Julia Notes

Julia at fifteen months ...

She's become so accomplished at walking forwards, sometimes she decides to work on walking backwards. She'll slowly make her way from Point A to Point B by backing up. Occasionally she'll take a few steps backwards, then turn sideways and side step a few paces, then return to walking backwards, then sideways, etc.

When you ask Julia to dance, she goes to the refrigerator and pushes the button on her Fridge Farm Set and sways back and forth or taps one foot up and down. If we're listening to the radio or a CD, sometimes she will start turning in circles as she listens.

Still no discernible vocabulary as of yet, but she will jabber your ear off in Julia Speak. She narrates nearly everything that she does ... sometimes talking to you, but often just discussing things with herself.

She eats everything ... as long as it comes off of your plate! Almost every morning that my mom was here, Julia would beg for Gran to share her (plain) yogurt. Gran would give her a taste, Julia would make a horrible face and then come back for more! But if we had put it on her tray, Julia wouldn't have touched it! Some food favorites right now are cheddar cheese, Horizon Yogurt Tubes, Annie's White Cheddar Bunnies, Nanna's beef tips in gravy, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, grapes, strawberries, applesauce, scrambled eggs, Bush's Baked Beans, BOCA Chik'n Patties, BOCA Cheeseburgers, hot dogs, bananas, muffins, Pillsbury Golden Layers Flaky Biscuits, and milk.

She's very good at using her sporks. The utensil usually ends up upside down before it makes it to her mouth, but she gets some food to eat! She loves feeding herself. We haven't really "showed" her how to use the spoon/fork because we're having too much fun watching her experiment to figure it out herself :) It will be interesting to see what happens once we start working on soups and cereal with milk!

She's been working on getting in two of her top molars. This has led to crankiness and sleepless nights, but she's been a real trooper.

She loves to watch people talk and try to join in on their conversation, especially if they are laughing. She'll watch for a little and then when everyone starts laughing, she gives a great fake laugh. You can tell she doesn't really get the joke, but she wants to be a part of the fun. I find it most humorous in restaurants where she'll keep an eye on the loudest table in view and try to follow (and participate in) their conversation.

She's already started telling tales on Mama. One of her favorite things to do is to sit with a book and flip pages. (She hasn't heard an entire story (except for bedtime reading) in about 6 months because SHE wants to hold the book and turn the pages!) Her other favorite thing is to take our old cell phone (I charge the battery each night so the numbers will light up, but since we changed providers and got new phones I don't have to worry about her dialing out) and walk around "talking" into it. She jabbers for a bit, then gives her fake laugh and jabbers again. Dave says he wonders who she sees reading and talking on the phone all day! :)

She does most things with her left hand first and then figures out how to do them with her right hand. When "writing," she holds the pen or crayon or marker in her left hand.

She loves clomping around in her shoes. She will try to put them on herself and then bring them to you for help. She also loves putting on Mommy's or Daddy's shoes and trying to walk.

She weighs around 24.5 pounds and is wearing 24 month or 2T clothes.

Her temper is really starting to show. She gets VERY angry when told "No" or stopped from doing something she wants to do. Fortunately these outbursts are short-lived and she's easily distracted.

Her favorite toys include large, old boxes (she likes to push them around and climb in them), Tupperware, wooden spoons, her Little People toys, our old cell phone, large stuffed animals and anything on the end tables in the living room (where she's not supposed to touch).

Echo is still her best bud. They wrestle together every day. Julia likes to pick up Echo's food piece by piece and feed it to Echo. Sometimes she eats it herself. Often she'll walk up to me and purse her lips and I know she has a piece of Echo's food in her mouth and is trying to spit it out. (She's not supposed to touch Echo's food. She's especially not supposed to EAT Echo's food! *sigh*)

She still has to have Lamb with her in order to sleep. She also still sucks her thumb and loves to rub tags.

Julia's adjusted well to having a little brother. She really wants to help, but doesn't know how. She grabs bottles and pacifiers and tries to shove them in his mouth, usually wrong side first. She loves to give kisses to Dax, but doesn't quite understand how to do so gently. She worries when he cries and would love to be able to get her hands on him just for a minute so she could poke all his fun moving parts (eyes, mouth, etc). She peeks over the edge of the Pack N Play to watch him and then tries to grab his stuffed animals.

She's become quite a daredevil. She loves to climb onto and inside of things. We often hear her whining and will find her stuck somewhere. She doesn't like to hear our "You got yourself into the mess, get yourself out!" response, but she can usually get herself out of the fix with just a little extra effort.

The things she hears most often ...
"No, Julia!"
"Julia Lynn!"
"You can do it"
"Chew, baby!"
"Put it back"
"Night Night"
"Be gentle"
"Kisses!"
"I love you!"