16 Months!

I don't do a lot of the monthly check-ins with milestone updates but since she's asleep I thought I might as well give it a whirl!

Jessica MacKenzie Smith - June 18th 2011 - 16 months old.

 Current aliases: Jessa, Jessie, Jessabear, The Bear. 

Weight: 22.4lbs

Height: hmm this is going to require some skill from the parents to work out later.

Hair Colour: Strawberry Blonde

Eye Colour: Almost brown but still hazel

Every single day this little girl develops more of her own personality. She's demonstrating both Daddy's stubbornness and hints of Mommy's ocd. If you peel the wrapper a fraction of an inch too far down her string cheese stick she flies into a rage. At times adorable... other times, not so much. If you take the Babybel cheese entirely out of the red wax casing she will refuse to eat the cheese point blank. She's also showing her relation to G'ma Tina. If you try to help her by doing something for her rather than by showing her, she gets fussy. (heheh I love you Mom!)

On the other hand she's really communicating now. I'm so glad we decided to teach her a few signs and even happier that she took to them so well. She doesn't say much yet but she uses her signs all the time. Her most frequently used signs are; Eat, More, and Help. I have to say- there's nothing more mind blowing than when she combines them into compound thoughts! 

Even though she's not speaking as such yet, she does know a few words. She has finally started using Momma and Dadda with direction. It's rare that she'll call me Dadda anymore. Hi and Hiya she has mastered and when LeeLoo (the cat) jumped into bed this morning, she very clearly said, "Hiya EeeOoo."

She loves her friends and is interacting with other children so well. Her best buddy went on vacation for a week and she took to carrying a dolly everywhere she went. (I think she missed her!) There's very little toy stealing and practically no shoving. A hug that maybe winds up with both toddlers on the floor? Yes. A shove? No. [However, Caiden is her exception to the rule. She thinks he was built solely for rough-housing - see?]

Summers in Raleigh are HOT! So we've been swimming a lot. She's a fish. She kicks and paddles and completely thinks that I should let go of her and that she'd be fine. One of my favourite parts about swimming? The extra long naps afterwards!

She can put all the pieces in the proper spots in her animal puzzle, she's gotten pretty darn good at eating with a fork, she runs like an olympian (okay that might be a bit of hyperbole), and she loves to sing!

She's absolutely precious and we love her to bits. We think she's amazing and she continues to astound us on an almost daily basis. That said, she's such a handful that we're definitely not thinking about a sibling for a long while! If you know her you'll know that she's completely sure that the world revolves around her and to even imply otherwise would be heresy.

You can find the other shots from her 16 month photo shoot in the picasa album.