Lillian is 14 months and starts barnehage!

Sniff, sniff...my time at home is drawing to a close. Where did the past 14 months go? Where did my baby girl go? Lillian turned 14 months old on January 10th and is becoming more and more proficient at walking. By that, I mean she walks sturdier, walks faster and can navigate over some 'obstacles' without having to hold onto something. She is definitely all Tim - she is fearless. She thinks that she can walk down stairs. She gets the concept, but she definitely needs the helping hands. The problem is that she won't wait. She walks to the first step and sticks her foot out to take the first step down. I don't know how many times my heart has been in my chest as I am literally a second behind her. Needless to say, we make good use of our baby gates on the stairs! She gets many more bumps and bruises than Lexi ever did. That is another sure sign of Tim's genes. She loves the outdoors - all except for being bundled up like an eskimo in her winter snowsuit. She is our noise maker. She squeals a lot. She talks (gibberish) all the time. She is really good at communicating via pointing. She knows that she wants and how to get it. I am constantly amazed at how much she understands. She can follow so many commands and requests. "Where is Baby Jilly? Can you find her and put her in the stroller? Have you given her milk? Can you help me with tidy-up time - can you get your balls and put them back in the bag?" This is also where both girls inherited genes from me - they both possess some of my "everything has to be in its place" compulsion.

Despite that the fact that Lillian has grown very little (slightly higher and no weight gain) in the past three months, she is still our eater. She loves food and mooches off everyone else. Yes, we talked to the doctor about her lack of weight gain, but she is so active, so healthy and eats too well that we decided to just continue to monitor her growth. That said, she isn't that different in height and weight than Lexi was at this age.

Here she is last Monday. We bundled up in our rain gear to go pick up big sister from barnehage. It didn't take her long to find a stick to hold and to poke into the puddles.
Here she is on one of her first days of barnehage. She started her transition last Tuesday. It is a three day process that exposes her to the different aspects of the barnehage day and allows her to get used to Mamma leaving. No tears the first couple of days, but she was definitely sad to see me leave on Day 3 and Day 4. However, they said she quickly recovered and joined in the fun. She eats well and naps well at barnehage. She is definitely ready for me when I pick her up. I don't think I can get her shoes and coat on fast enough. So, we started week 2 this week. She walked in Monday morning without a backwards glance at me - literally. Today was a bit more tearfull. This is the one downside of being home so long with a baby as the attachments are much stronger. She just has to get used to the routine as I start back to work this next Monday, Jan 30th.

She had some sort of an accident with a slide on Day 2 :) - See the nose. Oh yes, and we had a bit of snow last Thursday that has turned into an icy mess on the roads and sidewalks.

Lexi posing with the snowman that they built at barnehage.

Lillian still LOVES her morning cheerios and insists on feeding them to herself. Our spoon practice is going slow, but going well.