16 Months

Once Sophia hit the 12 month mark, I thought it would be easier to do these updates every other month rather than monthly. Boy was I wrong! I had no idea that the rate of change would grow exponentially! So, there are probably a ton of things I'm leaving out, but here are some highlights.
She can crawl!!! Although she started walking at 9 months, she crawled for the first time about 3 weeks ago. I can now tell the other moms at the park that yes, she can now crawl and thus will be able to learn to read! She can walk backwards and always has a coy little smile on her face when she does it - like she's doing something really cool for your benefit. She's really close to running, but I think technically it'd still be classified as speed walking. Gramma taught her how to "jump," and although her feet never leave the ground, it's really cute. She also likes to hold onto things and tilt her pelvis forward and swing her head back. She's not allowed to do it holding onto the oven, but we still let her do it everywhere else even though it looks really weird!
She now likes TV, which is dangerous as a parent. It can be very tempting to keep the TV on all day since it keeps her still and happy, but we've been holding up pretty good and she usually only gets to watch a show about 3 times a week.

She still loves music, and actually, her favorite thing to watch on TV is a series on HBO called Classical Baby. It's animation set to classical music that incorporates art and dance as well. It's probably not any better than letting her watch MTV, but it makes us feel better! She was very intrigued with the piano while we visited my mom and asked to play it again, and again, and again. She's the fifth generation to sit and play at this piano, so perhaps some lessons will be in her future.

Sophia now knows 15 body parts and is learning a new animal sound daily. She has said several phrases, such as "there it is" and "here you go." She is ALWAYS saying "that there," as in "duh mommy, what I want is that there!" She has a rotating vocabulary, so she'll say a word frequently for a week or two, then she seems to forget it and learn a few new words in it's place. Her latest words are button and potty.

Speaking of which, she has now successfully gone "poo poo" and pee pee in her potty. We're not really working on potty training her yet, but when she tells me she has to go, I sit her down and see what happens. Most of the time we just end up playing about 10 games of patty cake, but every once in awhile she'll get down to business.

One of our least favorite changes is how shy she has become. When we're in a group setting, she gets "noodle legs" and won't stand up, and when she finally does stand, she'll stare like a zombie at all the other kids while they are playing and having fun. She actually seems to have gotten a little better over the last week or two, but Will and I have been starting to get a little embarrassed by it. Our favorite change is that she is becoming even more of a snuggle bug. She loves to just lounge on us, roll around on our laps, and give the sweetest bear hugs. She'll also give kisses without us asking, which just melts our hearts!

We are so proud of this little girl and feel so privileged to have the opportunity to spend so much time with her. As she ventures deeper into toddlerhood, it'll be interesting to see if this changes!