We just can't believe that our little girl is now a year-and-a-half old! She is doing so many things now that make her grown up and the 'baby days' feel so far behind us now.
It feels like Leila has been walking for ages. She likes to walk on tip-toes sometimes and she can nearly run at times too. Leila is getting very adept at climbing onto the sofa (we have set up the sofas in the back room so that they form a little 'climbing zone' for her to play on and she just loves toppling from one chair into the other!), and she can climb up/down single stairs on her own without needing any support if they are the right height. She enjoys going in the lift, but given the opportunity will climb the two flights of stairs to the apartment using the banister. Leila can nearly jump; there have been a few occasions when she has got both feet off the ground and these have all been when Scotty is playing 'Layla' which has become her 'jumping song' that she insists on being played constantly when she is in the mood.
Leila is a great eater and everyone comments on how well she feeds herself and how much she eats! She uses her fork and spoon every meal (although sometimes resorts to fingers!), and recently she started drinking from a regular cup at the table herself too. There isn't much mess at meal time now (even when we have couscous salad!) but she still wears her big crumb-catcher bib. Her favourite foods include broccoli still, but she can be picky depending on how she feels that day. Some meals she'll have as many meatballs or chicken as we do, and other days all she'll want is pasta or 'po-ta!' aka potato. She enjoys her fruit too and always manages to get a free banana from the banana man on the corner (whether we are buying bananas or not - cheeky!)
We thought we were nearly over our diet worries as we gradually introduced milk products into her diet and over Easter she was able to have cooked milk products, but then we felt we were having a bit of poo trouble again so cut back. We're reintroducing cheese again and will move onto yogurt soon we hope.
We are understanding more and more of what she is saying, and are pretty confident that she understands pretty much everything we say too. For example we were talking when we got home one day and I mentioned to Ella that I might take her to the shop later. Leila overheard and immediately started saying 'shh, shh' and went to where we keep the shoes to show that she was ready to go out!
Leila has only some words, but has a lot of sounds. Her speciality is animal sounds (meaw, woof, moo, quack etc) with some great additions (fish are 'blub blub blub' and giraffe is 'tut tut' aka 'too tall' from the Dear Zoo book/song!). Her first two syllable word was 'bid-ya' for the bikya man who comes by the apartment everyday. When she hears him calling she runs to the window saying 'bid-ya' She does this too when she hears the Aywa Lemon man ('mon mon') or the ding ding of the gas man ('ga ga'). When she is thirsty Leila makes a sucking sound and of course she can say 'mo' when she wants more of something.
Leila loves going outside. She enjoys walking outside with us, as well as taking it all in from her buggy. We don't use the slings any more as I can't wear them (with my bulging belly) and her walking is getting so good. If we are going a long distance we sometimes book a car or just jump in a taxi. Without a car seat Leila is very good at sitting on our laps with the belt around us both.
Leila still loves reading and at times will sit and 'read' to herself (she is getting very good at intonation to show emotion) but prefers us to read to her still. She enjoys sweeping with her broom (espeically sweeping under the carpet!) or taking her toys around the apartment in her mini buggy. Sometimes she is able to play on her own, but she prefers doing things together which makes the days very full-on for us at home.
We've not needed to do any real disciplining yet. Thank goodness and I think this is going to be something that both of us will find hard with our little girl. We often have to tell her 'no - yuck' when she tries to eat/lick something that is dirty, like the arm of the garden chair or the sole of her shoes. Her only naughty habit is trying to put her feet up on the table during meal times. At the moment this isn't too bad, but I'm sure there is worse to come. She can sometimes throw a mini-tantrum and we're trying to work out how best to deal with these. They tend to happen when she cannot get her way (the main culprit often being we need to finish with a gadget/computer), and again I'm sure that we have a lot worse to come!
