16 Month Update

Here are some of Julia's latest accomplishments and interests:

1. Julia loves to sit in our laps. She will sit on our laps when we ask her to and of her own accord. She's always very proud of herself when she comes to sit with us. So sweet. She also loves to sit on blankets spread on the floor, especially her Marmee quilt. For some reason, she also really enjoys sitting on her shopping cart cover spread on the floor.

2. Julia LOVES the phone. Especially because it's usually Daddy calling. She doesn't always like to talk on the phone, but she does like to "give kisses" to the person on the line. She puts her mouth on the speaker part of the phone and makes her kissy sound ("mmmmm").

3. Speaking of kisses, Julia is learning to blow kisses. She has thought it hilarious to receive them for quite some time now (especially when Mommy says goodnight from the bedroom door). To blow kisses, Julia puts her hand over her mouth and puffs (either with or without her kiss sound).

4. Julia's vocabulary has not expanded much beyond "mama," "dada", and "hi," although she continues to babble in many and various forms. However, her repertoire of animal sounds is quite extensive. She has mastered the dog, cat, polar bear, brown bear, lion, duck, and cow. She is currently learning the frog and the monkey. It's quite hilarious. I did get one video, but it wasn't very good, so we will keep trying.

5. Julia continues to wave "hello" and "good-bye." When she can tell Jonathan or I are getting ready to leave, she will start waving (which is very bittersweet for me when I'm leaving for work). She will also wave to people when we are out if they say hello or good-bye to her so that despite her shyness she comes off as quite a charmer.

6. Over the past month or so, Julia has started to show an interest in feeding herself with silverware. She's very good at getting the utensils into her mouth, but not so much at getting food onto the utensil and repositioning it as necessary to be able to put it in her mouth. She is doing a fabulous job of learning to drink out of a regular cup. Speaking of drinking, though, she's still not sold on milk (unless it's been on her cereal first).

7. Teeth and tantrums… another hallmark of the past month with Julia. She started getting her bottom molars a couple weeks ago, and they are almost completely through now. The top ones are just starting to cut through. It's been a pretty traumatic experience for her (and for Mommy and Daddy, too) that included hunger strikes, napless days, lots of tears, runny noses, and things not decent to put into print. Poor bunny… And tantrums… she's definitely not afraid to express her displeasure! She will scream, throw herself on the ground, and cover her face with her hands. Quite dramatic! (hmm, wonder where she gets that from?) Anyways, thus far, ignoring the behavior has been a quick fix… hope it stays that way for awhile.

8. We just started up Kindermusik again. Julia was rather shy the first day back, but she's been warming up to it again. Today was our third class, but although she was a little clingy, she did seem to have a lot of fun dancing, laughing, clapping, playing the instruments, etc.

9. Julia is just starting to take a real interest in coloring. She has a little trouble knowing how to hold the crayon or marker but she's getting the idea. She has a couple different colors and makes a point of rotating through her selection as she's coloring.

10. As you can see in some of the pictures, Julia finally has enough hair for barrettes! This has been especially exciting for Mommy, who had to wait over a year to start doing her little girl's hair. She looks so precious and grown-up with them in. We call them her "pretties" and she helps pick one out in the morning and put it away at night.

11. Julia got new shoes! She outgrew her old soft soled shoes, so we got her a new pair of soft soles to wear around the house. They have flowers on them, and Julia loves them very much. And for outside, in Hansen and Wessler family tradition, we took Julia to our local Stride Rite store and bought her first pair of sneakers. These shoes are also very well loved by Miss Julia. Ask her about her "new shoes" and much excited babbling will ensue.

12. And finally, I would be remiss in not mentioning some of Julia's favorite toys and pastimes. Perhaps the most beloved are her two free American Heart Association calendars. She loves for us to look at and talk about the pictures with her (about 20 times in a row). She continues to enjoy books in general. She also enjoys snuggling with all her pals in her big girl arm chair (that she can now get into herself thanks to the ottoman). And for some reason she is obsessed with her pals (or us) kissing her feet. She will hand us a stuffed animal and then hold up her foot to be kissed. She also loves to play ball and still spends a lot of handing us books, toys, pictures, coupons, etc. and then taking them back. We did get her some new big girl toys, including a little kitchen, a shape sorter, and a ride-on horse, all of which she enjoys playing with. And she has developed a new love for driving her doll stroller around. What's hilarious is that she will push it around the house, but when she's done with it, she will pick it up and carry it back to where it goes (rather than pushing it back).