16 months

I know I should be finding references for my bar application right now, but this is more important (and interesting, for me anyway). On Saturday, Erica turned 16 months old. To celebrate, we went to the zoo with our neighbors. The cute, dark-haired girl is Sydney, who loves to come jump on the trampoline with Erica. Whenever Erica sees her, she gets this huge smile on her face. Sometimes I wish Erica had been a second child for how much she loves other kids.


We also bought her this car. It is really a Christmas present from her grandparents, it just took us awhile to get it. Erica played with one of these cars at a friend's house and absolutely loved it. She loves any kind of car, motorcycle, train, airplane, etc. One of her favorite new activities is to stand behind the steering wheel of a real car and pretend that she is driving.

Despite some sickness and newly asserted independence, we are enjoying Erica more and more. She is communicating a lot better with signs, pointing and grunts. She loves to be outdoors and brings me her shoes a couple times a day. She takes one 1 1/2 hour nap a day and sleeps a solid 11 to 12 hours at night. Can't complain there.

She used to be a fantastic eater, but has suddenly become picky. I'm hoping it is just a phase. She also throws a fit in the bath now even though she used to love it. She insists on trying to do things above her capabilities and then gets frustrated when she can't do it (i.e., putting shapes into a sorter, stacking nesting cups).

She loves to read books, play peek-a-boo, swing, jump on the trampoline, watch movies, listen to music and walk around outside. We just started her in a movers and shakers class, which is a gym class for toddlers. It consists mostly of running around on a mat, crawling through tunnels and doing summersaults. She just went to her first one and loved it. I can't wait to go again either. It also helps that the class ends around dinner time and is only one block away from In-n-Out. Again, can't complain.