All About Finley

Finley is now officially 20 months old!  Only 4 more precious months before my little girl turns 2!!!!  I just can't believe it!  This past month we have been enjoying summertime....  I am loving our relaxed schedule which is why I haven't been posting very much.  Our days have been filled with lots and lots of sleep, food, and playtime!

1. Size Matters: Finley weighs right around 24 pounds and is close to 34 inches tall.  She is in size 4 diapers and is wearing mostly 12-18 month clothes.  She had a major change in shoe size!  She went from being around a 3.5-4 all the way up to a 5 and is almost outgrowing the 5!  I am so happy to be able to select shoes from the toddler section instead of the baby sizes!

2. Food Junkie: Finley absolutely loves blueberries these days!  They replaced strawberries from last month.  She still likes strawberries, but devours the blueberries.  She continues to have a favorite food that she eats and eats until she gets totally sick of it.  She cracks us up when it comes to eating because some days/weeks she refuses to have any help with eating and doesn't like anything to be cut-up or fed to her and then she goes through days/weeks where she loves to have our help.  A new food that we added this month was baked beans and she really enjoys them.  She still won't have anything to do with meat and strangely enough will eat the Kraft spiral mac-n-cheese, but refuses the Wal-Mart brand! =)  And as you can see, she still loves her morning waffles!

3. Fun Facts to Know and Tell: 

• Anytime she hears a train or a siren she says "beep, beep".

• She is beginning to understand going "potty".  She can say diaper now and we are working on recognizing when she is going potty in her diaper.  We know it'll still be awhile before we officially start potty training, but we thought we'd introduce it in a very stress-free way.

• She had her first pedicure by Mama this month and she sat completely still for it!  I couldn't believe it.
• She has made lots of friends during our neighborhood walks...  She is so social!  She wants to talk to everyone!
• She HATES sand!  The sweet girl who watches her during my Wednesday morning Bible Study has tried several times and laughs because even though she can tell Finley hates it, Finley doesn't throw a fit, but just tries to squirm away.  Sometimes she likes getting dirty, but sometimes she hates it!

• She's a bit of a dare devil.  She climbs on playground equipment that is really too big for her and takes off down slides without any fear.  I think we may have to keep an eye on her!  This is a picture (and not a very good one!) of her at Gymboree.  She had a blast!
• She has learned to fake laugh and it is hysterical!
• She can throw.  She's been able to sort of "let go" of things for awhile, but now she can actually throw, throw!
• We've started working on Memory Verses.  This past month we have been working on "God is love." I John 4:8.  She's still too young, but she can say "God" and I try to get her to repeat the rest of it without much success.  That's okay.  It'll come.

4. Toys 'R Us:  Finley's current favorite toys are her cars and her ball.  She loves to vroom the cars around the floor and even onto the walls (no, no!).  She also loves playing ball.  She will chase it all over the dining room floor and likes to try to bounce it and roll it.  It's been too hot for us to be outside for very long, but she really loves bubbles.  I think all kids do, but it's so fun to see her eyes light up as they are coming at her.  Being home more this past month, I've found that she is a bit bored with a lot of her current toys, but that's okay with me.  I think a little boredom helps kids develop more creativity and we surely aren't going to be able to go buy her a new toy every time she wants one.  I love seeing her pick up toys she's had for months, but hasn't ever really played with and start figuring them out.  I truly think it's helpful for her little mind even if at times she becomes rather fussy because she's bored with the same toys.

She also enjoys coloring for short periods of time.  She much prefers pens and markers to crayons.... How do kids have such a knack for knowing which things are the messiest?

5. Can't Live Without's: Books!  She continues to love her books and is VERY particular about which ones she wants to read.  We probably start 2-3 books before she finds one that she wants me to actually finish!  I hope this isn't a sign of ADD! =)

6. Can't Live With's: Hairbows!  She started out the month loving having bows in her hair and would actually bring ones to us that she wanted to wear, but the last couple of weeks, she has mostly refused to have anything to do with them.  I'm sure they make her little head that is already sweaty even hotter!  Her hair is growing and her curls make her very girly without the bows so that's fun!  It's so funny because the back of her hair is getting really long, but it's just one layer.  You can pull up that layer and there is just peach fuzz underneath it.  It's crazy!

7. Trick or Treat: 

One thing she really enjoys is turning the lights on and off! She is also  really into kissing these days and gives Mommy and Daddy lots of kisses.  It's so sweet!  I absolutely love it!  She goes through phases where all she will say is "Yes" and all she will say is "No" so we have to read between the lines to see what she REALLY means.  She knows a cat says "Meow" and that a duck says "Quack, Quack."  Most of the time she knows a cow can say "Moo."  She also says "eyes" and can point to them.  She really likes to stick out her tongue when you ask her where it is!  She repeats so much these days.  I can ask her to repeat just about anything and she will or at least try.  Although some words she will just say "No" which is super-funny.  I have a video that I'll post soon of this.  She absolutely LOVES to snap the buckle of her booster chair and so as soon as we get her down from the table, she will try to buckle it back together.
Another hilarious "trick" that she's started doing is trying to put everything in her back pocket.  The only problem is that she RARELY has a back pocket so she instead stuffs things down her shorts or diaper.  I think she picked this up because I always put my cell phone in my back pocket, but it just cracks me up on how insistent she is to put a toy or my cell phone or whatever she has at the moment in her "back pocket" that doesn't exist.  She always gives me a funny look when it falls through her short legs!

8. Little Miss Personality: Finley continues to be an absolute joy.  She goes through fussy phases as most kids do, but she is quick to pull out of them and is usually just fussy with me.  It almost always means it is time for a nap.  With other people, she tends to get very wound up when she's tired and will run in circles. She is happy, but in that manic-I-need-sleep-way!  She is definitely opinionated and yet easy to refocus.  She seems to be a good blend of being strong-willed and still being teachable.  I definitely hope this continues.  One thing that I don't know if I've mentioned is that she doesn't respond much to hand slaps.  She could care less if we slap her little hand or thigh when she has disobeyed.  Her little social nature seems to respond much more to being separated from us... for instance, if she is playing with her food, I can slap her hand and say "No.  Food is to eat, not for play." and she will continue playing with it and not even blink, but if I scoot her chair away from the table or remove her from her chair and put her in the playroom, she will throw an absolute fit.  She likes to be near us or doing what we are doing and even if she is still able to see us, she still finds it more of a punishment to be removed from the situation.  It is fun to see her personality grow and we are constantly learning more and more about our little girl.  It is so important to us to really know her so that we can really show her love the way she most needs.

9. All in a Day's Work: This past month has been such a wonderful chance to stay in a good routine and to say that Finley is on a good routine is an understatement!!!!  She usually goes to be at 7:30 p.m. and sleeps until at least 8:30 a.m.  She takes two naps a day lasting for 2 hours each.  I'm blown away by what a good sleeper we have!  And she obviously needs sleep because she is such a very happy baby when she is taking naps.  Even one day off her routine leaves her spinning for at least 2 days and I hate it for her!  She is easily frustrated and very impatient when she's tired and she's too young to understand why so it's been really great to be able to keep her on schedule most of the week.

10. I'm Loving It!: What's not to love?  She is an absolute delight these days!  We play together a lot, but she spent 30 minutes yesterday just unloading a bag of cotton balls and putting them back in it while I got ready for the day.  She is so happy and full of life!

She lays her little head on my shoulder when she gets tired and loves climbing in my lap for book time.  She gives me tons of kisses and says "Mama" all day long.  She points to pictures and says "Dada" or "baby" (when she sees herself) and wants nothing more than to spend time with us.  She communicates so well that we are beginning to have "real" conversations with her and it's such a wonderful glimpse into the future!  I love this stage because she's just independent enough that she can do a lot of things by herself and yet not so independent that she doesn't need me at all.  She still likes to have me help her and I love being able to show her new things.  She's my baby girl and I love her so much more than I could have ever dreamed possible!  What an absolute blessing she is to me!

More pictures this month!  I finally got my new hard drive installed and it is marvelous!  A friend of Devin's installed it and texted Devin to say that the size of my iphoto file was nothing short of "impressive."  Devin texted back and said "impressive or obsessive!"  Ha, ha!  

Father's Day 2010

We had a great Father's Day weekend!!!!!

On Friday night, we went to Devin's parents' house for dinner.  Finley was in a great mood and loved playing outside.

They have a playset in the backyard and Finley has no problem with the steep ladder!  It scares me to death!  She just loves climbing up it and sliding down.

On Saturday, Finley and I cooked Devin a special breakfast... Bananas Foster French Toast!  Then we played around the house and in the late afternoon decided it would be fun to go swimming!  It was so hot that swimming was the only thing worth being outside for!

Finley had a lot more fun at the pool this time than over Memorial Day weekend so that was good.  She still doesn't love getting her head wet, but she is getting the hang of being in the water.

On Sunday morning, we gave Devin his presents and went to church.  That afternoon we headed to Tulsa to see my family.  We hung out with Uncle West and Aunt Tracey for about an hour or so before my dad came over for dinner.  Finley loved playing with the dogs.

Unfortunately, Finley only got one nap on Sunday and by the time Grandpa Bill got there, she was getting a bit cranky.  I didn't get many pictures because it was hard to keep her contained, eat, socialize, and still take pictures, but we had a great time despite all of that!

Devin is such an unselfish Dad and I love seeing him interact with Finley.  He is so involved and always finds energy to play with her even after super-long days at the office.  I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband who truly loves me and our little girl.  He always looks at her and says "I just love her!" and we both marvel that she is as fun as she is.  I am looking forward to her going on dates with Daddy and him teaching her how to ride a bike, fix a sink, and change a tire.  Every day with my two favorite people is more precious than the day before.  Oh, how I just love loving these two...