Our Growing Girl

Today we went to the doctor for Alaina's 15-month checkup. All in all, she's doing great. She's defined herself on the growth charts as tall and thin - surprise, surprise! (I wonder where she gets that? ha ha)

Lainy has been learning so much lately. I am amazed as I watch her play. What happened to my little tiny baby? Now she's a full-blown toddler, getting cuter every day.

To commemorate her 15 months of life, here are a few cute things she's doing now.
1. She raises her little hand and says "hi-eeee" in her cute little sing-song voice whenever she meets someone she likes, or when her dad comes home from school.
2. She mimmicks the sound of the following animals: dog, fish, lion, lamb, monkey, and sometimes cow.
3. She loves her daddy. She walks around the house looking for him and saying "da-eee" when he's gone.
4. Brad taught her to say "cool". Now she says it all the time. She walks around and points at things and says "cool".
5. She says "baby" when she sees a baby or when she holds a baby doll.
6. When she's tired she'll bring me a book to read, which virtually means "Put me to bed!"
7. She dances when she hears music. It's not just the head-banging anymore. She'll pick up the corners of her shirt/dress and sway back and forth, she'll hold onto the tv stand and lift her leg in a very impressive arabesque, or she'll bounce her knees and wave her arms. I don't know where she learned all of this! It must be inherent in all little girls.
8. When I pick her up when she's sad or upset, she'll pat and rub my back like I'm crying and need comforting too.
9. She likes to be looked at, but not touched by strangers. She'll smile and flirt shamelessly until someone tries to hold her, then she freaks out.
10. Her hair is growing! Now it can be put in pigtails and ponytails. Yay! (Okay, I'm much more excited about this than she is.)
11. She gives good kisses, complete with the smacking sound. She used to give these sweet, but drooley, open-mouth kisses. Now she'll pucker up and smack her lips when she gives kisses.
12. She's convinced she can talk. She jabbers in sentences, waits for my response, then keeps talking. It's really funny. Sometimes she looks at me like, "C'mon Mom! Don't you get it?"

It's fun to be the mom of such a cute little 15-month-old!