feeds a doll or animal
• Dances to music
• Brushes teeth with help
• Uses a spoon and fork
• Runs
• Points to a picture or object when you call it by name
• Throws away garbage
• Can walk up and down stairs

Some of those things are for children as old as 21 months, so I'm quite proud of her.  :-)

She's still as tiny as can be.  She's growing taller, so she'll need to go up to 18 month clothes soon, but based on her weight, she could still stay in 12 months for quite awhile.  She weighs about 21 pounds.  According to the chart on babycenter, this means that she is in the 5th - 10th percentile.  We love our tiny girl!

You can't really tell here, but she's making Elmo clap his hands.  She loves doing this with her stuffed animals!

 See you next month!

My Mom's Birthday

Perhaps you remember a post that I wrote at the beginning of 2011.  I said that I was so excited for Sue's birthday because we already knew what her present was going to be...another grandchild.  Adriana's due date was September 14, 2011 (Sue's birthday).  Well, in order to be fair, we thought we should get my mom something just as wonderful for one of her birthdays.*  So, we have decided that this year, we will get my mom another grandchild for her birthday.  Our next baby is due on July 18, 2013 (Mom's birthday).

Adriana is very excited to be getting a new friend.  She is obsessed with babies right now, and we're hoping this continues.  She's also obsessed with my growing belly.  We tell her the baby is in there, and she will point to my belly and make the sign for baby.  If you ask her if she loves the baby, she will come up and kiss my belly.  It is the cutest thing!  Today, she was holding her baby doll up to her belly, and then looking up at me with a huge smile on her face.

We are all so thrilled about our big news.  I have been very sick once again.  I hope I don't jinx it, but I think it's over now.  I've been doing a lot better the past few days.  I will be sure to update the blog as frequently as possible to keep you informed about this baby.

And, no, we will not find out the sex of the baby until it is born.  After all, it's Mom's birthday present.  I can't tell her what it is before it's time to "open" it.  ;-)

*I am kidding about the planning of this stuff.  If I tried to plan for these days, it would never happen.  But it is a nice little coincidence.  :-)

Adriana Leigh is Sixteen Months Old

It's hard to believe another month has gone by already!

Since I see Adriana everyday, it's hard for me to think of all the new things she has accomplished this month.  I sometimes forget if she has been doing something forever, or if it is a new skill.  One thing I know she has perfected this month is knowing two of her letter sounds.  I am so proud of her for this one!  She will consistently tell me that "T" says ta and "P" says pa.  I am so impressed by this!

She is starting to pick up other words as well.  She calls Poppy (my dad) "Pop-Pop."  She tries to say "ball" every once in awhile.  And, in a moment that makes every parent proud, she says, "poop."  We actually are proud of this because she uses it correctly.  We're excited that she's starting to show the beginning signs of potty training.  She is obsessed with chasing other people into the bathroom so she can see what is going on, and she tries out the potty about once each day.  Of course, we know this might be a long process, but it's something.

Adriana has also started doing "Ring Around the Rosie."  She is so cute when she does it!  She gets so excited and starts laughing so hard.  Sometimes she forgets to fall because she wants to start spinning again right away.  Yesterday, she spun so many times in a row that she got really dizzy and started to trip over her own feet.

She's getting so big!

Adriana Leigh is Fifteen Months Old

Yes, I'm aware that I am six days late with this post (Mom).  I took the picture on December 11, but had a little trouble getting to the blog.

Adriana is doing very well.  She is enjoying playtime at the Monon Center, story time and playtime at the library, and making new friends wherever she goes.  In the spring, Grandma Herman is planning to start taking her to a music class for toddlers.  I think she will LOVE this.  Whenever she hears music, she will stop what she is doing so she can "dance."

Adriana is also adding to her vocabulary.  She still loves making animal sounds more than anything.  She can tell you what an elephant, a puppy, a horse, a sheep, a cow, a cat, and a monkey say.  She can also tell you that Santa says "ho ho."  She knows how to say Mo-Mo (Elmo).  This morning she said "Poppy" (my dad).  And she knows how to say her new favorite word:  no.

Yes, Adriana has developed an attitude.  I don't know where it comes from.  It must be her father.  When she gets mad, frustrated, or just generally upset/tired, she will stomp her foot, shake her finger, and say, "ni-ni-ni!"  She first did this last Tuesday.  I was peeling a cucumber, and I wasn't fast enough for her.  When I wouldn't let her grab it out of my hand, she stomped her foot, shook her finger at me, and said, "ni-ni-ni!"  I didn't know whether to have my feelings hurt or laugh at her.  The second time she did it, it was easier to decide how to react.  She now gets a time out and doesn't get what she wants me to give her.  It may be cute and funny when she does it now, but I'm sure it will not be cute or funny if she's still doing it at 14, so we're putting a stop to it now!

I see Adriana everyday, so I don't notice much of a change in her looks from day to day.  But, I will let you decide how much you think she has changed in the last month:

She wanted to wear the bow, but...

...it didn't last long.

Hopefully, I'll be on time in January...

Adriana Leigh is Fourteen Months Old

It's hard to believe that it's been two months since Adriana's first birthday.  She has learned to do so much more since I last wrote.  She has learned new sounds and is becoming even more interactive.

If you are my Facebook friend, you have already seen the following video.  If you are not (Andi), you can see how proud we are!

(I'm having some technical difficulties.  I'll get the video on here as soon as I can.)

The biggest event this month is that Adriana got her first official haircut!  I only agreed to it because it is still long enough to be able to do pigtails when we want to, but it looks really cute on a daily basis, too.

She did such a great job!  No tears at all!

And, finally, here are the monthly pictures with Elmo...

Showing off her new haircut

Keeping an eye on Elmo

Adriana Leigh is Thirteen Months

Adriana has accomplished a lot since her first birthday.  Scott and I were just talking about how well she communicates with us, even though, technically, she is only really saying Mama and Dada.  She tells us when she wants things by pointing or signing "more."  To her, "more" means "I want."  She still tells us that she wants to see flowers by sniffing.  She tells us that she wants to watch her DVD with her favorite song, "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" by hitting her head and shaking her finger.  She also claps her hands and stomps her feet to tell us that she's happy and she knows it.

She knows how to sign that she wants a phone (Grandma Coley taught her that in one day).  And she loves to tell us what all kinds of animals say, like an elephant (throws her arm in the air and squeals...I'll try to get a video of this soon) a puppy (pant, pant, pant), a horsey (nay nay nay), and a cow (mmmmm).

She is also starting to sort shapes.  Adriana consistently puts the cookie in the circle on the plate that came with her picnic basket.  We're still working on the square and the triangle, but we're getting there.

She loves to go on walks, and I am sure that she is not looking forward to winter.

Her favorite things to play with are her animals, books, and musical things.  She loves to dance!

She tells me when she's tired by rubbing her head.  This means that it's time to wash her hair because she takes a bath before bed.  She says it's time to eat by tapping her mouth.  If we're in the car, she'll hold her hand up to ask me to hand her a snack.

If I think of other accomplishments she's made this month, I'll add them later.  Off the top of my head, these are the things that stand out.

Another thing (not really an accomplishment, though) is that Adriana had her first bad reaction to a vaccination.  1 out of 25 people will get a mild case of chicken pox from the vaccine.  I think Adriana is one in a million, but statistically, I guess she's one in twenty-five.  Adriana does indeed have a mild case of chicken pox.  She doesn't seem to be too adversely affected by it though.  She just seems to itch sometimes.

Enough of the facts.  Here's the picture everyone wants to see.  :-)

She loves to blow kisses!

Adriana Leigh Herman is ONE!

Dear Adriana,

When you were born, I wrote you a letter in your baby book.  In it, I said that I couldn't use the typical line, "I never knew I could love someone so much," because I always knew that I would love being a mother and I would love my baby just as much as I love you.  Over the past year, this has proven to be true time and time again.  I absolutely adore everything about you.  I love nothing more than spending time with you (and our other family members, like Daddy, your grandparents, Brandon, the boys, etc.).  I dread the times that I have to leave you, and can't wait until I can get back to you to see what fun things you have done while I was gone.

The amount of pride I have for you is astounding.  You are the sweetest little girl.  You love to give kisses and hugs.  You're particular (you will only kiss people on their right cheek, for the most part), but SO friendly.  As long as I let you know that you can trust the person, you're open to pretty much anyone, but sometimes you do have to warm up to new people a little bit.  I can tell that you love your family.  One of your favorite things to do is to look at pictures of your family members and close friends.  You point to certain people you want to look at, and you always let me know that you want to see your Poppy (you think this sounds like "puppy," and you pant when you want to see him).

Boy, you are SO SO SO smart!!  You love to look at books.  You've even started turning them the correct way to look at them.  Being a teacher, I know that this is the first step to reading, but I'm sure that's still a little way off.  You also learn new things pretty quickly.  Grandma watches you while I work, and she says that she loves to watch you explore new things.  She will show you something new, and after watching her work with it one time, you try (and usually succeed) to work with it on your own.  Sometimes this is challenging because you figure out how to get past our babyproofing.

You know what a puppy says (pant-pant-pant), what a cow says ("mmmmmmm"), what an elephant says (this one is your favorite...you put your arm in the air and squeal), and are starting to know what a horsey says ("nay-nay-nay").  You just learned horsey because you just love your new rocking horse that "Uncle" Jeff got you.  You also know how to let us know that you want to see and/or smell flowers (sniff-sniff-sniff).  You know where your mouth is consistently.  You know where my nose is most of the time.  You know how to tell me when you want more, and when you want to eat (you do the "eat" sign to my mouth instead of yours).  You tell me you want other things by pointing, and you only whine when you get really tired (we're still working on that).  You raise your hands to ask where things are, and you wave bye-bye.  You have picked up each of these things in a very short amount of time.  You learned most of them just a day or two after they were introduced to you.

 You have a magnetic personality.  You love to go out in public and see other people.  Daddy and I are always amazed at how people are drawn to you.  We can't go anywhere without hearing someone tell us how cute you are!  You love to interact with other people, and you are a master at drawing new people into your world.

You are also very talented.  You took your first steps when you were only 9 1/2 months old, and you were walking completely on your own at 10 1/2 months.  You also love to dance, "sing," and clap along to music.  You love musical DVDs, CDs, and toys.

You are an absolute joy to be around.  I wish that I could spend every second of every day with you.  I know future years will go by just as quickly as this year has, and there will be a time when you don't want to be around your mom as much, so I want to spend as much time with you now as I possibly can.

My hope for your future is that you always have the amount of self-confidence that you have right now.  I don't want you to be conceited, and I don't want you to think that you can do no wrong, but I hope that you always know what a wonderful person you are.  I see girls every day who are so unsure of themselves, and I hope that you always feel as good about yourself as you do now.  I also hope that you know that a big reason you are so wonderful is because of your inner beauty.  Yes, you are adorable, but as I said before, it is your personality that draws people in.  It is your loving nature and kind heart that makes you so wonderful.  I hope, more than anything else, that you remain loving and kind to others forever.

I feel like I am the luckiest person alive because I get to be your mommy.  I thank God every day that I have such a wonderful little girl, and I hope that you feel just as lucky to be my little girl.

I love you, Adriana Leigh Herman.

Love,
Mommy