All About Finley

Things have been a bit crazier around here than normal so this All About Finley post is REALLY late!  Finley is 23 months old and I can't believe this is the last official month that she will be known by months instead of years!  Oh how I love this little girl!

1. Size Matters: Finley is still around 25-26 pounds and 34-35 inches tall.  I'm excited to go to the doctor next month for her 2 year appointment so I can have official statistics!  She is also still wearing anywhere from 12-18 month clothes to 18-24.  She is a size 5 or 6 in shoes depending on the brand and is in size 5 diaper. 

2. Food Junkie: Finley has mastered the word "snack" and says it all the time when she wants something to eat.  She is definitely a snacker!  Devin is a little worried about it, but I think it's fairly normal.  I'm trying to insist on at least one formal meal a day, but she has spent much of the month only wanting to eat lunch or dinner, but not both so I just give snacks in between.  Even when I don't give snacks though she hasn't wanted 3 meals a day so I think she is going through a phase. She loves cereal these days and hummus.  The girl LOVES her hummus.  She just eats it with a spoon.  It makes me laugh.  I would've never thought to give her hummus, but my friend, Judith, gives her little girl hummus and Lyla loves it and obviously so does Finley!  We also switched her to lowfat milk at the very end of this month since she doesn't have a weight problem and she is almost 2.  It's funny because she wants her milk in these little small cups that we have never used.  I used one of them on a day that all of her other sippy cups were dirty and now she loves her milk in them.  It's hilarious!

3. Fun Facts to Know and Tell:

• She is strong!  She can hold her own weight on the monkey bars.  

• She loves to wash her hands.
• She is getting better at saying the word phone.  It is sounding less like dog.
• She is beginning to show more signs of being ready for potty training.  She will usually tell us that she needs to go, but it is actually after she has already gone.

• This is her fish face.  She loves it when I make the fish face and tries to copy it!
• She can be very particular about what she wears especially her shoes.

• She pretend talks to Aunt Beth on the phone.  Anytime she sees a phone, she picks it up and says "Aunt Beth, blah blah blah blah Bye-Bye!"  It is so cute.  Even though I do talk to Beth a lot on the phone I never say her name so it's really sweet that Finley always "calls" her.  
• She is now forward facing in both my car and Devin's car.  She loves it and will talk and wave to people in the car next to us.

• She loves putting these old glasses on.
• She is taking naps on a mat at school and is doing REALLY well with taking them.  She has never been a nap taker at school before so we are so excited about this!

• She can now blow her nose... it's so crazy, but one day she just did it and now she is totally good at nose blowing... and she loves kleenex! 
• She can name most of the Sesame Street characters in her books.  We have a whole Sesame Street alphabet series and these are her favorite books.  She loves them!

4. Toys R Us: She is still really into puzzles and blocks.  She also likes playing in her car and will ask us to push her around the dining room.  She still loves books and still really likes playing with non-toys such as electrical outlets, remote controls, etc.  She is also still enjoying coloring and her coloring is getting better!  She is more "forceful" with the crayon so there is more color to see now.  She loves to dance to music, play with bubbles, and be outside!

5. Can't Live Without's: I know I say this every single month, but the girl LOVES her music.  It is CRAZY how much she loves it.  She wants music on all the time and has her radio completely figured out.  Kenny and Beth watched her a couple of weeks ago and even Kenny was like "The only babysitter you really need for her is a radio!"  It's so crazy.

She also loves Elmo.  This completely annoys Devin.  He keeps saying "Of all the characters for her to like why does it have to be Elmo?"  And though I agree, I have definitely become a mom because I can't help but love Elmo because she loves Elmo so much.  Plus it is completely my fault that she likes him.  When looking for a DVD about potty training, I could only find an Elmo one so I bought it to help Finley learn more about going to the potty and now she is just completely HOOKED on it.

She also loves to take all the DVDs off the shelves so I moved all of them, but her DVDs to another spot!
6. Can't Live With's: Anything on her hands.  She hates her hands to be dirty.  She has become even worse about this lately.  It's so funny to watch her freak out when something gets on her.  Of course, there are times when she doesn't mind it such as if we are outside and she's playing with dirt, but as soon as she's done, she starts throwing a fit to get the dirt off her hands.

7. Trick or Treat: Her newest trick is my FAVORITE trick ever.  She now says "Love you!" I have been waiting forever to hear her say she loves me and finally, finally she does.  I know plenty of other kids who have been saying this for so long so I have been waiting and waiting!  She also knows where her elbow is and says elbow all the time.  Her vocabulary continues to amaze me as she is saying something new every day.  She is also using more phrases.  

She also loves to run and runs everywhere and all the time!

8. Little Miss Personality: Finley has been so sweet this month.  I really do think last month's fussiness had a lot to do with not being out of the house much.  She really does do well when she is involved in MDO and interacting with other kids on a more consistent basis.  

I'm so thankful that she is enjoying school.  Not only is she learning a lot, but she really seems to be making friends and is so happy to be there.  She has her fussy moments at home, but it is almost always due to her not being able to articulate what she is wanting or needing.  We have really been having a great time together this month and I love seeing her enjoying life again!

9. All in a Day's Work: Finley is officially down to one nap though every once in awhile she'll go down for two.  Sometimes her naps are two hours and sometimes they are three.  What's funny is that she has totally adapted to our crazy morning schedule.  We have to be up really early on Monday mornings to meet my friend, Heather, who takes Finley to school.  We have to be up a bit later on Tuesday's to make it to BSF and even a bit later on Wednesday's for school.  On Thursdays and Fridays, it just depends on the week, but what is great is that she naturally wakes up earlier at the beginning of the week and sleeps in on Thursday and Friday.  We really couldn't ask for a better sleeper than Finley!!!!!

1o. I'm Loving It: This month Finley has been a bit more of a Momma's girl.  She still loves her Daddy and I hope that never changes, but there have been a few days this month when she only wants to be with me.  I love this!  It is nice to have my little one cuddling with me.  She just lights up when she sees me and it makes my whole day.  I love seeing her enjoy spending time with me and Devin and it makes me realize how special it is that we can give her a loving marriage to see each and every day.  I know that she is my child and I am completely biased, but she is just the most precious and sweet child I've ever been around.  I am so thankful that she is mine!!!!!!