Rooney, 21 Months
Growth
- Height: 34.5 inches
- Weight: 28 pounds, 9 ounces
Rooney has gained two pounds and grown 1.5 inches in the past three months! I hear so many comments on how tall she is. I love it, but it has kept us on our toes because she can now reach things off our kitchen counters and also empty the top drawers on her dresser.
- Clothing size: 24 months – 4T (!!!)
- Shoe size: 6, 7 or 8 (!!!)
- Diaper size: 4
She can still fit into size 6 shoes, but now that it is cold out we have moved up to size 7 or 8 shoes so she can wear socks. I just bought her size 8 boots since I want them to fit her for the next four months. I often hear of kids who are a year older than her who are wearing the same size shoes :) She will likely be tall!
Her clothing size also ranges greatly - from 24 months (pajamas) all the way up to 4T (shirts)!
Eating
I say it every month, but Roo is a really great eater. We are continually really thankful for that! She tries almost everything we offer her. She even ate an entire large apple by herself last weekend! I know I sound like a broken record, so I wanted to share this text I got from her primary day care provider last week:
#proudmom
Roo's favorite foods right now:
- Blueberry muffins (we make these)
- Scrambled eggs with pineapple salsa
- Sausage
- Pasta
- Spaghetti
- Hot dogs (she picks them out of beanie weenie)
- Grapes
- Bananas
- Clementines
- Apples
- GoGo SqueeZ organic
Development
- Helping: Rooney loves to "help" with folding and switching laundry, pulling up her pants, putting on her shoes, taking off her coat and hat, vacuuming, baking/cooking, wiping down her high chair, emptying the dishwasher, turning off lights, shutting doors, putting on essential oils, etc. I think it is so sweet; sometimes I just have to get over myself and my fear of her making a mess or things taking longer since she also likes to unfold the laundry.
- Drawing: She loves drawing with any pens or crayons she can get her hands on. She also tries to trace her hand, and it's just so adorable.
- Caretaker: I think Rooney's favorite thing is to take care of her babies. She carries them around the house and even brings them in the car and to day care some days. She puts them in her high chair, feeds them, pats their back, rocks them to sleep, etc. I really hope she is as helpful when/if she has a little sibling.
- Imitation: Rooney repeats almost everything we say, including "oh gosh" and (oh my) "goodness." She also loves to look in the mirror and (pretend to) spray dry shampoo in her hair, just like her mom!
- Fear: She has started to show fear of loud noises, unfamiliar men and even her ladybug Pillow Pet. It makes us super sad when she gets scared!
- Toys: Her favorite toys right now are books, anything that makes music and babies. Next week I will be posting what's on her Christmas list.
Words
I love hearing her say new words! Especially when she doesn't think anyone is listening and she's just blabbing away while looking through her books or playing with her baby dolls.
Here are a few of my favorite things she says right now:
- I got you babe
- Pump'in (pumpkin)
- I you (I love you)
- Tane too (thank you)
- Pease (please)
- Are you mama? (where are you mama?)
- Aci (pacifier)
- Bus
- LMNOP
- Mahr (more)
- Yeah
- Cran (crayon)
- Wahr (water)
- Off
- K (OK)
- Olleyball (volleyball)
Health
- We all still get adjusted at the chiropractor every week. This week Dr. Tyler noticed that Rooney's neck glands were a little swollen, so even though we hadn't noticed any cold symptoms, we decided to put a mixture of olive oil and thieves essential oil on her feet before bedtime to fight anything off. (Separate post coming about how we use essential oils...would love to know what questions you have!)
- Teeth: 16!!! She got her four canines this past month. The only teeth left are her 2-year molars (praise the Lord).
Sleep
Bedtime: 6:30 pm
Some nights we would like to keep her up a while longer, but this seems to be the best for her nighttime sleeping (and we love that it gives us lots of couple-time too!).
Night sleep: 12-13.5 hours
Rooney is still a great sleeper! I'm starting to wonder though if she needs less sleep, since her naps and night sleep have shortened a little bit this month? Or, it could just be a result of teething, or Daylight Savings, too?! I'm not planning to make any changes yet but may need to do some research on this.
Waketime: 7:15-7:45 am
Right after the Daylight Savings Time switch, she was getting up early. It's back to 7:30ish now, which is great for our typical morning routine. Prior to DST it was sometimes 8:00-8:15 am, which is a little late for getting out the door on time.
Nap: 1-2.5 hours
She takes one nap a day (after lunch), although she fought it a couple times this past month. She does fine skipping naps, but her night sleep is usually less that night and then she is tired/crabby the following morning.
Social
I have started to schedule play dates on Wednesday mornings - with SAHMs I don't get to see enough or moms on maternity leave. :) We are both really enjoying it! Funnily enough, all the kids we've gone to see are also at her day care part-time right now, so she already knows them.
Parenting
It is amazing to think about how different our lives were one year ago. Rooney was more dependent (we were feeding her bottles and carrying her around) and much more quiet. I really forget how intensive those early months are until I read a blog of a new mom or talk to one of my friends who has a newborn. I can't even remember what it was like when she wasn't running around the house!
That's not to say parenting is easy these days. Parenting has been the hardest thing I have ever done. I am constantly wondering if I'm cut out for it. Every time I say "Let's change your diaper," she screams "NO!!!" She does the same thing when we have to leave somewhere where she's having fun (pushing the shopping cart at the store, for example). So those things are challenging us nowadays, but I have more perspective now and know that these things are phases and it won't always be this way.
To end on a more positive note: she makes us laugh all the time! Which makes her repeat what made us laugh, of course! Every night before we pray, Eric and I lay in bed and share with each other our favorite Rooney memory from that day. Eric will say he loves to hear her singing/babbling in the back seat of the van, and I'll talk about how I love when her pant legs get stuck up on her calves and show off her chubby ankles. Every day there are new stories. It's one of my favorite parts of my day!
