16 Months

L turned 16 months old on November 2nd.  There haven't been any big changes since her 15 month update, but lots of little things.  In particular, she is becoming much more coordinated in the gross motor area and is growing bolder in terms of climbing on things and trying new things.  This is most apparent at the kiddie gym class we attend every Thursday morning.  She is exploring much more and falling down much less!  She is also consistently climbing up and sliding down our little slide completely independently now, whereas she wanted me to hold her hands before.

 This is what else Miss L is up to at 16 months:

- She is still a good sleeper, and usually sleeps from about 7:30 - 7:30 every night.  She takes 1-2 naps a day, depending on our schedule.  Her naps range anywhere from 1-2 1/2 hours.  She would prefer to take one long nap in the middle of the day, but that doesn't work out well during the week because B gets off the Kindergarten bus at 1:00 and we have to be up at the bus stop to meet him.  Such is life!
- Her eating is getting pickier by the day.  She still likes a wide variety of food, but she is more particular about what she feels like having at each meal.  If I don't serve her something that she is in the mood for, she points at the fridge and whines!  If I don't give in and give her something else, she starts dropping the food on the floor for the dog to eat and does the sign for "all done".  And there is no way I can get away with serving the boys one thing and her another anymore; she wants what they're having.  That's a big problem, especially concerning B, because he is a horrible eater and I don't want her modeling his eating habits. 
- Her speech development continues to lag.  The only 'words' she says consistently are animal sounds.  The good news is that she is getting better at them.  They all sounded the same before, but she definitely has down a pretty good "woof", "baa" and "meow" now.  Pretty much every time she hears a dog bark, she says "woof".  She loves doggies!  I'm expecting that we will be referred for early intervention evaluation at her 18 month pediatrician appointment if she doesn't start picking up the pace in the speech area.  I'm really not worried though.  She understands nearly everything we say, follows directions, and is cognitively very sharp.
- We can tell she is getting taller because her reach is definitely growing!  We have to be careful what we leave on the edge of the kitchen table now.  She pulled B's milk cup over the other day, and she will pull down place mats (with dishes on them!), if we don't make sure they are far enough back from the edge.
- She loves to throw things in the trash can.  She will find the littlest bits of fuzz or whatever else on the floor and throw them in the trash.  She also likes to open up the kitchen cabinet where the pots and pans are and put little treasures inside the pots. 
- She is trying very hard to open the push pedal gate we that keeps her locked into the kitchen/family room area in the back of the house.  She stands with both feet on the pedal and bounces up and down.  Luckily, it requires 40 pounds of weight to open, so we have a way to go before she'll be successful!
- Books continue to be her number one love.  She absolutely loves just sitting and flipping through books, and she always brings me books to read to her.
- She can consistently identify her head, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, belly button, feet, and toes.  She also knows the difference between shoes and boots ;-).  She can identify many, many pictures in books.
- When I ask her to give me a hug, she squeezes my neck really tight and rubs the back of my neck/hair with her hands. 
- She loves to give Eskimo kisses!  I did it with her once, and she picked up on it right away.  If you say give me an Eskimo kiss she will start shaking her face from side to side.

I'd say we've made good progress in the attachment area in the last month, though we're not where we need to be yet.  Every time we have a great day where she really seems like a totally normally attached child, that is usually followed by a day (or two or three) where she is just totally disconnected from me.  The most difficult thing is that her behavior is all over the map.  Sometimes she wants absolutely nothing to do with anyone except me - she will bury her head in my shoulder and whimper if someone so much as approaches (even her brothers).  But other days, she barely acknowledges my existence and will go out of her way to seek attention from anyone BUT me.  Sometimes she will lunge out of my arms to go to a friend of ours and will whine when I try to take her back; other times, she won't let anyone else hold her but me.  And I just never know what kind of day it is going to be.

But we've made some definite progress:
- Now, when I sit on the floor with my arms open and ask her to come, the majority of the time she will come straight for me and give me a huge hug.  In the past, she would either turn and go the other way, or she would hesitantly walk toward me and then turn herself around and back herself up into my lap. 
- She used to be extremely uncomfortable if I tried to engage her (lean over her) when she was on her back (e.g., if she was getting her diaper changed or laying down on her back playing with a toy).  She would immediately start whining, turn her head away, and start contorting herself to get away.  Sometimes she would even scratch at my face.  She is now much more comfortable with that kind of contact and enjoys it the majority of the time.
- She used to freak out if I tried to hold her in a cradle position - she would thrash and scream.  She now lets me rock her in a cradle position before I put her down to bed and is completely content, and will often fall asleep like that. 
- She used to play completely independently for long periods of time without trying to engage me at all.  She now prefers me to play with her and constantly seeks out my attention by bringing me toys, coming up and hugging my legs, and of course whining like crazy ;-).
- One area where we are still struggling is with close eye contact when I am holding her.  If I ask her to look at me, she either ignores me; or she will turn her face toward me but will tilt her head backwards and squint her eyes so that she is looking at me, but not straight on; or she will lunge into me to kiss me or hug me to sort of sidestep the issue.  If I am not holding her, she makes great eye contact.  It is just the really close, intimate contact that is the issue. 

And that's 16 months in a nutshell!