Age & Stage

On Tuesday Shelby will be 16 month -  1 1/3 years old. I have to say, she is at a funny little age and stage right now. We (actually Jack) took her to the doctor today and it's no surprise that she's in the 95th percentile for height, remaining steady at 50-70 % for weight and her peanut head has leaped from 15% to closer to 50%. That last leap makes me curious if everything is totally accurate, but regardless - it's good news to me. On the notes about "what to expect from your toddler," it indicated they should have a vocabulary of 3 to 6 words. I am not kidding, Shelby literally says about 3 new words a day now. Proud mama :)

Although the "well check" appointments are nice to make sure he growth and immunizations are on target, it's her blossoming, beautiful personality that makes her so special. Here are a few things that Shelby does right now that really exemplify her curious, innocent spirit.

Mess
Shelby loves a good mess. She loves talking about them and mostly - cleaning them. I am prestty sure she spills food, just so she has the opportunity to wipe it up. For example, if I am doing dishes and splatter water on the floor, she will stand in front of the counter in alignment with the paper towels and say "mess mess mess," just waiting for me to give her a square of Bounty so she can start cleaning away. She will also grab used tissues and wipes from the warmer right out of my hand with the hope she can clean up a mess.

Bus
This is one of Shelby's fav words at the moment. Any loud, unfamiliar sounds she hears, she says Bus! I can say confidently though that she has great hearing. Living by an airport, we hear plane fly overheard pretty regularly. Each time she hears one, she says bus!

Phone
Shelby loves my phone. I am pretty sure most toddlers these day love phones, but it's what she does when she gets it that tickels me. First, she typically starts saying Moose or Nana. I often ask her "Do you want to call Moose/Grandma?" so she associates the two together. They she typically says hello, talks some jibberish, often giggles and then hands me the phone to take over.

Baby Love
My muffin LOVES to take care of her baby doll. And her dancing pig. And her annimol. She lays them on the ground, covers them with blankets, pats (slams!) their back and say "Nigh Nigh," and even offers them her sippy cup, or as she says "Babbas."  She also loves to put shoes on the baby and push all 3 around in her doll stroller.

Please
Since the 1st day Shelby started school the teachers integrate sign language into the classrooms. I have never really notices Shelby use it, with the exception of the word/gesture please. It's hilarious. It's the only word she signs and she does it with serious passion. You sign please by gently swiping your chest, close to your sternum. Well, if Shelby wants something - especially food - and you request a 'please,' she will never say it, but she'll sign it was all her little enthusiastic might. She also signs thank you, but not nearly as often. I have to get this on camera - so cute.

I could go on and go, but the above are some of my favorite go-to Shelby moves at this age and stage.

Back to School Luau

Shelby's school hosted a back to school luau for all students yesterday evening. The luau theme was questionable, but the event was a nice gesture and they offered some cute activities for the kiddos. The attendance was not huge, but I am glad we went. We bypassed the majority of those event last year because Shelby was going to bed so early. Here are a few cute pictures. I love this dress that my sister got her!

Her first snowcone. She liked the sugar, but in general she still does not like cold stuff.

We also gave the bounce house a try, but she was pretty apprehensive. It was a quick trip in/out.

*No, she is not sunburned - although it looks like it. Like Jack, her face gets bright red when she is hot and moving around.

All in all, a fun little evening. My favorite part I hearing all the Shelby stories from all the teachers. Apparently she is known as the class chatter box, and knows all her friends' names. I had no idea!

Vibrant Purple

Only with toddlers do you get a note home from school like this:

"Thank you for the wipes. I am not sure what Shelby ate yesterday, but her BM's have been vibrant purple. She may have eaten a crayon or something."

Great, just great. Probably not the last....

Final Water Friday

Throughout the summer, the school hosted "water day" each Friday morning, where the kiddos played in water tables, sprinklers, etc. With that, every Friday morning we'd send  Shelby to school in her swimsuit, cover up and water shoes. Next Friday there is a "staff in service day" and then her regular school year starts on Monday, so yesterday was her final water day until next summer.

I snapped a few photos of the morning cuteness before sending her off to school. I tell ya, she is getting more challenging to photograph indoors....she's always on the go!

Sometimes You Just Gotta Dance

And for Shelby, that day was Sunday. Although not the greatest cinematography, I was able to capture some of it on camera. I could watch this a million times.

What's For Lunch?

Feeding a toddler is tricky. In Shelby's case, she is a much better eater at school than when she is home with us on the weekends. Also she is liking her highchair less and less; feeding her at home has become a little bit of a game of cat and mouse. I honestly believe she holds out on the weekends on me because she hopes I will give her milk. I still warm it up for her and give it to her while she's in the chair and I think she really loves that special attention. She is also more inclined to eat things that we are eating. Jack says each morning he shares his breakfast burrito with her on the way into school. So cute.

What's for lunch?

 Each evening I pack Shelby's lunch for the following day. In the morning I make the necessary fresh-food additions. So what am I packing with her? Not all of the items show up every day, but these are some of the usual snacks...

• Sippy cup for milk
• Sippy cut for water
•  "Pouch" of baby food
• Mini, Reduced sugar apple juice box
• Baggy of Cheerios
• Baggy of either goldfish or mini graham crackers
• Spinach or broccoli "nuggets"
• Fresh fruit  - typically strawberries, blueberries, grapes, watermelon
• Noodles with "squash sauce"
• Olives
• Sliced deli meat
• Toddler, mini fruit bar
• Organic waffle/french toast sticks, toasted and cut up

Is it a perfect meal? No, of course not - but I am doing the best I can. I am shocked to see little kiddos eat Trix cereal, fruit cups, corn dogs, all kinds of junk food. For now, the above is what's for lunch!

Placerville People

My first job in Las Vegas was at a small, B2B PR agegncy called Ballard Communications. As luck would have it, the gal who interviewed me grew up in my hometown! She is a couple years older than me, but we grew up knowing many of the same people and families. We have not worked together for more than 8 years, but we have remained very good friends and even better friends now that we are hard-working mamas!

She has 3 kids, but her youngest is just 2 weeks younger than Penelope. Finally, 15 months later, we made a play date to connect our peanuts at a local "splash pad." It was great. We could shit chat while the girls played...although I am pretty sure the birds in the park were the highlight of Shelby's outing :) She was kind enough to share these very cute photo of the girls with me!