15 month update

Well, "baby Erin" (as we used to call her) isn't much of a baby anymore. She's 15 months now and growing up like crazy. When I started this blog, Mary Clare was 15 months old and it's amazing to see how alike and how different they are from each other. I looked back at some old posts and they seem to be basically developing the same - except that Erin walked several months earlier. I attribute that partly to her temperament, and partly to the fact that I left her alone to figure it out on her own more. She is much more independent than Mary Clare was at this age - or even at her current age! This afternoon, we were in the front yard and Erin started pointing around to the side yard (which leads to the play house, swing and slide). I told her, "No, you need to stay with mommy." Well, she waved bye-bye and took off trotting. So, I followed her and Mary Clare followed me. It was hot so I turned on a small sprinkler for them to play in. True to form - Mary Clare wouldn't go in the water unless she was properly attired (i.e., she wanted me to go in the house and get her bathing suit - which I didn't), and Erin ran around loving the water and even standing right under one of the sprays as it doused her while she screamed in delight. Erin is very verbal and talks alot - althought I rarely understand everything she says. She is also incredibly maternal. Nearly every night she takes one of her many dolls/animals and wraps it in a towel, then she takes the lotion off of the changing table and pretend to spread it on the doll - she even pretends to rub it in her hands to warm it! Then, she lays the doll on a diaper, and next finds pajamas for it. After its all wrapped up and warm, she sings "rock a bye baby" -- in baby talk - while she rocks her baby -- and then she hands it to me and motions for me to put the doll in her crib.

Speaking of her crib, thankfully she is also turning into a good sleeper -- pretty reliably sleeping through the night without waking up and easy to get to sleep. Naps are a piece of cake - as they were with Mary Clare. I take her upstairs, tell her its nap time, close the shutters, turn on her noise machine and lay her in her crib. She says, "bye bye" and waves to me - and lately gives me loud smacks of kisses. And that's it - off she goes. Bedtime is mostly the same except I try to read her some books b/c that's what the experts say to do!

She is such a sweet little girl and Mary Clare just adores her (as do Daddy and I). She trucks around the house with her baby stroller or riding the fire engine. She climbs onto absolutely everything - yesterday she actually climbed up onto our big bed -- she was hanging onto the foot board and pulled herself up! Well, no pictures tonight, but I wanted to memorialize baby Erin's growing up!