16 months

Matti just went for her 15 month doctors appointment and is 16 1/2 months. We got a little behind when she was sick for her one year and that appointment was in January. Matti did well at her appointment. She is 24 1/2 pounds and 31 1/2 inches long. She is 70% for her age group. I thought she seemed short, but she is actually a little above the average height for her age group.
Matti has changed so much over the past few weeks. She seems to be talking more. Some words we can understand and some words are a bunch of baby gibberish. We are beginning the frustration part of toddlerhood and trying to figure out what she wants by her pointing and jabbering. She is still signing, but she only knows a few signs. I know when she wants to eat, needs more, wants us to do somethings again, and there a few more signs she does not use often, but I still sign with her.
She has been saying bubble, ooose (shoes), duice (juice), pee (for pee), nanna (Banana and Nana), apple, happy, nose, poo (Poop) and a handful of other words. She can name several animals (Cow, dog, pig, horse, and cat) and make the animal noises. She has little toy animals in her bath tub and we talk to her about each animal every night and the noises they make. She is doing a great job with that.
I often take Mattison to the bathroom with me to teach her where the potty is and having been repeatedly telling her about bathroom procedure. Matti started to recognize when she is about to poop just last night. She was sitting in her highchair and looked at me and said "poo" and then looked down at her diaper. I did not think much about it. I cleaned her up and put her in the floor with no sign of poop. Within a few minutes she came back around the corner and she had pooped. I was shocked and so happy for her. We clapped and made a big deal of it so she will keep this up.
Our night time routine is still going great. She gets dinner, bath, dressed, and then I read her a book, which has now turned in to three books before bed. She seems very interested in me reading to her and sits calmly while I read. She likes to turn the page when it is time. Sometimes she tries to read to me. She will open the book and start talking baby gibberish like she is reading. It is so cute. I have yet to get this on video. She will also point at different pictures in the books wanting me to tell her what the picture is. I have really enjoyed looking at books with her and repeating over and over the names of the pictures. It is finally starting to sink in.
Matti will have a mouth full of teeth by the time we go to the beach. She has two molars and several other teeth already through on one side top and bottom and swollen gums on the other side top and bottom. We had are first night up with her (in a long time) Monday night. She woke of screaming and crying and it took a diaper change, Tylenol, and a lot of cuddling to get her to go back to bed. I know her teeth have really been bothering her. Hopefully we will be finished teething soon.
She is still following simple commands. She really likes helping me around the house and she will help me clean up her room after playing. She tries really hard to put everything back where she found it. She will dust, help with laundry, wants to vacuum, etc. whatever I am doing she wants to help.
She can also put on and take off her shoes. She tries to put on her sock herself, but still has not mastered that as of yet.
Just over the past few weeks Matti's world has really changed. I feel she sees it in a whole new way. She seems to be grasping every day life better than before. It just all seems to click for her now.
I have several videos to post. Hope you enjoy.

This first video Matti had been outside playing in sand and water. I striped her down and let her run around in her diaper. She decided she was tired and grabbed her blanket and was trying to find a spot to take a nap. You will see her point to me and hear her say night-night.


This is Matti's favorite word to say. She says it constantly. I used to keep her bubbles in the pantry and now everyday we come home she goes to the pantry and pats on the door saying "bubble".


Here is a couple of videos of Matti dancing around. I could not stop laughing at her. The first video her daddy gets up and you will see her walk over to the chair that Matthew usually sits in and she points for him to sit back down.

Adventures of Toddlerhood

Matti has changed so much over the past couple of weeks. She has really started to follow simple tasks. She will throw things in the trash if I ask her to. She will get a book or toy if asked. She will get shoes or put them up when asked. These are just few tasks she will follow. It is very cute and is actually helpful to me and entertaining to her. Matthew and I make sure we say please and thank you when asking her to do these tasks and clap for her reward. This seems to make her understand that she is doing something that is positive and you can tell she is very proud of herself.
Matti has to be one of the sweetest children ever. She always gives kiss and hugs to EVERYONE. She is very dramatic when she gives kisses. She makes the ummmm ma sound when she puckers up. She hugs and kisses Matthew before we leave for school each morning and loves on him when he comes home at night. When we leave school in the afternoon she walks over to her jacket and then over to the teacher to get her report card of the day. Once she gets that piece of paper she starts blowing kisses to the teacher and the other kids in the class.
She is also very excitable. She gets so excited over things. She squeals, bounces, claps her hands, and gasps. Grandma Marion and Nana Bonnie went with me to pick Matti up from Daycare last Friday and Matti almost jumped out of her high chair when she saw their faces. She was ecstatic. She went straight to Nana Bonnie and was grinning from ear to ear.
She is also likes to get books and get up in our laps to look at them and snuggle. She is starting to sit with us for longer and longer periods of time now. She still only looks at the pages and sometimes she will get my finger and point to things in the book with my finger as if she were teaching me and I will name different pictures for her. She also babbles a lot while looking at the book. I sometimes think she might be imitating reading-not real sure about that one. Although part of night time routine now is looking and reading a book so you never know what they pick up on.
Separation anxiety is finally getting less now. When I drop her off at school she no longer cries. She usually goes directly to the other children and starts playing with them. She doesn't even look back for me anymore. This has made it easier on me in the mornings because I know she is having a great time at school with the other children. She is very outgoing and is not one bit shy. Matti is definitely a child that will need a sibling. She really enjoys being around other children and seems to miss it on the weekends when she is at home with Matthew and I. She acts like she is bored.
Yesterday Matti started putting a lot of syllables together which sounds like long sentences in a foreign language. When she first did this I immediately cracked up because it came out of nowhere and she was directing the gibber towards me like she wanted to have a conversation so I just started talking back. She went on and on with this foreign sounding language and her face was just so serious. I am not sure if she is getting ready to reach a milestone in her vocabulary, but she has been up and down the past two nights just talking to herself in this crazy baby babble each night. She usually sleeps soundly through the night and we normally do not hear a peep out of her until she is ready to get up.
Matti is still having tantrums when she does not get what she wants, but I have found if I can get her interested in something else immediately she stops crying and fussing immediately. If she is just having a tantrum because she cannot reach something she is not supposed to have ignoring the tantrum she is having gets her to figure out it is time to move on. I feel horrible when I ignore her frustration, but sometimes I only make it worse for her when I tell her she cannot have the item. I am trying different approaches with the tantrums to see what works the best for us in getting her to understand I know she is frustrated and everyone gets upset, but that just how things are.
Matti seems to be having a lot of problems with molars right now. She has not had a solid bowel movement for two weeks. It is not bad diarrhea it is just a little loose. She also exhibits some mouth pain and every now and then feel a little feverish. Her gums are so swollen and red she should have several teeth over the next few months. Right now she still only has her two front teeth and two lower teeth. She has one tooth coming in beside the top right and one molar that is partial through. It seems like her teeth take forever to come in. I will feel better about her eating once those teeth are through. It will probably make her feel better as well.
I had some cute videos to post, but accidentally delete my favorite of her putting items in the garbage and I have one of her in the backyard with the bubble machine that I need to download. I should have those up in the next few days.