Sasha at 16 Months

This month Sasha has started to help us dress her.  We say "feet" when putting her pants on and she will put her feet in the holes, and "arms' to put her hands in shirts and jackets.  It makes it that much more enjoyable to have a little assistance.  

I've had fun trying new outfits.  I'm still nowhere near the extent some 'toddler and tiara' moms go to, but with all the hand-me-downs she gets, it's fun to find new ways to mix and match. 

 This is my tribute to the 80's:

 I wish I had gotten a better picture of this outfit, but I specifically went searching for white undershirts just so she could wear this outfit (especially in the winter)

Of course, as she has gotten more helpful, she occasionally like to cancel that out by playing around with her clothes.  Here she is after her nap, having stripped a sleeve off.  She also likes unzipping and taking off her hoodies right before we leave the house.

 This month, Sasha started learning to follow directions.  It was nice while it lasted, and unfortunately for her, this means that she will receive disciplinary correction when she doesn't follow said directions.  She thinks it's so funny to push the limits, waiting until I count to 2 and go after her before really obeying sometimes.  This has caused the occasional attempt at reverse psychology (which works like a charm), but I'm always afraid to encourage that kind of communication.

 I guess it's just part of her personality to push her limits.  Here she is at the park trying to follow Kaleb onto the monkey bars.

Most of the time I try to take her misbehavior as a sign that she is still learning or being playful, but then occasionally I see a little bit of the devil in her:

 Then she gives me these adorable grins, and I just melt!

This is the month Sasha became completely obsessed with her butterfly Pillowpet.  It was a random gift from my older sister and her hubby, and it seems to be a constant source of comfort for her, won't sleep without it.    The cool thing is that we decorated Kaleb's nursery room with bears and he has Blue Bear, and Sasha's nursery was full of butterflies, and here she is now with her obsession.  Go figure.  Makes me wonder what random thing we could decorate our next kids room in?  Bacon?  Violins? Sticks?

This month, we started practicing her "L" sound.  We had to exaggerate to help her understand and she had a lot of fun talking with her tongue sticking out of her mouth.  At least now she can say "Lie" for light.  

She started saying "HI" this month and became totally obsessed with the word "Daddy."  It's still fun to hear but there were a few days where EVERYTHING was daddy.  She also learned to say "tickle" or "Teeteeteee" and liked to tickle her belly like we often do.

Sasha has also been shaking her as if to say "no" for almost any question we ask, so I've tried to teach her nodding "Yes" by pushing her head up and down with my hand and saying "yeeeeeesss" very slowly.  She seems to be picking it up, but now she puts her hand on her head whenever she does nod.

Even though I call Sasha a tird because of her constantly challenging behavior, she does seem to have some compassion deep down.  Whenever Kaleb is put in timeout, she likes to sit with him until he is done.  

I've been trying to get Sasha to say sorry for her wrongdoings lately by encouraging her to give hugs. Well, so far it's usually her walking up to the other person and allowing them to hug her.  This is gonna be a tough road, I can just feel it.  

Yep that's my little Sasha!