Joys of Toddlerhood

About Julia

Age – 19 months
Height – 33 ¾ inches
Weight – 28 lbs
Hair – brown
Eyes – blue

Description - absolutely adorable!

Julia's Favorites

Song – Shake Those Simmons Down & Hey Lolly, Lolly (from Music Together cd); Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; All the songs on The Laurie Berkner Band cd/dvd
Lullaby – Lavender Blue
Character – Elmo
Book – Hug, Goodnight Gorilla, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, How Do Dinaosaurs Eat Their Food, Head to Toe
Movie – Sesame Street Kids’ Favorite Songs
TV Show – American Idol
Words/Phrases – mommy, no, up, Elmo, more, thank you
Items – keys, pens
Toys – her "babies"
Activities – dancing, singing, tickling, tag, eating, playing outside, reading
Fruit – melon, grapes
Vegetable – corn on the cob, green beans
Meat – sausage, beef brisket
Restaurant – Famous Dave’s
Store - Target
Animals – kitties, puppies, monkeys, dinosaurs

Place – mommy & daddy’s arms, anywhere outside

Julia has definitely been keeping us busy! She is one fearless, beautiful little girl with a big personality. Every day she just blows my mind with all of the new things she is learning. She has a great sense of humor and imagination. At the moment she is playing in a house I made out of a cardboard box. It looks like she’s furnished it with a pillow and stuffed animals. She’s heading in with a piece of paper and a pen so it looks like she is busy doing paperwork today.

Julia is an outgoing and friendly girl and makes people smile when we are out and about. The other night she waved at a man across the grocery store and he came up to us later and said that she made his night. She is generous with smiles and hugs which I think is great. Someday we’ll have to teach her to be more cautious of strangers but now she is always with one of us so I like that she is friendly. She brightens every room she enters.

Julia is learning more and more skills. She’s an independent little thing and she likes to try and put her clothes, shoes and socks on by herself. I just bought her a nice stool for the bathroom so she is able to brush her teeth and wash her hands better (holding her up there was getting too hard on my arms!). Her biggest new skill has been going to the potty. Around Christmas time she started to show interest and she’d walk to the toilet when I would say "let’s go change your diaper" so I started putting her on. By now, she goes to the bathroom pretty much every time I put her on. This weekend I bought her a little potty chair to make it easier for her to sit down. She picked it out – and it has Elmo on it, he says encouraging things when you give him a high five. She has already gone in it and thought it was pretty fun. We aren’t going to get really serious with potty training for a little while longer but for now, we are following her lead and she is farther along than I thought she’d be at 19 months. I’m just afraid of getting too gung-ho about it because if we do it too early then we may be training forever.

As an independent little bugger, she also is very strong-willed and likes things her way. Her latest sassy saying is saying "no, no, no" while waving her finger at you. She's also a hitter - although I think I prefer hitting over biting (which a girl at daycare is famous for - Julia's got the marks to show it). Julia is also a master of tantrums already - she's got the whole dead-weight thing down pat. We are patiently teaching her that she is not the boss. Julia's learning that she can't have her way all of the time but has had to stand in the naughty corner plenty of times.

Since September, we’ve been battling ear infections unfortunately and Julia will be seeing a specialist soon. I thought that she would grow out of it and thought the fact that she can blow her nose would help keep her head clear but so far nothing that we’ve tried has prevented them (and I’ve tried just about everything, including the chiropractor). I’m hoping to avoid tubes and think that maybe since the cold/flu season is nearing an end, the specialist may say to wait and see. I learned some massage techniques from Dr. Dan that seem to help, too. It seems like a rite of passage for parents to get through ear infections, if I bring it up to any parent, I am met with stories and passionate advice. Julia started getting them relatively late compared to many kids so I’m hoping it will be shortlived.

We’ve been spending more time outside since it has been warmer and we are SO HAPPY to finally be able to. We are looking forward to hanging out in our yard and on our deck a lot this spring and summer. Julia loves to explore and find interesting sticks, rocks and bugs. We also are anxious to get to Kirk’s parent’s cabin which they rebuilt this past year – and they are anxious to have their granddaughter visit, they’d probably take her for the summer if we would allow it!

Enjoy the warmer weather and sunshine!!!

Looking tough with her blue monkey tattoo

Looking absolutely cute getting tickled by mommy


Working on daddy's books
"He won't miss this credit card, will he? Tee-hee"



The dentist checking out Julia's chompers - she got a big thumbs up! Julia loves to brush her teeth and just got some of her very own big girl toothpaste (w/o flouride of course)


Valentine's Day



The edible bouquet I got from Kirk for Valentine's Day- my office helped me chow the delicious fruit, including chocolate covered strawberries - my coworkers were big fans of Kirk that day (and so was I but I'm always a big fan [smile])




Sleeping Beauty