What's New with Nadia

Nadia has started to show us that she wants to hold her sippy cup herself. That is fine with us, if she will actually drink milk while holding it. Generally she wants to play with it or bites the spout instead of drinking from it. Unfortunately this leads to tears when we take it away from her because she's not using it properly. I know it's something she needs to learn to do herself, and she's certainly old enough to be able to hold it and drink from it. On the other hand, the initiative to have her try feeding herself with a spoon came from me. So far I've only let her try feeding herself with a spoon when she's eating oatmeal for breakfast. Again, she seems to view the spoon as something to play with more than something to eat with. Maybe I should wait a bit longer before we work on teaching her to feed herself? She feeds herself with her fingers all the time. Well if anyone has any tips to share regarding teaching a child to use a sippy cup herself and/or feed herself with a spoon, I am all ears!

Nadia hasn't gotten any new teeth lately. Should I be concerned that she still only has 3 on the bottom in the front? She has her 4 top teeth and has 4 molars. The 4 on the top came in 2 at a time, as did the first 2 on the bottom. She's had those 7 front teeth for 4 months, and I am starting to wonder if the 4th front tooth on the bottom is ever going to come in.

Her vocabulary is growing on a daily basis. It's getting hard to keep track of all her new words. A few recent additions include "ice," "house," and "no." I was impressed with her use of "house" as she said it (totally of her own initiative) as we were driving into the garage. It's so easy to impress one's Mommy, isn't it? She hasn't used the word "no" in a defiant manner, yet. So far she just says it very nicely in response to a question like "do you want some banana?" I am sure the day will come when she won't say it nicely and/or will say it in defiance, but we haven't had it happen yet. I am still amazed that she said the word "yes" for about 4 months before she said "no."

She's really into her stuffed animals these days. When Paul or I are sitting in the glider in her room, she brings us her big stuffed animals (dog and Minnie Mouse) and then says "up." Let me tell you my lap gets pretty full with a pregnant belly, 15 month old, and two large stuffed animals! It doesn't matter if the stuffed animal is bigger than she is, she still finds a way to carry it around.

Today she's wearing her sneakers (see top photo). I

think even her sneakers are so cute. I just love infant and toddler clothes and shoes! The sneakers have pink and purple stripes so they match her outfit perfectly, not that I am buying different shoes for each of her outfits, lol! She has 3 pairs that fit her - black patent shoes for Sundays, sneakers, and the brown shoes that she wears the most often. Although the turtlenecks from Target didn't fit her, thankfully the 2 I bought a LONG time ago at JCPenney do fit over her head. The sweatpants and turtleneck she's wearing today cost me a grand total of $2.40 because I bought them so long ago on clearance.

I recently bought her a small comb and brush. She's not crazy about having her hair combed when it's tangled in the back, but she loves having it brushed, and of course she enjoys using the brush herself as well.


Nadia really loves giving Mommy and Daddy "eskimo" kisses these days (with our noses). She also loves to play with my earrings. We are working on the concept of "gentle," which will come in handy when brother arrives.