Sixteen months!

Charlotte loves: buses (still!), trucks, balls, stuffed animals, her water table in the back yard, exploring, walking, her beloved box, books with animals, eating dinner with her family, and wrestling (with both of us, but mostly with her Dada).

Charlotte is good at: walking while carrying an object! Nodding "yes" and shaking her head "no", playing independently, opening and closing doors, pointing at people and objects, going up and down the stairs independently, taking things out and putting them back in. 

Charlotte does NOT like: eating breakfast immediately after getting up- she now prefers to play a bit first. 

Favorite foods: FRUIT! Chicken sausage, avocado, bread, oatmeal, and anything that can be dipped. Her favorite dips are ranch dressing and ketchup, but we can usually entice her to dip things into hummus, too. 

Words: baba (which, similar to last month, can mean ball, bus, bear, and bye- this is BY FAR her most commonly used word), momma, dada, Lala, baby, go, amen, IPad, hot, and "ahlayu" (which she whispers whenever we say "I love you")

Growth: Charlotte is 32 inches tall and weighs about 22 pounds. She wears mostly 18-24 month clothing (or 2T in pants!) and recently got new shoes in size 5. What a big girl! 

Animal sounds: cat, dog, horse, cow, duck, rooster (this one is hilarious!), pig, owl (so cute!!), and sometimes she'll do a sheep noise, too. 

Great things this month: One of my favorite things about Charlotte is her response when we tell her she's going to see someone (or someone is coming over): she gives this little excited gasp and puckers her lips into an "ohhhh" face. It's the cutest thing and I love it!

Also this month, Charlotte got two new molars (!!!!) and visited her grandparents and uncle Allen in Rhode Island. 

Parenting challenges: We assume Charlotte is getting her next two molars because bedtime has been a major struggle for the last two weeks. It's very difficult to know what will help and what will make things worse... We've tried infant acetaminophen, teething tablets, extra water, extra snuggles, back patting, rocking in the chair, snuggling, reading extra books, etc. We have gotten used to our girl being easy to put to bed and this season is getting tiresome, for all of us. 

Another challenge lately is how to discipline Charlotte well when she is openly defiant. We try to acknowledge that a lot of her behavior is experimental and playful (like hitting!) but we think it's important to note that she is also disobeying because she understands the word NO and often does the offensive behavior again after being corrected. It's very important to us that she obeys the first time and is respectful of her parents and others; it is just a challenge to balance that with recognizing her age and developmental level. 

Overall, what a joyful month this has been. We love being Charlotte's parents and we love seeing her grow!