Fiona is.....

So cute. She has been walking around saying "I am so cute" the past 2 days. I think we are in trouble when she realizes what that means.

Fiona and Tissues

I totally took this story from Kevin but it works for me: Yesterday, I told you you had a booger on your lip. (I called you, "Booger Nose.") You walked over to the couch, climbed up, and pulled down the box of tissues. You took out one tissue, held it up to your nose, and blew your nose. You folded the tissue and blew your nose again. Once you were done, I managed to help you (wiping your nose even more). You then took the tissue to the trash and threw it in the trashcan.

Potty Time

Before her bath tonight Fiona told me that she wanted to go "privacy". Privacy means she wants to use the potty. Usually Kevin or I will go in with her but tonight she wanted to go by herself. I was told to wait in the hallway. I heard her pull down her pants, the Velcro rip on her diaper, and the noises that come from sitting on the potty.

When she is finished using the restroom Fiona typically likes to use toilet paper which she then puts in the big toilet. Tonight she got the toilet paper by herself, lifted the lid of the big toilet, and put the toilet paper in the big toilet by herself.

After flushing the toilet Fiona opened the bathroom door and said "all done mommy....wash hands".

Bedtime cuteness

After I out Fiona in her crib tonight she kept talking to me. When I get to the door I always yell "goodnight Fiona. I love you." And she usually tells back "good night mommy. I love you."

Tonight we had that exchange and then I closed the door. Fiona kept yelling "goodnight mommy" and then waited for me to yell back "goodnight Fiona." If I didn't respond she would keep yelling until I did.

That is a melt my heart moment of sweetness.

Fiona and the animals

Fiona loves Maggie Mae, Bogey, and Fizz. She has a different favorite activity for each pet.

1) Fiona loves to take Maggie Mae for a walk. She likes to help put on Maggie Mae's collar and leash and then walks around the block with us narrating everything.

2) Fiona has found the bag of toys for Bogey. She now pulls out the bag of "Bogey toys" and chases Bogey around the house yelling "here Bogey, here Bogey, here Bogey."

3) Fiona really enjoys feeding the cats. She can open the container of food, prepare the scoop of food, and dump it into the cats' bowl. She will then return to the food box, put the lid on the box, and push it back into the closet. All by herself.

Apologies

I apologize for not updating the blog more often. Fiona does so many incredible things every day it's hard to keep track sometimes. I'm going to try and do a post every day on something she has done that day or has done recently. Thanks for your patience and stay tuned for many more updates to come.

Ravioli

Fiona had ravioli for lunch this weekend. When she woke up for her nap she asked for the ravioli. Emily told her the ravioli was in her belly and got a very confused look. Last night, as Fiona was getting ready for bed, she randomly blurted out "ravioli belly, ravioli belly."

puzzles, legos, and books

Fiona has been all about puzzles, books, and legos lately. Every morning she goes straight to her book box and grabs 5-6 books. She will put them on the floor, stack them, and then insist on carrying them all downstairs for daddy to read. She even knows the words to some of her favorites (Hide and Seek, Sheep in a Jeep, Dora the Explorer Opposites Spanish and English, If You Give a Pig a Party, Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear). At night she will play at her table with the puzzles (dumping and putting back together...sometimes she even brings me a piece and correctly identifies the animal) or she will bring the yoga mat and the Legos (which she calls puzzle) into the kitchen and play while I am making dinner. The other day daddy really wanted Fiona's help to put together a Lego set and Fiona really just wanted to play with the completed Lego creature. This post is because I am entering for a chance to win Fiona a combination of everything above: reading and Legos. Lego has put out new sets called Lego Duplo Read and Build which combine building and reading (2 of our favorites). I even think daddy could get behind this one :).

Fiona-isms and other cuteness

Not really sure why It is lumping this as one paragraph. On the ipad I have each sentence as a new paragraph. I make Kevin a salad for lunch most mornings. One morning I had a bad carrot and threw it to puppy. Now, every time I make a salad she starts yelling "puppy, puppy, puppy". When I get to the carrots she starts to yell "puppy, puppy, puppy" again until I give her a carrot. Once she has the carrot she throws it to puppy from her highchair. The other day we had raspberries for dessert. Fiona kept calling them blah-blah. The other night Fiona and I were doing songs before bed. Fiona did not like the song I was singing so I said "how about" while I was thinking of another song. Fiona now loves "how bou". Fiona uses "ok" correctly. Cuteness: Fiona knelt with daddy during church last week. Fiona and daddy take puppy on a walk most nights. When Fiona is ready to go on her walk she will say "walk" and make the sign for walk. Fiona has put her highchair back at the table the past 2 nights.

Talking, talking, talking

Fiona is picking up on SOOO much these days. She is signing like crazy which is very helpful because some of her words sounds very similar. She is obsessed with birds. She will sign and say bird anytime she sees one or anytime she looks outside (I think this bird is more a bird?). She has picked up the sign for milk, sometimes the sign for water, cookie, fan (I know there are more but I just can't think of them right now). There is a photo tree of her grandparents and Sity in her room. The past few nights we have gone through the picture tree and then I will say "goodnight everybody" when I put it down and we walk away. Fiona started to repeat and now she says "everybody" when she sees the photo tree. Fiona also loves to go into the closet and bring out shoes. Sometimes she will even bring out 2 of the same shoe. Of course, it is NOT ok if mommy and daddy do not put on the shoes she brings us. She will follow us around the house holding the shoe out saying "shoe, shoe, shoe, shoe."

Already a caretaker

Fiona has become quite the helper when others are sad.

At daycare yesterday Bennett was having his diaper changed when we arrived and he was not happy. We watched Fiona get Bennett's pacifier and hand it Ms. Amanda. We commented on it and Ms. Amanda said Fiona has started to comfort all the kids when they get sad. Ms Amanda said Fiona will go over to them and pat them on the back. Hopefully she doesn't pat as hard as she does baby. (Baby tends to get Heimlich level thrusts to the back when Fiona is playing.)

On a side note, Fiona pointed out a bird on the back porch this morning. She also did the sign for bird (which is awesome because without the sign I probably would not have understood what she said). Fiona is also obsessed with fan and the sign for fan.

Happy Easter

Family portrait (taken with the self-timer)





While we were not able to connect with the Easter Bunny or do an organized egg hunt, Fiona still got a kick out of her easter basket and enjoyed walking around the house collecting eggs (and other items) in her basket.

The Easter Bunny brought Fiona 5 Elmo books, 2 Elmo cups, an Elmo doll (which she took to bed tonight), Elmo eggs with M&M's, a numbers book, and a Clifford book. At Mimi's house the Easter bunny brought Fiona Elmo outfits and an Elmo puzzle. At Grandma and Jido's house the bunny brought Fiona 3 books that have buttons that make sounds, and bunny, and 2 plush peeps. She had quite the weekend.





Bunny ears made at school for her Easter party

Very Belated St Patrick's Day and 18 mo stats

Happy Very Belated St Patrick's Day!


Fiona had her 18 mo dr appointment on Friday, March 16. She got great results and only had 1 shot. She doesn't go back for another scheduled checkup until she turns 2. That is really strange considering she has been going every 3 months since birth.

Height: 32 1/4" - 75%
Weight: 22 lbs 8 oz - 25% (quite an improvement)
Head: 18 1/4" - 75%

Big Girl Table

We went to IKEA in Cincinnati and found a great table and chairs for Fiona.

Climbing into her big girl chair



Reading Ehmo (Elmo) and playing puzzles

Sillies

Pudding Face

Washing hands

Environmentally Friendly

Fiona loves throwing things in the trash. She throws her diapers in the trash (pee only thank you) and thinks it is great. She collects trash from around the house and runs to the trash can. Yesterday, Kevin introduced Fiona to the recycling bin. Now, when she has a recycling item, we open the door, she throws her item into the bin, and then Fiona backs up so she can close the door.

Since we are talking about backing up.......
When Kevin or I are on the floor and Fiona wants to sit in a lap, she will line up with the lap and then back up. She needs the beep, beep, beep that trucks have so she can alert us to her backing up.

And, speaking of beeps, Fiona was playing with her new shopping cart today. She kept driving around the coffee table saying "beep, beep."

Sass and other words

Over the weekend, Fiona started to use the word "no." So far, she has only used it to indicate that she does not want something (such as food or a drink). At daycare yesterday, she sassed her teacher before naptime. Fiona was told it was time to lie down and take a nap. Fiona responded with "no, no,no" complete with head shaking. She then proceeded to sing and dance on her cot for a little while.

In other word news:

puppy (kitties are also called puppy)

daddy, daddy, daddy

says bye, bye daddy anytime that Kevin is not with us and I tell Fiona that daddy had to leave already

baby

Knows the beginning of "sheep in a jeep" (the first words are Beep, beep and uh-oh)

A parting bit of cuteness:
Fiona has learned how to climb into the rocking chair in her room. She also knows that is where we go for stories before bed. Lately, in the mornings, Fiona's first activity has been to climb into the chair and read a book. It is super cute and she is very proud of herself.

BAGS!!!

Fiona is obsessed with bags, especially those that are open so she can go through them.

Last night Emily was cleaning up dinner and Fiona was playing. Upon inspection of Fiona's Gap shopping bag we found a beater, some envelopes, and some tupperware. Fiona had been carrying this bag around the living room for awhile.

Also, we both asked Fiona what the frog says yesterday. Both times she did the sign for frog from her baby signing video!!!

More signs and smarts

Fiona has been signing all done lately in her high chair and in the bath. She now trries to climb in and out of the bathtub by herself.

Fiona knows that when we go upstairs with our milk we climb in the glider and read stories. She puts Kevin's shoes on his feet when they are by the couch.

Lately Fiona has been obsessed with washing her hands in her play kitchen sink. She pulls her sleeves up and then puts her hands in the sink and moves them around or rubs them together.

Favorite word

Fiona's favorite word is "uh-oh". Uh-oh is used when anything falls on the floor, accident or not.

Fiona sometimes refers to "Sheep in a jeep" as uh-oh because that is one of the first lines in the book.

Animal sounds

Fiona has started to learn her animals and their sounds.

She recognizes kitties and puppies in books. She know who the sheep, cow, horse, and pig are as well. She also knows the lion says "roar", the horse says "neigh", the cow says "moo", and the sheep says "baa". We are working on meow, oink, and woof. We are at a loss for the goat though.

Baby Sign Language

We have been doing baby sign language with Fiona since she was about 9 months. At first we just did a few signs like more and milk and only did them periodically. As Fiona has gotten older and more aware we have started using more signs (and watching more of the baby signing time video). Lately, Fiona has been showing an understanding of the signs and when to use them.

Fiona knows that when we say and sign eat that she should go to her high hair. Fiona also knows that when we say and sign bath or bed she should go to the stairs.

The past week or so Fiona has been demonstrating that she also knows how to use the signs. She consistently signs and says more when she wants more of something. However, when she is lazy she will point to the empty spot on her tray and grunt until she gets more of what she wants.

Emily has been signing bath for about a month. Last week Fiona started signing and saying bath back (and then running to the bathroom).

Fiona's Valentine's Day

Fiona had her second Valentine's Party today. This time last year she was at Lexington Baptist Temple. I am not sure they had an actual party but she did make a Valentine for mommy and daddy. This year, Fiona and her classmates (EJ, Cole, Cooper, and Bennett) had a party after naptime. They exchanged valentine's, had juice, cheetos, cheese, fruit and cookies. That sounds like a pretty good party to me. Fiona even got a valentine from her friend Claire, who used to be in her class at school.

Fiona (and by Fiona here I mean mommy) made her teachers, Mrs Amanda and Mrs Michele, several valentine's treats. She gave her teachers cookies, Twix, a card, and heart cutouts made from wax paper and melted crayons (thanks Pinterest).

Fiona and mommy are still working on daddy's valentine's day present so you will have to check back for an update about that one.

Happy Valentine's Day Fiona

Happy Valentine's Day Fiona. Mommy and daddy love you more every single day. You are such an amazing joy and wonder every single day. Our lives have been better since you joined us and each day is better and more fun than the one before. We cannot think about you or talk about you without getting a big smile on our faces. Thank you for being our amazing gift each and every day. We love you sweet girl!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Apologies

We have not done a blog post in a long time. Things are crazy but we are hanging in there. Emily is going to try and post some over the next week or two so please be patient. Thanks!