Josie: 15 Months

That's right, 15 months already. Our baby is starting to become a toddler. A very bold and fearless toddler. She recently took a tumble either down our stairs or through the railing to the bottom of the stairs. Unfortunately, neither of us saw her although we were each within 15 feet of her. We both heard a loud bang that sounded like a chair falling over, then she started crying and when Jake got to her she was laying at the bottom of the stairs. She cried for about 2 minutes then pushed away and wanted to crawl up the stairs. We were both petrified that she had broken something, had a concussion or internal bleeding. But she honestly walked away without even a scratch.

A couple days later, she was behind me in the driveway (easily 4 feet behind me) and I closed the car door. She sprinted then thrust her hand in the door. I totally panicked. She was crying and Sophie was crying because I freaked out so bad. All I could picture were little finger tips falling to the ground as I opened the door. Thankfully, it seemed as though she didn't get them in to the seal as there wasn't even a dent on her fingers.

She falls and bashes her head on any number of surfaces everyday. The day before her doctors appointment, she fell and hit her head on the concrete while we were getting ice cream. Of course she had a huge scrape, goose-egg and bruise on her head for her appointment the next day. Thankfully our doctor is very understanding and let us know that hopefully her boldness will calm down once she begins talking more (now that I type that, I think he was just trying to pacify me as I was beside myself with the amount of stress that she has been causing us).

Here's her physical update from the above mentioned doctors appointment. She weighs 24 lbs 4 oz and is 31 inches long. She is in the 95th percentile for head size (big brain the doctor says) and 75th for height and weight. She got two shots and hated them. Sophie seemed to forget about her shots right away but Josie was tugging at her leg and crying almost all day. Then, insult to injury, we had to take her in the next day to get blood drawn for a state mandated lead screening. Thank goodness the nurses were quick and right on in finding a vein. Still she didn't care for it one bit and started crying before they even poked her with the needle.

She is starting to talk more and adds a word or two every day. She bellows most of the day but here's a list of things she says regularly.

Hi
Bye Bye
Byyyye
Bye Bye Daddy
Mama (her most recent attention getting trick is to yell "MAMA, MAMA, MAMA, MAMA..." until you finally pay attention to her. Once you answer her question and return to whatever you were doing (eating, cleaning, folding laundry) she starts the shout all over again).
Daddy
PopPop
Up
Uh Oh
Nigh Nigh
Woof (sound for a dog)
Roar (sound for a bear and apparently an owl)
Apple
nana
Ball
ugh (which means "yes")
Owww
mwah (kisses) She'll also blow you a kiss
aaachooo (fake sneeze)
Thank you (although, it's nothing that clear, I just can't think of how to type it)
aah duh (all done)
bah bah bah (chicken sound)
cack cack cack (duck sound)
dutt (duck)
she tries to make a pig sound but it just sounds like she is about to spit on you

She seems to be a very passionate girl. She loves snuggles, kisses, drinking her bottle on your lap, reading books on your lap, reading books with her sister, swimming, chasing her sister down the hall, laying in bed with her sister, shouting with her sister, shouting at us, shouting at the animals.