Loving this stage

The past few months I have really been enjoying Hannah.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved each stage so far but I think where she’s at right now is particularly fun.  She learned how to walk just before she turned 16 months and ever since I’ve felt like she’s no longer a baby but a toddler and I love it.  Her personality is so present and she’s learning so much and she does the cutest things. 

Ever since she’s learned to walk she LOVES to walk around the house.  I’m so surprised she hasn’t gotten bored with that game yet but she carries toys from one side of the house to the other then back again.  She’ll bring me toys and put things away.  I’m not sure how she picked up on this but Jonathan and I have a basket of shoes downstairs and Hannah has a separate basket and she knows which is which.  If I ask her to put her shoes away, she puts them in the correct basket.  She likes to go for walks outside so on her own she’ll bring me my shoes (they don’t always match) and then her shoes then she’ll go sit on the stairs so I can put them on her.  When we go on the walks, she’ll stop at the door frame or at the curb or anywhere there’s a “big step” and hold up her hand for help. 

She’s a great helper.  She understands so much and will help pick up toys or get books or put her clothes away.  Every time I sweep the floor, she wants to sit on the floor with a dust pan and do it just like I am.

 
Recently, she’s learned she can hold things under her chin.  Does she so this so she can carry more things?  Not sure but it’s really cute.  She’ll give Jonathan and I things to put under our chins too.  She tries to get a lot of stuff under then, then things fall but she just keeps trying.  I love that she never gets discouraged or embarrassed.  The other day she put a sticker under her chin and then was so confused when she lifted up her head and nothing fell out.

The other night we were putting Hannah to bed.  We were singing her a song and out of nowhere she started to conduct us.  She waved her right hand around while we sang.  Then, she put her hand down, the started up again with both hands. 

She’s discovered the trash can.  She loves to put stuff in there.  Only the one in the kitchen though with a lid that she has to lift up.  At first it was a problem because she would throw her toys, her silverware or my spatulas and Tupperware away.  Lately, we’ve been giving her things to throw away and that seems to satisfy her desire to put stuff in the trash.  We’ll give her pieces of mail, or food wrappers or things like that.  Then, yesterday I found her going into the bathroom, pulling off one square of toilet paper, then walking it to the trash.  Then, she would go back and get another piece of toilet paper and throw it away.  Oh the things that entertain her.

I bought the whole Baby Einstein series before she was born but turns out she’s not really into that.  Lately she’s taken to the show “Super Why” but mostly she loves to watch movies of people she knows.  This basically means home movies or videos I’ve made.  She knows she can watch them on the computer so whenever I”m on the computer she wants to sit in my chair and watch a movie.  Sometimes I’ll sit her in my chair and let her watch the movies by herself.  I’ll usually find her like this.

The dark is not something that scares Hannah.  Maybe this will come as she gets older.  Sometimes when I’m getting ready she’ll go into the little room where our toilet is in the bathroom and close the door and then talk to herself.  Maybe she likes the acoustics?  When I open the door to see if she wants to come out she smiles then closes the door again.

Speaking of talking to herself, she loves to talk.  She always has.  She feels like she’s part of the conversation.  She likes to talk on the phone too.  I’ll often see her pacing around the room with the phone to her ear chatting it up with herself. 

Everyday I’m amazed at how much she understands.  I’ll ask her questions like “where’s the pig?” and she’ll waddle off and a few moments later return with the pig that goes to the barn in hand.  Just after she turned one she learned a few signs but lately she’s been picking up more and more and so quickly.  She knows the following:  milk, water, more, all done, eat, cereal, sleep, help, please, thank you, and book.   She knows what a dog and monkey say.  She knows how to say bubble, baby, one, Dada, Mom, Oh wow, what’s that?, Papa, go, car, uh-oh, ball, hi, and bye.  She tries to repeat whatever we say but those are the words she has pretty solid.  She can find her belly, feet, hands, hair, bow, eyes, mouth, and teeth.  Her ears and nose are hit and miss.  When you ask her how old she is (in either English or Spanish) she’ll hold up one finger and say “one”.

She likes to hide behind a chair in the family room, especially when she’s mad at me.  Then she remembers it’s awesome to play peek-a-boo while hiding behind the chair because her whole body is hidden and she can run out from behind it and say “HI”.  This means she doesn’t stay mad at me for too long.

Hannah likes to do somersault but can’t do them on her own yet.  So, when she wants to do one, she’ll go into a downward dog position and wait for someone to flip her feet over.

She’s great at giving kisses and makes a “mu-ah” sound when she does it.  She kisses everything and loves to kiss pictures.  She looks out the window by the front door and waits for Dad to come home.  Whenever a door opens our alarm system says “Front Door Open” (or whatever door it is).  When she hears that she runs to the door to greet whomever it is.  When someone leaves the house or even room she gets sad and runs after them.  She says “hi” and “bye” all the time and waves while she says it.

I could go on for pages about all the things I love about Hannah.  I am LOVING this stage.  She wants to make us happy and she’s so easily entertained and distracted.  She finds joy in the simplest of things.  No matter how many times she falls she never gets discouraged.  I’m so happy she’s part of our family.  And I’m so happy we’ll be adding another little one to our group next spring.  That’s right…Hannah’s going to be a