The growing Roza family: Month 20

My little toddler amazes me everyday with all of the fantastic little things she can do and learn! Lilah's arms are getting stronger. She can now hang on the edge of the counter with her feet off the floor, but thankfully she doesn't do that often. Usually she tries to stand on a toy and then grab onto the counter and peek over the ledge at me! Lilah associates her stroller with going for a walk. So if I don't put her stroller away right away and her eyes land on it later, she'll ask to go for a walk. Lilah asks for her cousins Kai and "Car-Car" (Carson) quite often now. You can tell she knows who they are and she wants to see them often. It's very cute! But sadly they live about 30 minutes away and we only get to see them every 2 weeks or so.

Lilah understands now when I tell her she needs to eat/finish her food before we go outside or go play. She loves to go "outside". Which for her means going out into the backyard to water the trees, play with the kitty, ride her car, play with bubbles, and get into mischief. Lilah has maintained her status as a very picky eater. But not only is she picky, she doesn't seem to eat much on a daily basis. Lilah just isn't motivated by food. She rarely pays attention to food and we typically have to put the food in her mouth to ensure that she will actually eat. The only things she'll eat on her own are snack type foods like goldfish crackers, Crispix cereal, graham crackers, etc. And I try to limit the snack foods, obviously. Thank goodness Lilah loves to drink milk! I think that has probably been our saving grace to ensure she is getting enough calories everyday. But still, she needs more than a liquid meal, which I tell her often!

Lilah's vocabulary grows everyday! I'd say she has at least a 100 word vocabulary at this point. Lilah's new words this month include: shark, sock, Kai (which she can now say very clearly), car, cards, airplane, knife, oatmeal, bucket, eagle, swing, slide, pool, park, water/agua. Lilah also knows approximately 40-50 animals. If she can't name them, then she makes the sound they would make, or she correctly points to them in her books when I say the animal's name. And my big girl is now trying to say sentences! Wow! On the day my brother Jacob left town, Lilah saw him load up my sister's dog into his vehicle as he returned the dog to my sister's house. The next day, Lilah said, "Uncle J, woof woof, car". It took me a second to realize what she was trying to say, and then I realized she had remembered what she saw the day before and was telling me. She said that sentence several more times the following week. That same day she said her first sentence, she also said her second. She said, "Pilot, mouth" after taking a toy pilot out of her mouth that she had been teething on.

On 8/2, Lilah kept saying "potty" over and over again. We keep her potty downstairs in the guest bathroom, so I took her in there. She sat down and seemed excited about it. Nothing came out though. Now at least once a day she wants to sit on the potty. We've had no success yet, but I know it will happen eventually. I'm not pushing it on her or rushing her. I let her tell me when she wants to go to the potty, or if she's acting like she needs to go, I'll take her in there. Quite often she tells us when she has pooped and now sometimes she tells us when she has peed. She doesn't have a "poop face", so I can't anticipate that she's about to go and rush her in to the potty.

On 8/14, I instructed Lilah that if she needs help, she should ask for it (instead of just grunting or whining). From that moment on, Lilah asks for help quite frequently when she needs something or wants something and needs us to assist. It's pretty cute! I always thank her for asking for help. Lilah says "please" very often when she wants something, and she is learning to say "thank you" also. A couple of times this past month she even said "thank you" without any prompting! Gotta start teaching kids manners at a young age! Lilah has also started copying me by trying to "count" on her fingers. She can say "one, two" but doesn't understand what that means. It's just repetition at this point. Lilah likes to give high-fives and she does it well. She'll even say "High five!". Lilah also loves to tickle us and she likes to be tickled. She'll sign "more" because she wants me to keep tickling her. I'm also very ticklish, so I think she gets this from me! Lilah also does a good job signing and saying "all done" when she is finished with something - whether it's eating, drinking, swimming, etc. And last but not least, Lilah's first canine tooth cut through on 8/15/12. It was the canine on the upper left side. Now just 3 more canine teeth to go and then we're done with the teething for awhile, whoo-hoo!

My swinging cutie!

Bubble time fun!

I love this shot!

Lilah inherited this horsey from my friend whose daughters are too old to play with it. She loves it! Lilah also loves playing with my kitchen utensils!