In case you didn’t know, Ben and I have been working on teaching Mikayla sign language since she was about 6 or 7 months old. She knows quite a few signs and it helps her communicate with us and us with her. My friend wrote a great post on teaching children sign language here. Signing Time is a DVD series that we use a lot with Mikayla. I was first introduced to it when I worked at KAP last summer and reintroduced this year by our special education teacher at school. Mikayla loves the DVD’s and is now asking to watch them! Hopkins is the frog mascot they use in the series to help teach signs (along with a few other main characters Alex, Leah and Rachel). Here is Mikayla doing the Hopkins Hop!
Posts Tagged ‘Growing up’
Celebratory Ice Cream
Saturday, October 9th, 2010Can you guess why this chica is eating an ice cream cone all of her own?
This beautiful big girl and her yummy ice cream…any guesses?
No guesses yet…
Want some help? Well, let me spill the beans on this celebratory ice cream. My 17 month old went "poo poo" in the potty today! Such a big step deserved an amazing treat like mint chocolate chip ice cream! We aren’t officially potty training, but we aren’t discouraging the use of the potty either. She acts interested in the potty when we go, so we bought her a potty seat and occasionally sit her on it. Today she came up to me and was farting. Then she said "poo poo", so I took her into the potty and sat her down with her book (already in her hands). She sat there and while reading her book she went "poo poo" in the potty. We were such proud parents!
New Hobbies
Monday, September 20th, 2010Is 17 months old too young to have hobbies? Because I think Mikayla has just taken up two new favorites: Nose picking and bird watching! She constantly has her fingers up her nose, especially in the car. She even fell asleep the other day while picking her nose. At one point I looked back and she had both of her hand being used to pick her nose! Gross!
Her second hobby is a little nicer, bird watching. She will climb up the step stool in the kitchen and look out the windows at the birds forever! She can’t identify them quite yet, but we are working on that!
Hobby #1: Nose Picking
Hobby #2: Bird Watching
Then and Now
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010Last year we ventured to Jackson’s Orchard with Mikayla for some fall fun. We found a tree and continued the Adkins tradition of tree pictures. As with most years since I have been in BG, we traveled back to Jackson’s Orchard for some fall fun this past weekend. I am sure we will take more trips this fall, but I thought it would be fun to compare last year’s picture with this years. I actually stole this idea from my friend Emily!
Here is Mikayla almost exactly one year ago in the tree at Jackson’s Orchard:
And here she is today (well this past Saturday)! Notice the change in hair color and length. Crazy!
She has grown and changed so much!
Operation Remove the Pacifier
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010That’s right, we started Pacifier Boot Camp in our house this week. Surprisingly Mikayla is taking it a like a champ. The first night I think she thought we just forgot and went on to sleep after crying for only a few minutes. The next night she cried for 15-20 before falling asleep. Last night was a little trickier because she is teething as well. However, tonight she didn’t even make a sound. She was either really tired (although Ben said she took a really long nap today) or doesn’t mind too much not having her pacifier!
Yesterday was really funny though. She had gone to a friends house for a few hours and must have seen Ben stick her pacifier into the diaper bag because all night she kept going over to it and pointing. When she finally figured out how to get it out of the bag she was so funny. It was like she had found her long lost friend and wouldn’t let it out of her sight the rest of the night! I wish I had gotten some pictures or video. All in all though, I would say we are successfully removing the pacifier!
Mikayla with short, dark hair (Decemberish) and her ever loved pacifier getting into to no good!
My Little Thief
Friday, August 13th, 2010In case you missed the video Ben posted of Mikayla the other day, here it is. We had gone to Sonic for an after dinner treat and she stole my milkshake!
Mikayla is One!
Saturday, May 8th, 2010In case you didn’t her the news, our sweet Mikayla is now a one year old. It is hard to believe that a year has past since she entered this world, but it sure has been a fun one!
We had a blow out party last weekend with close friends and family, but more on that soon! Here are some of Mikayla’s one year stats from the doctor’s office.
Weight: 19lbs 2oz (up from 17lbs 5oz at 9 months)
Head Circumference: 45cm (up from 43.5cm at 9 months)
Length: 28 1/2 inches (up from 27 inches at 9 months)
She is still right at the 25 percentile in all areas, but Dr. F says she is healthy, so we will take it! Other important milestones she has reached at one year:
- Walking – when she reached the one year mark she decided that walking would be her primary mode of transportation!
- Table foods – while we had already been giving her table foods for awhile, we got the official go ahead from Dr. F at her one year appointment. She even likes a little dirt if she is working in the garden! Her favorite foods at this point are blueberries and bananas and (like her mom) most carbs!
- Car seat – In my car we have graduated to a Convertible Car Seat. She is still rear facing in the car, but once she reaches the 20lb mark she can be turned around to front facing.
- Pacifier – We have started the process of weaning her from the pacifier. She now only gets the pacifier if she is sleeping, in the car or at the sitters (although the sitter told me on Friday that she wasn’t that interested in it)! Soon we are going to start the process of weaning her completely!
- Milk – We haven’t moved on to whole milk just yet, but that is mostly because we have some breast milk in the freezer that needs to be used. Once that is all gone I will only nurse her in the morning and evening and she will get whole milk the remainder of the time. Once school is out we will start the official weaning process. I am most excited about not having to pump all the time anymore!
- Explorer – Mikayla loves to explore everything and is so inquisitive with new objects. She likes to sort things, put objects in baskets (and then back out of the baskets), throw things, and watch. She is just like her mommy in the sense that she loves to people watch, except that she likes to get their attention too! She loves to laugh, smile and giggle.
I am sure there are more milestones, but that is what I have at this point. She is a fun loving kid who loves to be around people. Perfect, if I do say so myself.
**Pictures were taken by Melissa Devries Photography.
Little Miss Independent
Thursday, March 25th, 2010As Mikayla gets older, she wants to be more and more independent. She enjoys playing by herself and wants to walk/crawl everywhere. She has been feeding herself some finger food for quite some time now and has a tendency to push away the spoon when we try to feed her. So, I decided to try a little experiment tonight. I made a bowl of cereal (on the thick side) and let Mikayla go to town. Besides the mess she made, I would say she did a pretty good job! Check out Little Miss Independent herself:
Forget the spoon, she goes in with her hands. Is this a preview to her first birthday??
In Case You Haven’t Heard…
Saturday, March 20th, 2010This child
Is WALKING!
Check her out on Ben’s blog here.
By far the coolest milestone she has met thus far. I am not sure why it was so exciting, but it was! In case you can’t tell by the video, Ben and I are more excited than Mikayla about the fact that she is walking. She still prefers to crawl, but is gaining more confidence each day with her walking.
**FYI – Her diaper is so large because it is a night time diaper. Daytime diapers are not this "fluffy"!
The best toys…
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010The best toys are not ones that you buy at the store and make a lot of noise. The best toys are not ones that cost a lot of money. The best toys are not the ones you (as the parent) choose as your favorite.
No, the best toys are what you would least likely expect them to be. They are items that you already have on hand or items that cost little. Some of Mikayla’s favorite toys have been things like pots and spoons or magazines or containers of Puff’s. This weekend we spent time with some dear friends in Tallahassee (see this post for more information) and Mikayla found a new toy…a laundry basket. Who knew laundry baskets could be so much fun! She liked to put things in it and then promptly take them out. She enjoyed being dragged around their apartment while sitting in the laundry basket.
Then she got the bright idea to stand up behind the laundry basket and try her hand at walking up and down the hallway pushing it. She was really moving. Check her out:
How cute is she? Let’s take a poll…will she be walking by her first birthday (April 28)?