16 Facts about Nadia

In light of Nadia recently turning 16 months old, here are 16 facts about our sweet little girl.

1. She loves to give hugs and usually says "awwww" while giving them - whether she's hugging a person or a stuffed animal. I love getting many hugs a day from my cutie pie!!!

2. Her attention span for reading books has drastically increased. This wasn't the case at Grandma's house this weekend since there were so many "new" toys and people around (and a cat), but when she's at home she loves to read books. Generally we identify various objects, shapes, and colors rather than reading the text. There are some books she likes to have read over and over, but thankfully she doesn't mind if we ask to switch to a different one after reading that one 2-3 times.

3. She loves to play outside. She'd spend many hours outside every day if the weather and her Mommy permitted that to happen.

4. She's constantly saying new words. She talks the most when she's with me. The words she uses the most often are "mama," "up," "yes,""no," and "out."

5. Her newest animal sound is "baa." She also makes the sounds for a dog, cat, and cow. She also makes an attempt to "roar" when she sees a picture of a tiger.

6. She doesn't mind walking over anything with bare feet. She walked on Legos several times at Grandma's house for example. She doesn't seem to find it uncomfortable although Paul and I wince at times.

7. She turns just about anything into a chair. Several times a day she'll sit on a basketball or a toy such as her shape sorter that looks like a cookie jar.

8. If she had to eat only one food all day long, she would definitely pick Cheese Nips (or Goldfish or some other cheese cracker).

9. Her taste buds seem to resemble mine more than Paul's. For example, she loves ice cream, grapes, and ketchup on her fries, whereas Paul doesn't like any of those.

10. Her attention span for watching something other than VeggieTales on tv has also increased lately. I am relieved as I was getting weary of watching 30 minutes of VeggieTale silly songs each day. Some days we watch something on PBS instead (such as Curious George or Sesame Street). Although my original goal was to not let her watch ANY tv at this age, I have changed my goal to no more than 30 minutes a day.

11. She's getting better about not putting everything in her mouth although I still have to say "no eat" from time to time in reference to a rock she's found outside or a piece of junk mail she's ripped up. Now when it comes to food, she definitely thinks food found on the floor is edible. I try to sweep the kitchen floor every day, but she still manages to eat a piece of cereal or a cracker she found on the floor from time to time.

12. She can identify many body parts - toes, nose, ears, eyes, etc. Her favorite body part by far is the belly button. She loves finding hers, mine, and Paul's.

13. She's a good eater. I have been negligent in feeding her veggies the past few months. Hopefully it won't be a problem when I start reintroducing those into her daily diet. Paul feeds her dinner on Thursday nights and breakfast on Saturday mornings. For some reason, she usually gives him a hard time. Is it common for toddlers to eat better for Mommy than Daddy?

14. She still loves climbing - whether it's up the slide or climbing up into a chair.

15. She still loves music and is much happier when I play one of her CD's rather than when I listen to the radio. She has the sweetest singing voice. :-)

16. She's been doing better lately in terms of obeying me. Of course she doesn't always listen when I tell her "no," but I have to say most of the time she does follow my instructions.