~26 Months

We totally dropped the ball on taking Juliet's two-year photo. It is crazy in December! It is fun taking her photo now, because you can just ask her to climb in the chair and hold her elephant. She doesn't sit still very long, so I have to be quick! Juliet is talking a lot these days and is understandable by more people outside our household. She is showing signs of wanting to use the potty. She still wants to do everything Ben does! She is so sweet, but has a quick temper, involving tantrums that fortunately come and go pretty quickly. She is my baby girl!

Twenty-Three Months

Juliet is almost two! We almost forgot to take her 23-month photo, which is funny since that is the photo we don't have of Ben.

The outfit in this picture was picked out by Juliet. I mention that only because it is indicative of the attitude we get to deal with these days - she is very opinionated, and is not a happy camper when she doesn't get her way!

In fact, a very popular phrase for Juliet's 23rd month was "No, my do it!!" Or, lucky me, "No, mommy do it!"

Ben and Juliet can make each other so happy and so mad. I guess that's typical of siblings! They will be so nice to each other one minute, and then Ben will take her toy or Juliet will push Ben. Ben gives Juliet about a 3-strike rule; she can push, hit, or pinch him twice without retaliation but the 3rd time is usually the final straw. We're working on this with both of them! Of course, then they'll be helping each other or playing together the next minute like nothing happened.

Juliet got her 2nd upper canine this month. Finally! Only the two bottom canines left to go. At this rate, we'll see her 2-year molars at about 2 1/2. Juliet now insists on brushing her teeth at bedtime even though we'd been lazy about adding that to her routine. She's keeping us honest.

If anything, Juliet has gotten easier at bedtime. She is my rockstar sleeper.

For fall, I got mostly 24-month or 2T clothes (not much difference). Her warm clothes from last year were definitely too small! I need to weigh and measure her but that probably won't happen until her 2-year appointment next month.

See the attitude we're dealing with here?

Twenty-Two Months

We are two months away from two! Juliet is turning into such a toddler. She does something new everyday to make us smile! (And also to exasperate us...)

Juliet finally got another tooth! Her upper right canine is working its way in, just when Ben's did too. Our kids may be late teethers, but they sure prove it runs in the family.

The baby doll playing has started to escalate. Juliet now offers her babies drinks and pacifiers, snacks, and also takes them to the potty. It is so adorable.

It is still getting easier to understand Juliet, though there are definitely complete conversations she has where we just look at each other and shrug. Common phrases now include "Stop, Mommy" and "Me do it". Luckily if we can't understand her, we can use trial and error and she'll say "No" for ages until we finally figure it out and then she gets excited and says "Yeah!" She is definitely making me aware of my grammar, since I think she gets the "Yeah!" from me.

Juliet likes getting her hair fixed now but she is usually very opinionated about the bow that I use. I can't just use the bow that matches, she gets to pick it out. Daddy is learning how to fix her hair too since he is often the one to get her ready on school days.

Sleeping is still great, though Juliet's bed is getting very full since she wants to take everything to sleep with her - dolls, stuffed animals, blankets, books. She takes about a 2 hour nap (sometimes closer to 3 if we wear her out) and sleeps about 12 hours at night if we don't wake her up for school. After some exciting interest in the potty, we've seen no more action and are happy to wait until after the 2-year mark to think about potty training.

I finally have an excuse to shop again since I don't have any fall clothes for Juliet. Her few 2T outfits still need the sleeves rolled up, but the 18-month clothes don't look like they'll last the full season. I haven't weighed or measured her lately but she seems so grown up these days. I would guess she's staying right on track, but we'll see in a couple months at her checkup.

Twenty-One Months

We took these pictures pretty close to the twenty-one month mark (a few days late) but I am very late writing the post. We'll see if I can remember what I wanted to highlight! As you can tell, Juliet is getting harder to photograph simply because this child is never still!

Juliet talks so much now. I really can't list all her new words. She'll try to say about anything, now, and loves to boss around her big brother. If he gets scolded for something, she shakes her finger at him and says "No, no, Ben!" It is adorable though I'm sure he isn't a fan.

After a couple successes on the potty at bedtime, Juliet has stopped showing much interest. She still loves to keep Ben company and she talks about the potty a lot, but she hasn't gone successfully again. I'm not in a hurry! We're going to wait until after all our fall travel and crazy December to do any training unless she is insistent.

Juliet seems so big these days. Some of her 24-month clothes that have been washed a lot are starting to seem a little small. She is definitely long-torsoed like her daddy; there are still some 12-month pants that fit but she definitely needs the 24-month/2T shirts.

Juliet finally lets me fix her hair! I think it gets in her eyes a lot - she has a cute little gesture where she uses the palm of her hand to push her hair out of her face. So now I get to do ponytails and pigtails and it is adorable. Usually when I offer a bow she says "No bow!" but sometimes she feels like being fancy and I get to put in a bow.

For play, Juliet still loves her babies and purses. She'll go in my closet to get a purse, get a baby, and head for the back door, saying "Bye Bye Mommy! Bye Bye Daddy!" She's on a mission. She also loves to be rough-and-tumble with her big brother. As she gets bigger and sturdier I don't have to worry about that quite as much!

Bedtime is still about 7:30pm, and most days she's in bed when it's time to get ready for daycare, about 6:45am. Juliet wants to take more and more things to bed - a baby doll, a new stuffed animal, all her blankies. It's getting quite crowded in there. She has tried a couple times to climb into her bed but so far hasn't tried to get out, so we're thinking the crib will last a little while longer. Famous last words?

Twenty Months

Our little girl is twenty months old!

It is getting easier to understand Juliet when she talks to us. New words include outside, cheerios, potty, bowl, boat, shoes, and bird. She also uses phrases like "Where's Daddy?" (or Ben, DJ, Mommy, snack, etc), "What's that?" and "Let's go!" She knows the sounds for snake and monkey now, too, though her tiger growl is still my favorite.

This little girl knows how to throw a fit! She has the most spectacular meltdowns when she doesn't get her way, but it so obviously just for show that it usually just makes us chuckle. We tell her "no fits!" and then move her somewhere (to the couch, to her room) and tell her she's in timeout and to come back when she's calm. So far it works, though she'll begin to challenge us on that soon, I'm sure!

When you ask Juliet to count, she'll hold up her fingers and make appropriate noises. This usually happens at the pool and park when we are counting "1, 2, 3, jump!"

Juliet takes such good care of her baby dolls. She takes them for walks in the stroller, gives them pacifiers, puts them in their high chair for snacks and drinks.... Her favorite activity is to cover them up with a blanket and say "night night!" and pat them on the back. This is the main thing she likes to do that's her own, and not just emulating her big brother.

I am already counting the days until I can sign Juliet up for gymnastics. She loves to climb and tumble, and will hang from anything to swing (the back of her high chair, the pedestal sink in the powder room, the arch of the backyard playground). She also loves to dance and run. She runs everywhere, and has her share of bruises and scrapes from the falls that come with it.

I sound like a broken record, but Juliet is still a great sleeper. We'll see if that changes when the time comes to move her out of her crib - I think we'll stall that as long as we can! She wakes up happy but doesn't want to get out of bed; she wants you to hand her books and play with her but says no when you try to pick her up.

Our big news of the month is something only a parent can appreciate - Juliet peed on the potty! For a little while now she's been grabbing her diaper and saying "potty" but that seems to be right after she goes. She's asked to sit on the potty a couple times but it seems to be more of a game. Then during bath last night she pointed at the potty, so Peter set her on it. She went! She's done it again even more deliberately. We'll wait a few more months before doing anything serious about potty training, but this girl is not going to put up with her diapers much longer.

Juliet is definitely growing! I didn't measure her but I finally put away her 12-month clothes since they were getting way too short. Her 18- and 24-month stuff fits great!

Nineteen Months

We are officially on the downhill slope to 2-years-old!

Like we expected, Juliet's language is exploding! She has made many more words understandable this month, including outside, thank you, let's go, book, bowl, and more. She can say "ow" and "boo boo" which we've discovered now that she falls and scrapes her knees with some regularity. She also knows the animal sounds for cow, sheep, kitty, rooster, and tiger. Rooster and tiger are my favorite!

Despite the lack of understandable words, Juliet is a great communicator. She points, nods, signs/says "more" and "please", shakes her head and says no... She usually finds a way to make her intentions clear!

Juliet will finally wear a bow in her hair without immediately pulling it out. She does eventually pull it out but usually let's you put it in. You have to ask first - and sometimes she decides she definitely doesn't want to wear a bow! She is already quite opinionated.

She makes the funniest growling laugh when she's really amused. Another thing I need to catch on camera. She also will just growl at you sometimes, it cracks us up every time.

Juliet continues to be a great sleeper. She is easy to put to bed right now for naps and nightime, usually sleeps all night, and sometimes sleeps in until 8:30 on the weekends. She doesn't really care when she gets her nap but will sleep at least 2 hours when we put her down. I'm scared for this phase to end!

I haven't weighed or measured her this month but she continues to fit her clothes better and better. She's finally outgrown her 12-month clothes, and wears mostly 18-month though I put her in the too-big 24-month just to get some more wear out of them.

Ben really wanted to be in the picture!




Ben mugging for the camera.

Eighteen Months

Juliet is a year and a half old! I look back just at her 12 month photo and I can't believe how much she's changed.

Juliet got two more molars this month. She is usually a pretty obvious teether but these both snuck up on us and I didn't notice them coming in.

Juliet's language has exploded this month. New words include mine, drink, snack, night-night, bath... Most are still just words we recognize, but everyone can tell when she says hi, bye-bye, night-night, and MINE!!!

At this age I had a good feel for the types of toys and activities that Ben liked most - trains, cars, etc. With Juliet it's a little harder to tell. She loves pushing toys like the stroller and shopping cart, and she's more into fine motor skills like stacking and sorting. One thing is for sure - she is our water baby. At a pool party on Saturday we tried Ben's floaty on her and she ran right to the edge of the pool and threw herself in. She comes to the sink when I'm washing up and wrings her hands together to let me know she wants to wash hers, too. And I think every night lately we've spent at least some time out with the water table Pete built.

Ben is having so much fun with Juliet as she gets older. It warms my heart to hear "Juwiet, come play in my room! Juwiet, let's hide under this blankie! Juwiet, let's go play on the playground!" They play together quite well, though there are the usual occasional sibling scuffles. In fact, we had to remove them from church Sunday because Juliet wanted to share the cars Ben brought and that didn't go over too well.

Sunday Juliet took a 3 hour nap! And still slept 11 hours at night. She is our champ sleeper. Fingers crossed she doesn't grow out of this!

Juliet has quite a wardrobe right now. She can wear some of the summery clothes we got her last fall but is mostly wearing her 18-month clothes with some 24-month thrown in to get more wear out of them. She's wearing size 5 shoes, which I can't seem to stop buying for her. It will be a few more weeks before we get in for her 18-month appointment so I'll try to remember to update with her height/weight.

This is what we dealt with trying to get this month's picture!

Seventeen Months

We took time out from the absolutely gorgeous weekend to snap Juliet's 17-month photos. I actually had myself convinced she is 18-months old now and was a little embarassed to realize I'd skipped a month. She is growing up so fast, no need to rush it!

Juliet now has two molars! She is slowly catching up on her teeth, though you'd never know she's behind since she will try to eat anything you give her.

I've been trying not to pick up Juliet every time she asks me to since it was starting to cause a lot of fussing when I couldn't pick her up. Now she just holds up one hand because she wants to hold your finger and guide you wherever she wants to go. On the way into church Sunday she took Ben's hand and walked him it, I about died from the cuteness.

We are hearing a few more words, though I doubt anyone else can understand them yet: bubbles (bu-bu), grilled cheese (ah chee), hi and bye (drawn out like a true southern girl), more (while still doing the sign). Our little smarty pants learned the sign for "please" in about two seconds.

Juliet still mostly loves to do just whatever her brother is doing. Trains, cars, blocks, sandbox... She does love her baby dolls and pushing them around in the stroller, and she puts on the little oven mitt to play in their kitchen. She LOVES running water, and being outside, especially if we turn on her water table. Now that it's warming up I know that's where we'll usually find her after school.

What a little personality this girl has. She can be so sweet and adorable, snuggly and loving, but watch out if she doesn't get her way! We're trying to already be a little firm with her that she can't tantrum to get what she wants, and when you see her actually throw herself down on the ground during a fit you have to just laugh. She is going to be a handful!

I know I mentioned last month that JJ is starting to get a little picky. There are several things she will eat with enthusiasm: any fruit but especially berries and bananas, hot dogs, cheese, bread, and pasta. Veggies and most meat are a little more questionable.

Sleeping is about the same as last month, though one day this weekend no one woke up until 7am! That is heaven in our house of early risers.

Juliet's 12-month stuff is finally fitting a little small. The shirts especially are looking too short - Juliet has a long torso like her daddy! My own measurments put her at 23.8 lb and 31". Official measurements at her 18-month appointment next month.

Sixteen Months

Juliet is sixteen months old, which apparently means she's much too grown up to smile for her picture.

We have words! Juliet is trying more and more to repeat things we say. She's still best at Mama and baby, but tries to say lots more like Grandma, milk, Ben, DJ, cheese, uh oh... Mostly we are still the only ones who can understand her but she is trying so hard! She also makes the hand sign for more any time she wants anything, which can make it a little hard to figure out what she is asking for. And this kiddo is good at saying no with a very vigourous head shake.

Ben and Juliet play so well together! There are definitely bouts of sibling squabbles when someone takes someone else's toy (JJ has quite a temper) but they can also make each other laugh so hard. We do have to remind Ben to be gentle when he gets a little enthusiastic, but Juliet can actually take quite a bit.

Juliet is in a champion sleeping phase. She goes to bed by 7:30 after the easiest bedtime routine ever, and wakes up around 6:30 or we have to wake her up to get her ready for daycare. She naps for about two hours in the middle of the day but really just goes with the flow if things get messed up. She still sleeps with about eight pacifiers in her bed - one in her mouth, one in each hand, and a few extra - but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

We are starting to have a slightly picky eater on our hands. Juliet can still eat more than Ben sometimes, and seems to eat better when we put her food on a divided plate like Ben gets, but she doesn't automatically eat everything we put in front of her. She can get very loud and bossy when she wants something different.

I know it's way too early to talk about potty training, but Juliet does already tell us when she needs a new diaper. She'll either just reach down and grab her diaper, or if she can get to the diaper bag, she'll grab all the supplies, find a good spot, and lie down for a diaper change. Maybe she'll be ready for the potty on the early side!

Juliet now has eight teeth, four on the top and four on the bottom. I don't feel any more imminent, and she usually drools like crazy when she's about to get new teeth. Luckily they don't seem to bother her more than what a little tylenol can fix.

Our little girl is so friendly. She'll go say hi to anyone and give them hugs, she babbles and smiles at everyone, and doesn't seem to have a shy bone in her body.

She is finally growing out of her 12-month clothes! This is working out great since the weather is warming up and her 18-month stuff should last her the summer (barring a growth spurt). Per my rough measurements, she weighs 24 lb and is 30" tall.

At first this was the best I could get! What an attitude!


"Ooh! I see the kitty!"


Just another pic of our pretty girl.

Fifteen Months

Juliet is fifteen months old!

Let me start by saying... no more bottles!!! After procrastinating for a while with the morning and bed time bottles, we just stopped, and Juliet is just fine. It has changed our morning and bed time routines a little but has really made everything so much easier.

I hate to risk jinxing it, but for several weeks now Juliet has slept past 6am. This is a big deal! So much better than 5-5:15am. Quite often we actually have to wake her up to get her ready for daycare. This really all started when she switched to one nap a day. We kind of did it cold turkey - she loved her morning nap but was not taking a good second nap and then was totally wiped out by bedtime, so we just kept her up one weekend. If we take a car ride at 9:30am (to church, etc) she'll still doze off but this is working out much better.

Juliet is trying to talk more and more. She'll sort of repeat a word, and Ben loves to translate what she is trying to say. We're still pretty much just at pointing and babbling, though she says Mama, Dada, baby, Ben (sometimes) and Grandma (sounds like Amma).

Juliet goes to bed about 7:15-7:30pm and sleeps for 11 hours or so. It is awesome. She naps usually from 12:30-2:30 or so, though last weekend she napped for 3.5 hours. She doesn't sleep as well at daycare, but usually does well at home.

Juliet officially has six teeth! The sixth broke through on March 3rd, just making it into month 15. I think she's getting her teeth out of order; she has the two bottom front teeth and now the four upper front teeth.

What a little personality in this kiddo. She brings me a bowl so I'll give her a snack, then opens one of the cabinets since the shelf makes a seat just the right height. She hugs everyone, shrieks like a dolphin when she's happy, and pops up in the morning happy as can be.

She is still in her 12-month clothes though I've started getting out the 18-month stuff just so she can wear it longer, even though it's a little too big. I'll update with her official stats after her checkup next week since I have no idea how much she weighs right now.

"Juliet, climb up in your chair for your picture!"


"Smile!"


Okay, done now.