Janie is 19 months old!

Our little Janie sure is a cute little button at 19 months old, but this past month this adorable little girl has had her Mommy & Daddy pretty darn OVERWHELMED!  We really want to give her the benefit of the doubt and blame it on teething, or maybe allergies but there are not any clear signs for either.  You see, our little doll just is not a good sleeper!  She slept beautifully until she was around 4 month old and since then we really have not been able to establish any sort of routine that gets us any amount of quality sleep consistently. 

Months and months (of 3-6 hours of sleep nights) down the road we are REALLY tired, functioning at a reduced ability level. and quite frustrated about what options we have.  Kevin has tried stepping in at night (only I can't sleep through it), we have tried letting her cry it out, attempted to let her sleep with us and have been fiddling around with bedtimes. We have even looked into a sleep therapist for our little gal.  I have been talking with my doctor about my own fatigue, which she seems to think will get better if I can just get decent sleep, but most of the options include Kevin taking time off work (Ha!) or getting help from family, which we do not have close by.  And so we trudge on and try to keep in mind that it is just a stage, a long stage that will eventually end - hopefully before our sanity is entirely gone!

Janie has so many sweet aspects to her personality that we love, unfortunately when she is not well rested, she is not willing to share these traits with us as much.  Instead she whines, throws tantrums and is far less engaging.  She really has a devilish side that is very intrigued by anything we have asked her not to do and then is extremely persistent in doing it, despite our attempts at modifying her behavior.  I know that this stage is hard for a lot of parents, but it really feels aggravated by crankiness, hers and ours! 

With all the sleep problems we were really worried how our trip to Disneyland would go for Janie but were amazed that she managed to take naps in the stroller and pass out each night and get to sleep without hours of crying.  Her vacation sleep was far from perfect but miles from the catastrophe we were prepared for.  On the trip, she wore herself out each day and provided us with so many memorable moments of blissful delight.  She liked the characters, rides and spectacles and gave the sweetest little oohs and aahhs!  We were both surprised to see how much fun she did have on the trip.  Grandpa Zane gave each of the girls spending money for the trip.  We were not sure how we would let Janie pick things out, but she latched onto this baby Ariel and it was clearly one of her selections.  She's a girl that knows what she likes!

I can't talk about Janie and knowing what she likes without bringing up "Da Been-Key" or Binkie!  If she had her way, she would have it in her mouth all of the time.  We have tried to limit it to the crib or car, but her will is much stronger than ours on this particular issue!

Janie's book fascination was budding last month and now has taken off!  She LOVES to be read to and has her favorites that she likes over and over.  Goodnight Moon is the favorite at the moment!  She also loves songs and likes to be sung Rock-a-Bye Baby at night before bed.  She sings it sweetly to her babies as she puts them to bed. She also busts out Happy Birthday just about every day, too!

Janie seems to be a little sponge.  Instead of teaching her things directly like we often did with Clara, she takes so much in from just watching or even playing with certain toys.  She will sing her alphabet and count to ten, which we hadn't really introduced to her yet, but she hears Clara doing it. 

Both girls are really into art work and stickers lately.  We have our easel in the kitchen and they will stand at it and draw with markers or chalk.  Then cover any page with LOTS of stickers!  Our art is growing exponentially but it is super neat to see them feed of one creatively.   Lately I have noticed that Janie doesn't seem to have established a left or right handed preference.  She draws and eats with both.

Over the past month, Janie continues to be quite a talker, stringing together more and more words all the time and starting to add some describing words (little, big, colors) into her chatter.  She repeats a lot of what we say as well.  When she wants to get our attention she says things louder and louder so we often get a chuckle out of her It is pretty cute!

Janie still loves her milk and we are trying to switch over to entirely sippy cups but when we give her a bottle she'll drink more of it and sleep longer.  When you are a parent who is not getting sleep, you give in to these things way too easily!  Janie's eating preferences seem to dance around.  She loves fruit and cheese, but all other things seem to change daily.  She has improved with throwing food, and now just scoots it to the side and says, "I no like this!"  Some days I have broken down and made purees just to get some vegetables in her. 

As the weather improves, we have been spending more time outside and this is great because Janie loves to be outdoors.  She gets especially excited at any animal we see.  She is fearless and will chase after big dogs.  Most of the ones that live in our neighborhood are friendly!  On the playground she is also fearless about climbing high and going down big, steep slides.  We find ourselves chasing her through up equipment and through tubes quite often. 

Janie have a very tender and caring heart. She is concerned about others when they are upset and tries to provide comfort by sharing something with them or petting their head. She will always share her treats and loves feeding Mommy & Daddy. She likes to snuggle or rock and loves for Mommy to tickle her back, something Clara really doesn't seem to enjoy. Some times she squirms a little and I stop tickling for a second, but it isn't long before I hear "More, please!"  I remember these very same tickle sessions with my mom.  Now I enjoy tickling Janie almost as much as I like getting tickled!