At a year and a half, Lulu is showing signs of the typical toddler. One minute she is beaming with a smile from ear to ear, the next she is screaming/whining over the smallest things. While her vocabulary is ever growing and her comprehension of what we’re saying to her is amazing, she gets frustrated very easily when she can’t communicate what she wants to us.

apples to apples

She’s still a picky eater but we’ve noticed that she does at least have a willingness to at least try what we’re eating. She won’t eat pizza, but likes spicy pepperoni. She won’t eat a banana but likes banana bread. Picky eater or not, she is definitely growing and getting very heavy.

Still a great sleeper, loving Sesame Street (Elmo especially) & Blues Clues, taunts Spooky daily yelling “ME-OW!” as she chases him, loves watching videos on YouTube on the big computer with Mom, despite the cold weather enjoys being outdoors, loves Peek-a-Boo & Patty Cake and still enjoys her little sister. Occasionally a total menace, particularly when it comes to getting ready for bed (she’d rather run around nekkid then to put on a diaper and pajamas!).

Rose: 8 weeks old

Rosie is changing all the time these days! She is the chubby baby that Lulu never was, with meaty little legs and full, pinch-able cheeks! She’s a hefty little package to hold and will definitely wear your arm out if you hold her for a while. Her eyelashes are nice & long and she has a pale, pinkish complexion with dark hair.

chubby!

Lots of big smiles for mom & dad, coos and gurgles and even some occasional squeals. At night she’s still fluctuating between 3-6 hours of sleep at a time.

devilish gleam in her eye

We have been making the best of being stuck in the house for the winter, but we did manage to get some fresh air last week when it warmed up a little. Rose is slightly more demanding then Lulu ever was, but those big eyes and sweet smiles make up for it!

It’s not very often that I use Forrest’s massive D70 (it’s massive compared to my pocket-sized camera) but I’ve been trying to get used to it. Most pictures I take are out of focus; or a tiny button on Lulu’s shirt will be in focus instead of her face!

Here are some of the better photos I recently took outdoors while we went for a walk one afternoon. I know it was in the afternoon because she has an orange clown mouth from her lunch.

The coffee shop has a nice mellow atmosphere. It’s always nice and warm in there, the colors on the wall and the lighting is  soothing and usually the music is good.

Lulu gets her breakfast first.

sitting with Dad

Cute moment

She’s usually content for about an hour or so before she gets too squirmy or too tired. We usually head home for a nap, but she decided she needed to blow off some steam so we played on the floor for a while.

I was happy to see that she can pretty much sit up on her own. She’s learned to master the balance required when she starts to list to one side. And when she’s on the floor playing she loves to roll and she rolls from her back to her stomach to her back again. We can see that she’s starting to figure out how to kick her knee up for leverage and that when she pushes she actually moves. Crawling is definitely in our near future.

She loves grabbing for the camera.

when the thumb goes in the mouth she's starting to poop out.

losing steam fast.

she actually rolls away from me to get away from the camera. Plus I think her backside is cute.

Like a fed up actress she grabs the camera. It's time for bed.

Since both of her teeth have popped out she’s been in a much better mood (for the most part) and much less drooly. Her fingers are still constantly in her mouth and given access to her own devices she’ll try to chomp on my face if she gets close enough.

She’s also beginning to get a lot more active. Experimenting with lots of different noises at different volumes and using us as her personal jungle gym. She’s infatuated with her father’s facial hair, entwining her little fingers around clumps of hair and yanking as hard as she can. She even managed to fish-hook his nose the other day (oh, how I wish I had the camera out…).

I finally managed to get some pictures of the elusive chicklets and she now fits into her Ramones onesie which inspired me a chorus of  “Lulu is a Punk-Rocker” while getting her dressed. We’ve exposed her early to the joys of the Ramones, she has the lullaby versions of their songs that she listens to while she naps. The songs are cute but painfully slow compared to what they normally sound like!

Our little photo session went well, although she kept trying to reach up and grab the camera out of my hand.

We play a lot of music when we’re home and discovered that she tends to appreciate the booty-shakin’ music above everything else. (Umm, you have to truly appreciate how BAD this video is!)

Since we got her a walker, she loooooves to be in it! I think it provides a bit of independence for her and gives a new perspective of the world as well. She has also started eating solid food, well mushy rice cereal and fruit for now. At first she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but now that she’s into it a few weeks she’s getting used to the idea!

Some of these pictures were taken with my iPhone and have been uploaded to my Facebook page, but I haven’t posted them here yet.

Christmas morning she had lots of fun hanging out with her aunties while everyone opened presents. Lulu looked lovely with a bow on her head and a candy filled, plastic candy cane to play with!

All in all it was an enjoyable Christmas. While she may be too young to understand or even remember the holiday this year, we will remember this one with much fondness and look forward to the Christmas’ to come!