15 Months

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is already 15 months!!! I am so blessed that I get to stay home with her.. I've literally gotten to witness ALL of her firsts... first roll, crawl, tooth, steps etc.  And while each month, she would learn a "new trick"... the most drastic change has occurred ever since she turned 1!!  In fact, I would say she's like a different child!

• At music class, most kids sit on their mom's laps and are too shy to join in...but Miss Maree?  She will go barreling toward ANY mom, kid, or even the teacher.  She's always the ONLY child who seems to be very aggressive/fearless - she dives (literally) into everything & does everything at full speed -  She tries to run instead of walk and often face plants.. I can't believe we haven't had more injuries!!

• She smiles/loves to flirt with men - it's also about the only way I can ever get a smile on camera... is if a man is standing behind me

• She loves to do push-ups on daddy... as soon as he starts doing push-ups, she runs to him, straddles him, and acts like she's riding a horse as he continues the pushups! 

• She says and knows who Daddy is.. but it is more funny to see what she associates with him.  She will often pick up the tv remote and say "daddY"  or she will see a picture of him and she will point to him and say it.  So sweet

• If I ask her where the baby is, she comes running over to my stomach and puts her finger in my belly button

• She has learned to go down the stairs! We have no stairs in AZ, so I was worried about this in Pella - but she has figured it out!  It is very funny, she will lay down on her stomach a good 3 feet BEFORE the the stairs even start & push herself to the stairs just to make sure she is good and ready to go down them.  This was a great game going up and down the stairs.. exhausting to us!!  When we returned to our stair free home, I was shocked to see her laying on her belly pushing back.. until I realized that our 3" drop down between the house and the garage warranted her "stair" method... so funny.

• She's trying really hard to say words - ... but knows what a lot of them mean even though she can't say them... like "drink, bottle, baby,  wanna go bye bye?, bath, nose etc." - the best is saying "Can you dance?" & she will try so hard to twist her body back in forth.. no idea where she learned this dance move!

• Words she CAN say:  
•  She loves to say "weeee" when you push her on her little riding toy
• daddY (emphasis on the 'e' sound at the end)
• Whoa, or oooo - I obviously say these things to her a lot, because this is almost always her reaction to something new & she says it with the same voice inflection that I do
• her personal favorite is "Uh, Oh!" - she will often say these words, and then throw something on the floor.. like she's giving a warning haha
• Duck sounds more like "duh"
• Sometimes we can get her to hold her finger up and say "one" - she loves to mimic us & touch pointer fingers
• Night, Night sounds more like nigh, nigh... but when I say it she usually repeats it in a distressed tone because she's so tired!!
• And the latest I think I've figured it out... we went home for Christmas and saw Nana and Grumpa Poortinga... it kept sounding like she was saying a cross between "nana and night, night" - since we have returned home it has turned in to "nah, nah" but she says it when she wants ME!  I'm thinking that maybe "nah, nah"... is my baby girl's way of trying to say mama!????

I could go on and on, but don't want to forget some of these memories!  Here are a few 14 month photos

One of my favorite pictures!

So modest!

Her serious face

Loves the park

Daddy dropped 8 beer bottles on his bare foot/toe & it had to be drained...
Maree got her foot stuck under a lamp base that she pushed over

Poor girl had RSV & an ear infection...