Brookie - 14 months

Brookie – 14 months!

Wow! Where has the time gone?? This little chickadee has grown up so fast! She’s surprising us every day with all the new things she can do and how funny and cute she is.

Lately Brookie’s been staying up late so she can play with Ty when he gets home between 7 and 8. She doesn’t seem to have any trouble staying awake, but it makes her naps a little longer. Her routine right now is wake up between 7 and 8 am, nap (or not, if we’re doing something fun or going somewhere) from about 10 ‘till 11 or 12. She then gets up, plays, has lunch and we usually do something fun ‘till around 2, when she naps again for an hour or two. Cole naps at the same time in the afternoons, but Brookie usually gets up before him so we have some time to spend together doing 1 year old things.

Not that she needs to be catered to. She thinks she can do everything her big brother can, and she’s learning to do it all! This week we went berry picking and she kept up with the big kids really well as they ran around exploring the berries and the gardens of vegetables. She’s fearless and quick!

Brookie’s been walking for awhile, but is getting steadier and steadier. She still has a cute little kid waddle, but is quite stable and can even run. Being chased is one of her favorite games. She can get up stairs really well and is learning to come down. She still waits for help a lot of the time, but is getting more and more brave every day. She’s fallen out into the garage a couple times, but can get down one stair without too much of a problem. She’s also a terrific climber. No more staying put in the shopping cart or playing downstairs anywhere we go. She can climb onto furniture and up stairs. She loves to sit in the rocking chair or on the camping chairs (big and little).

Brookie’s favorite toys are her new baby doll which she loves to hug and give her binki, anything Coleman is playing with (she learned it from him), balls, shoes (hers, ours – anyone’s really – even shoes at a garage sale this last weekend), baseball mitt, phones & electronics, anything with buttons – especially if it makes noise, pens/pencils/markers – when she is and is not supposed to have them (she does love to draw), magnet drawing board, beads/bracelets, books (Old MacDonald, Jingle Bells, the Priddy books, touch and feel anything, Wheels on the Bus).

Aside from playing with toys, Brookie loves reading, playing in water, taking baths, singing and dancing. Her favorite dancing song is the Duck Tales song, but she’ll dance to anything. Her favorite songs to sing are Popcorn Popping, Eensy Weensy Spider, Wise Man, If You’re Happy and You Know It – she can do the actions to all of them and loves to bounce to the beat of just about anything. She can turn on her CD player and is very proud of that.

Brookie LOVES to play outside, have picnics, eat rocks, splash in the water, hang out at the park, go down her slide, chase and otherwise tease her brother, give hugs, back into Tyler’s lap when she wants to cuddle, talk on the phone and taste everything. She loves to play with Coleman and do everything he does.

Brooklyn’s favorite foods are milk, chocolate milk, yogurt, cheese, pizza (she even eats it with zucchini and peppers), meat of any type – but especially salmon, grapes, watermelon (not cut up – only wedges), apples (the whole apple), cucumbers, red peppers, broccoli (a definite favorite!!), & carrots. She’ll try just about anything. Tonight she finished her dinner and we got her out to go play while Coleman finished eating. She poked her hand around the side and stole all his fish. He seemed upset, but I think was secretly happy she ate it for him. They sometimes trade food during meals. It’s pretty funny.

Brookie’s learning so much! She folds her arms during the prayer, helps put on and take off her clothes, follows lots of directions, and is saying a lot of new words. Some of the most recent words are: gog (dog), wuh wuh (woof woof), cow, beeeee (binki), bah/ba’ol (bottle), beebee (baby), uh-oh, no (she can nod her head for no or yes but only says no), be (bear), & bawl (ball). She still says mem, dah & ganca. So far she doesn’t have a name for Coleman, she just grunts and gestures if she needs him. She spits and screams and can make lots of sounds. She’s been taught well by her big bro! She makes the fish sounds, and copies Coleman’s roars an squeals. She’s getting more and more verbal every day!