Brooke is officially eighteen months today and because I can't think of a cohesive way to do this, I'm just going to share some of what she's doing right now.
Eating - While I cannot complain about her palate, she is no longer a human garbage disposal. She's a little more particular about what she's eating, but I can't really find a rhyme or reason for it. One day she spits out avocado, and the next day she'll eat half of one in one sititng. I'm sure it's all part of becoming her own person. Like her momma, she's not a huge fan of meat and would probably be happy to eat only carbs all day. She's still working on using a fork and spoon and is the first to lead the table in a toast ("Cheewrs!").
Gross Motor - She's officially a walker and falling is usually reserved for when she's getting tired. She also likes to spin in a circle on one leg when she's tired. This may make us bad parents, but we encourage it. It's really funny to watch. I think that with the walking, her confidence in herself has increased. She's willing to try more on her own, as long as we're close by. She likes throwing balls of all sizes, swinging ("weee") and sliding ("sli").
Fine Motor - She's been more and more interested in art lately. She did a little painting at Tim and Krissi's and likes coloring with crayons here at home. She has a nice pincher grasp, much to her OT mommy's delight. She can stack 2" blocks and works on a large pegboard (more pulling out than putting in). She still needs a little guidance with puzzles and shape sorters. I'll write some short-term goals for that.
Sleeping - She's still napping twice a day, with one nap around an hour and the other closer to 2 hours. I'm in no hurry for her to give one of those up. When we're home at night, she goes to bed around 7. If we're out she can last until around 8 being relatively happy, but then look out! She wakes up around 7, happy and chatty unless she isn't feeling well or was woken up. Sister does NOT appreciate her sleep interrupted. I think the most common reason for her waking up is a poopy diaper. Not sure how that's going to work when potty training time comes around. She usually makes a sucking motion with her mouth and plays with the sheet on her bed between her fingers as she falls asleep. No blankie or thumb sucking for her. Her Glo-worm seahorse travels with us to make new beds more familiar.
Talking - She's a pretty chatty girl. Brooke has well over 50 words and many of them are intelligible even without a mommy or daddy translator. She uses please ("pees") and thank you ("taint oo"), although not always entirely appropriately. She's getting to the point where she has words for things that I haven't quite figured out yet. She loves to sing (and be sung to). I think that's a Timmerman trait. "Happy Birthday," "ABC's," and "Twinkle, Twinkle" are old favorites. Some new ones are the My Gym Hello and Goodbye songs, the "Three Little Fishies" song (she says "choo" after the "did-em-dad-em-wad-em" part; you're not missing much if you don't know what I'm talking about) and "Pop Goes the Weasel" ("pop!...weasow"). She'll also go off on these babbling tangents as evidenced by the video below. We're not sure if she thinks she's saying something or if she's just imitating what we sound like to her. Either way, it's pretty stinking cute and happens a lot.
Friends - Brooke does an okay job around other kids. She's not the best at sharing and will yell "shawe!" when she doesn't want to share what she's playing with. She tends to be dramatic (nothing new there) when playing with kids who are rougher than her. She does better around kids who are a little older than her. I'm going to say that Haley ("Hayey") and Lexi ("Letsi") are her best friends because they're the friends that she asks for when they aren't in sight. She's more of a girls' girl, but she loves her uncles and grandpas.
Miscellaneous - She loves books and adores Ozzie. She likes to take baths and use her toothbrush (she has 2 molars in and the other 2 poking through, along with at least 8 teeth - I got tired of trying to keep her mouth open to count). Brooke can play by herself for about 10 minutes, but likes to know someone is nearby. She loves t.v. ("teev") and asks for it as soon as she wakes up. Go ahead, judge me. In my defense, she only watches about an hour of it per day...unless I need to get the house ready for a showing. We mostly watch Sprout or YouTube Veggietales videos. While she's generally pretty easygoing, Brooke definitely has a defiant streak. This tends to happen most often when I'm around and she wants me but someone else is trying to hold her or do something with her. She getting more fun everyday, but I can also see how our roles as parents are only going to get harder. I am super weak-willed so I'm sure that consistent discipline will be a challenge.
I say this every time I do an update, but we're so incredibly blessed that God has put her in our lives and can only pray to point her toward Him and not screw her up too badly.
Eating - While I cannot complain about her palate, she is no longer a human garbage disposal. She's a little more particular about what she's eating, but I can't really find a rhyme or reason for it. One day she spits out avocado, and the next day she'll eat half of one in one sititng. I'm sure it's all part of becoming her own person. Like her momma, she's not a huge fan of meat and would probably be happy to eat only carbs all day. She's still working on using a fork and spoon and is the first to lead the table in a toast ("Cheewrs!").
Gross Motor - She's officially a walker and falling is usually reserved for when she's getting tired. She also likes to spin in a circle on one leg when she's tired. This may make us bad parents, but we encourage it. It's really funny to watch. I think that with the walking, her confidence in herself has increased. She's willing to try more on her own, as long as we're close by. She likes throwing balls of all sizes, swinging ("weee") and sliding ("sli").
Fine Motor - She's been more and more interested in art lately. She did a little painting at Tim and Krissi's and likes coloring with crayons here at home. She has a nice pincher grasp, much to her OT mommy's delight. She can stack 2" blocks and works on a large pegboard (more pulling out than putting in). She still needs a little guidance with puzzles and shape sorters. I'll write some short-term goals for that.
Sleeping - She's still napping twice a day, with one nap around an hour and the other closer to 2 hours. I'm in no hurry for her to give one of those up. When we're home at night, she goes to bed around 7. If we're out she can last until around 8 being relatively happy, but then look out! She wakes up around 7, happy and chatty unless she isn't feeling well or was woken up. Sister does NOT appreciate her sleep interrupted. I think the most common reason for her waking up is a poopy diaper. Not sure how that's going to work when potty training time comes around. She usually makes a sucking motion with her mouth and plays with the sheet on her bed between her fingers as she falls asleep. No blankie or thumb sucking for her. Her Glo-worm seahorse travels with us to make new beds more familiar.
Talking - She's a pretty chatty girl. Brooke has well over 50 words and many of them are intelligible even without a mommy or daddy translator. She uses please ("pees") and thank you ("taint oo"), although not always entirely appropriately. She's getting to the point where she has words for things that I haven't quite figured out yet. She loves to sing (and be sung to). I think that's a Timmerman trait. "Happy Birthday," "ABC's," and "Twinkle, Twinkle" are old favorites. Some new ones are the My Gym Hello and Goodbye songs, the "Three Little Fishies" song (she says "choo" after the "did-em-dad-em-wad-em" part; you're not missing much if you don't know what I'm talking about) and "Pop Goes the Weasel" ("pop!...weasow"). She'll also go off on these babbling tangents as evidenced by the video below. We're not sure if she thinks she's saying something or if she's just imitating what we sound like to her. Either way, it's pretty stinking cute and happens a lot.
Miscellaneous - She loves books and adores Ozzie. She likes to take baths and use her toothbrush (she has 2 molars in and the other 2 poking through, along with at least 8 teeth - I got tired of trying to keep her mouth open to count). Brooke can play by herself for about 10 minutes, but likes to know someone is nearby. She loves t.v. ("teev") and asks for it as soon as she wakes up. Go ahead, judge me. In my defense, she only watches about an hour of it per day...unless I need to get the house ready for a showing. We mostly watch Sprout or YouTube Veggietales videos. While she's generally pretty easygoing, Brooke definitely has a defiant streak. This tends to happen most often when I'm around and she wants me but someone else is trying to hold her or do something with her. She getting more fun everyday, but I can also see how our roles as parents are only going to get harder. I am super weak-willed so I'm sure that consistent discipline will be a challenge.
I say this every time I do an update, but we're so incredibly blessed that God has put her in our lives and can only pray to point her toward Him and not screw her up too badly.
