Ellie: 15 Months

Its hard to believe its already been 3 months since your First birthday. Time is definitely not slowing down. You are getting more and more fun everyday as you get braver exploring this world around you. You have also started to show a bit of an attitude about certain things which is both funny and exhausting! 15months to 2 is my favorite age. Your personality really starts to show and you just become this little person. This summer is going to be a blast!




Stats: 
22.5 lbs
32.5 inches tall
Teeth: 9 (5 top, 4 bottom)

Likes:
Playing with your shape sorter
Taking care of your baby dolls (kisses, feeding them bottles etc.)
Annoying your sister (hehe)
Being outside
Riding in your Cozy Coupe car
Jumping around in the back of Dad's truck

Dislikes:
When Mommy leaves
Falling/Crashing when exploring and climbing
Not being able to go outside
Being in the highchair to eat

Milestones/Firsts:
Walking and running
Saying "Ouch" - "Owww"
Waving bye on your own
Closed mouth kisses
First tantrum
First time in the pool

Words:
Dada
Mama
Owww
Dall - ball
And lots and lots of conversation we can't understand. ; )

Eating:
Eating has been hit or miss lately. She loves to snack but when it comes to eating a meal she doesn't like to sit still and eat for long. She goes through periods where she eats anything and everything and then days when she just doesn't eat much. She has whole milk 3 times a day still too. Her favorite foods are bananas, cinnamon toast, hot dog, grapes, blueberries, tomatoes, gerber crunchers, vanilla wafers.

Sleeping:
E is a great night sleeper. She goes to bed with usually no fuss around 7:45 and generally sleeps til about 7:30-7:45 the next morning. No complaints here! Her naps are a bit harder to pin down...she dropped to just 1 nap at around 10 months, bleh. And her naps only last about 1.5hrs. We are trying to figure out how to extend that because I can tell she needs a little more sleep during the day.

















We love you Ellie Belly...life is such a joy with you in it!

Mama, Mama, Mama!!

Molly's first word was Dada. She said it early and often. And she was so proud of being able to say it. For awhile Dada meant her Dad and me because she hadn't yet figured out how to say Mama. I couldn't wait to hear her say my new name, "Mama." She finally picked it up around 13 months old and it was so amazing to hear. I loved it. I could listen to her say it all day long. Mama, mama, mama.

When I returned from my short weekend trip to Vegas for a bachelorette party a couple weeks ago I couldn't wait to pick her up, give her a kiss and hear her say my name.

But then in the days to follow that simple little word would start to haunt me. It seems as though Molly picked up some severe separation anxiety with my being away. I also hear that around 18 months it really peaks as well as they begin to understand more. And whew, did it peak!

It was probably one of the most frustrating weeks of motherhood thus far. I couldn't leave the room, I could barely even step more than 2 feet away. Huge temper tantrums where thrown when I had to sit her down so I could use the restroom. (she was in the restroom with me!!) We had friends over and the entire time she wouldn't even play or let me have a conversation unless I was holding her. If I went inside to get a friend a drink it was an epic meltdown.

Then it started to affect sleep. It took me over an hour to get her down for a few nights and then she would wake up only 30 minutes later crying out, Mama, mama, mama! The only way we could get her to stay asleep was to have my husband go in and rock her back to sleep.

YIKES! I wanted to pull my hair out and scream!

This was a few weeks ago and it has calmed down a little bit but its not 100% better. She still needs more attention at bedtime, she still wants me in the room with her most of the time and if someone besides her Dad or I even approach her she starts to call for me - Mama, mama, mama!

I know its only a phase. I know it will pass. But man, its exhausting.

Anyone have any tips on how to handle this? Anybody else's little ones have extreme separation anxiety?

I want to be there for her, obviously, but I also want her to learn how to be independent. And be okay with me going to pee!