Meilani's Milestones: Hello 15 months!

Now that we are back in Fresno and settling into a new season and new routine, we are noticing a lot of changes or milestones Meilani is making. She is no longer our little baby. Now she is our sprinting, babbling, climbing toddler and we are into a new phase of parenting. I thought I would share a few of her recent milestones, especially for our loved ones far away who don't get to see her on a regular basis.

MEILANI IS:

-throwing a ball (That just happened on Saturday for the first time - much to Daddy's delight)

-climbing on chairs (especially in the kitchen where she sees Mama doing that to reach things on high shelves. Yes, they do parrot our every move.)

-talking a lot more (She copies words and beginning sounds and identifies many things like parts of the body, hot and cold, people like Grandma, Nana & Papa, Yes and NO with lips protruding.)

-negotiating stairs with no problem

-learning to feed herself with a spoon and fork (She usually gives up about halfway through a carton of yogurt and goes for the old hand dip but there is definite progress.)

-loving her baths (She is quite content to sit in there and play for hours - her favorite part? drinking the water - yech!)

-cleaning up after herself (She definitely has Daddy's genes. She especially likes sweeping the floor and mopping with a rag. The other day I caught her pouring water from her sippy cup onto the kitchen floor and then mopping it up with a bib. Go figure!)

-paging through books (She loves to find the animals in the pictures, especially dogs and cats. She always pauses to smell pages with flowers on them.)

-trying to long jump from a standing position (She puts her arms way back and sort of flops forward like Daddy taught her.)

-loving our pool (She definitely has no fear of water after a summer in the university pool with Daddy. She will jump off the side into my arms and has recently learn to blow bubbles - the first step of swimming.)