seventeen months

It has been a big month of changes for Miss Renee. She got a new brother, some new teeth and confessed her obsession with The Jonas Brothers to her parents.

There were countless temper tantrums and her screeching has turned into a growl when she's frustrated. I have had to tell myself at least a bazillion times to not get frustrated with her because she is going through such a big change. But it's been hard. She seriously went from a very good eater, sleeper and generally happy little girl to crying about naps and screaming about being in her high chair. It has to get better, right? Please quick, SOMEONE tell me it will get better.

She's a dramatic teether and it stresses me right out because she currently only has SIX TEETH. What on earth is going to happen when she gets eye teeth? And god forbid molars? The thought makes me consider jumping off the High Bridge.

In the midst of the tantrums though there was a sweet little girl delivering her brother's suckie and saying BABY and wanting to sit in the bouncy seat and the Bumbo and in the activity gym. You can see it in her eyes that she wants to help and when we praise her and make her part of it she seems to do a lot better. We're all learning. She also loves to play PEEK-A-BOO all day long.

I have no idea how much milk she should be drinking a day but she LOVES it. She chugs the entire glass the minute you give it to her like she has never had a thing to drink before in her life.

She can't climb up the stairs without collecting dust bunnies on the way up and she'll sometimes stop and start picking at her fingers for no reason at all. And I realized that we need to be careful about our mannerisms because she is clearly picking them up. I ALWAYS pick up dust bunnies on the way up the stairs and her dad spends at least half of his days looking at and picking at his fingers. She's a sponge. The word list is well into the 50s or 60s. I had her saying WHEESK (whisk) on Thanksgiving, she says POOP, Pee Pees, Mow (More) about EVERYTHING. She can say Eyeball and can repeat most of the letters in the alphabet when I sing her the ABCs. She still says Rama! Papa! every.single.time the phone rings.
 

She has her dad wrapped around her little finger and she knows it. The other night he actually set Cameron down in his crib so that he could come in while I put the crying toddler to sleep. Sure, she is CONSTANTLY saying I WANT DADDY but CRIPES. I think he thinks I can't do it.
 

The obession with The Jonas Brothers is by far the most entertaining thing she has done this month. Our daycare provider has a 14 year old daughter and once Becky told me that she liked The Year 3000 by The Jonas Brothers. I didn't think much of it because, well, her dad and I are sort of music snobs and SURELY our daughter wouldn't like a boy band. But then the day after Cameron came home Ski was at Target shopping and decided to buy her the CD as a guilt purchase (you wouldn't believe the new toys and books the kid has gotten in the last two weeks). When he put it in the CD player she got a look of total awe on her face and immediately started dancing. Then pointing at the CD player and saying MORE!! Then to top it off they were performing the half time show for the football game on Thanksgiving and I'll be damned if she didn't stop everything she was doing and stare intently at the TV. When it was over, she immediately started demanding MORE. And now at random times she'll point at the TV and demand MORE or she'll look at the CD player and demand MORE. And she is particular about which at which time. Today we put on the half time show and she wanted the CD and she wasn't afraid to tell us. Apparently The Jonas Brothers demographics stretches well into (pre) pre-teen girls....as in SEVENTEEN MONTH OLDS. The purist mother in me thinks she MIGHT be a little young to be worshipping teenage boys and part of me is like, well at least she likes some sort of music. And she is too little to understand. But it feels like a bit of a double standard because if she was like eight or nine I'd be all like ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Finally, my favorite this month. She is fascinated with buckles and trying to figure out how to get everything open. FASCINATED. It's the only time she shuts up :)

Comments

[AmandaH]

She is really cute. I like the look on her face in the first posted photo. It looks like her little mouth is pursed up. :)

It will get better!!! But you could always start reading "Siblings Without Rivalry" just in case. Heh. Heh.

Seriously though, the first few months were really hard with mine. More than once in the beginning T randomly ran up and started hitting at M, and I was just sick; like, I'm raising some kind of violent monster! What am I gonna do? Everyone reacted in their own way, and then gradually everyone started adjusting. And now it's fun at least 80 percent of the time.

Have a great day!

[Heather]

Um, yeah, on the Jonas brothers...my daughter may be part of the negative influence. Not many days go by where I don't hear about JJ (Joe Jonas), a blurb of The Year 3000 (what the hell is that song anyway) and she likes him because he's "cute" (good Lord, from a 5 year old?! I'm frightened). Sorry, I'm not a boy band fan either, but I guess it could be worse. At least Renee doesn't have control of the CD player yet.

Hope you're enjoying your time with Cam. Can't wait to see him again!!

[kim]

the jonas brothers thing is hilarious! it was fun to see her in person yesterday, she was so cute. hope we can do that playdate soon. :)