Lauren has spent the last half of her fourteenth month settling back into familiar routines after the end of our five-week family odyssey, which I will at some point get to writing something about. It's been a mostly happy transition, apart from just a handful of tearful bedtimes and nap times at the beginning. I'm thankful for both of us that she quickly remembered that, no, she didn't need to wake up three times or more a night and that she could put herself back to sleep without Mama's milk. I'm very proud of her for being such a big girl and figuring it out so quickly. She's sleeping from 8pm to 7am and taking her two naps very sweetly these days.
I imagine that her frequent nighttime nursing over our time away from home helped her maintain her robust weight as she's still above 90th percentile, weighing 25 lbs. 15 oz. at the doctor last week. Her length measured about the same as at twelve months so she's slipped to 25-50th percentile. But her beautiful head remains above 95th percentile. Like her brothers, her gross motor skills are developing on the later side. She's still a month or so from walking I'd guess, but she's cruising very well and likes to stand independently. The thing is, standing is very exciting, and she claps and giggles and falls over fairly quickly. The other day she did take two little steps for Matt so we feel it's just a matter of time before she puts it all together.
In addition to nursing about four times a day, Lauren is enjoying fruits, cheese and yogurt as well as family favorites like "red pasta" (penne with marinara), black beans and rice, pizza and macaroni and cheese. She's eating these with her third and fourth teeth (the top two) just now breaking through. I'm hoping the addition of these teeth will expand her food curiosity--perhaps for chicken?--but I feel good about how we're moving away from purees and sharing food at our family meals.
Lauren regularly says "hi," "bye," "Daddy," "Mama," "baby," and "ball." There's a lot of other things she says mostly with "da-da-da" and "na-na-na," while pointing and gesturing to show what she wants. The other morning, when greeted by her big brother, I swear she said "Evan." The way Evan's eyes lit up made me think he thought so too.
"Busy" is the best description for Lauren's current stage. She's curious about everything and wants to be involved in almost any activity. When her brothers and dad leave to go ride bikes without us, she yells and cries at being left behind, even if it's with me. She really doesn't like it when anybody leaves her, even if it's Daddy taking Evan to use the potty while we're eating at a restaurant. She's doing her best to keep tabs on and keep up with all of us and making us feel very loved all the while. Indeed it's special to see our baby returning the adoration we can't help but shower on her.
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