Violet’s 15 month Update

I’ve just realised in all the craziness of moving, pregnancy and working that I’ve not written an update on Violet in MONTHS! In fact, I think maybe the last one was about her turning one and her birthday party! Looking back on that post now, she’s changed SO MUCH since her birthday – she was still just a baby then and now she is a fully fledged toddler, with the classic toddler tantrums thrown in to match.  It really is crazy how much they change at this age, so I must try harder to document it all! Here is Violet’s 15 month update…..

SHE’S OFF!

So, Violet is fully walking, running and dancing at 15 months. She did her first few wobbly steps a couple of days before her first birthday but fully gained confidence in walking a couple of weeks after that. Since then, she’s been on the move and she can go so fast! If I put her down on one spot, before I know it she’s run into another room, usually to cause mischief. You can’t take your eyes off her for two minutes now. She has plenty of toys but will go for anything she can find to hand, picking up anything within reach – we had to do some serious baby proofing as she has a knack for getting her hands on things she shouldn’t have! She loves to climb and will climb onto the sofa, chairs, any boxes around or into the laundry basket, she also hides under the bed with the dog and will climb a full flight of stairs – if she gets the chance! Life with a toddler on the move is exhausting, especially being pregnant – usually she’ll run out of the room as soon as I’ve sat on the floor, I swear she knows it’ll take me a while to get up so takes full advantage!

FOOD & EATING

Violet still isn’t the best eater but she’s come on leaps and bounds since her first birthday. We thought she would never eat properly, but we are now finding her favourite foods and sticking with those, adding a few new tastes in now and again. Her favourite meal is Pesto Pasta so when all else fails, thats a sure fire way to get a good meal into her! She also loves anything sweet (like her Mummy) like fruit, yogurts and at Easter she discovered CHOCOLATE and never looked back. It was bound to happen eventually. I’m a firm believer in ‘everything in moderation’ so I don’t mind her having the odd treat.

I do think teething had a massive part to play in her eating habits. She seemed to get her top teeth much later than most of her friends, with them only coming in between 12-14 months and they took their sweet time to come through, causing her all sorts of discomfort. At 15 months they aren’t fully grown yet either! We tried everything to help her with the discomfort, from making home-made ice lollies, using teething gels and powders (Abesol Liquid and Ashton & Parsons Powders are our recommendations!)  – She also tried a teething ring and dummy clip from Nibbling, which seemed to really take her mind off things and keep her hands and mouth busy for a while, plus the range is SUPER cute too.

SLEEPING

Urgh. Not such a good update here. Violet’s sleep since the 8 month sleep regression has been quite frankly – TERRIBLE. When she was 8 months old we spent hours putting her back in her bed, sitting in her nursery for hours in the middle of night, but as the months went by, it just broke us both. I have been getting more and more pregnant and tired and just not able to pull my weight with the night feeds, so around 12-13 months we just gave in and brought her in our bed where she’d fall asleep immediately. It just became about survival at one point – we needed sleep however we could get it! So co-sleeping seemed to be the best plan at the time. It started as just for the ‘bad nights’, however soon we were in a routine where she’d sleep in her own bed from 7pm-9pm, then like clockwork cry to come into our bed.

We are now on a mission to transition her back into her own bed in her new room. It’s been a double whammy as not only are we trying to get her out of our bed, but in a different house and room too, so it’s slow progress, but last night SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT IN HER OWN BED! This was the first time in months and months and I can’t say for sure if it was a one-off, the tiredness from a busy day (it was the night after the Royal Wedding, we had a party!) or the fact she ate two big bowls of Ready Brek before bed, but she slept – so even if we have to recreate the royal wedding every day, I hope this is the start of something good!

We have tried everything to help her sleep, including buying her a Gro Clock (to use as a nightlight at this stage as she’s too young to understand it fully), playing music all night and also rubbing Sleepy Feet Foot Oil on her feet each night before bed.

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?

We’ve had a busy few months (as always!) – as well as moving home, Violet tried her hand at baby modelling for Ellie Ellie and Not On the High Street – as a baby blogger she loved the camera and posed beautifully with the props, clearly I’ve trained her well (haha ?).

We also had an awesome family day out to Peppa Pig World, and have spent lots of time at Drusillas and the Sealife Centre, now we have annual passes for both. I find Violet gets bored with too many days at home, so having a couple of passes to local attractions is fab as there is always something we can fall back on that doesn’t involve too much cost if we need to get out of the house.

Violet has been getting on really well at nursery – she’s all settled now and although she does still cry at drop-off, they’ve assured me it’s only for a minute and for the rest of the day she’s fine! She moves up into the next classroom in June/July time as she’s now fully walking, so we shall see how that goes.

Lastly, she’s been LOVING her new garden! I think it’s her favourite part of the new house as she just loves exploring round all the different plants, picking flowers and running about with the dog. We got her some garden toys like a paddling pool, ball pool and tunnel which keep her entertained for hours. We’ve had a few picnics and often eat breakfast in the conservatory with the doors open in the morning so she can look out into her favourite place. I’m so pleased she loves her new space so much.

MONTHS 12-15: 

Feeding: Think we cracked it with food, especially if I lace it with pesto! She is able to feed herself carefully with a spoon and a fork. She loves pasta, cheese, yogurt, banana, tofu, peas, sweetcorn and will never say no to sweet treats like ice cream, cupcakes and chocolate – of course.

Weight: Oops, not sure on this one! Will take her for a weigh in soon! ☺️

Sleeping: Slowly learning to sleep in her new room – we will get there.

Skills:  Walking, Running, Climbing anything she can! She knows all the hand actions to songs like Wind The Bobbin Up, If Your Happy and you know it, The Wheels on the Bus. She signs for ‘Milk’ using sign language and will mimic lots of your actions. She puts her shoes up to her feet and arms out for a cardigan and is getting better at puzzles and putting shapes into the correct holes in her toy. Waves hello and goodbye.

Words: ‘Hiya’ is her FAVOURITE, she also says Hi, Mamma, Bye. She points at something and says ‘There!’ and ‘That!’. She will eat a mouthful of food and say ‘Mmmmmmmm!’

Favourite things: Days out, walking by herself, exploring, the garden, picking flowers, pulling the dogs tail, sweet foods, Peppa Pig

Hated things: Not getting her own way, going to sleep!

Funny things: She walks around the room with her hand up to her ear like a phone saying ‘Hiya’, she then pretends to have a full conversation on the phone.

She also has started to throw temper tantrums, which I have to try SO HARD not to laugh at as she’s just too cute to be angry – she gets ‘hulk fists’ and goes so tense her scalp turns red – she’ll then throw herself backwards on the floor in a complete rage. If I don’t look at her, she’ll stop shouting until I’m looking, no point wasting energy shouting if she’s not being seen ?

She has started to torment the dog, she will get food or a wrapper and purposely dangle it in his face then run away with it.

She knows how to do a ‘high five’ but if you hold your hand up she’ll just delicately put one finger up and tap your palm in return!