Susannah had her 15-month check-up last week, and she is doing great! She's 96th percentile for head circumference, 66th for weight, and 54th for length. We love our smart, chunky girl!
Pete and I decided a while back that Susannah would say goodbye to her pacis before John gets here. We'd already cut the tips off 2 of her 4 pacis (many of you know, she loves sleeping with ALL of them), so we've comfortably been sleeping with only 2 for a few weeks. On Monday (yesterday) morning, we decided the pacis would just disappear before her afternoon nap. She doesn't sleep during her morning "rest" anymore, so we knew she'd be really, really tired come nap time. I bought a stuffed Elmo a while back to introduce whenever we took the pacis, so we had that on-the-ready for naptime. I was very, very nervous about what the next day(s) would hold. Needless to say, there were lots of tears despite the initial excitement about Elmo. Pete and I took turns going in to comfort her, and after about an hour during one glorious daddy-visit, she finally gave up the fight for her "ba-pa" and fell asleep.
Sweet little angel babe during her first no-paci nap
That night, she only fussed for 45 minutes and slept really, really well compared to some of the horror stories I've heard. Today has been pretty easy, with very little fussing (like, less than 5 minutes) before falling asleep for both nap and nighttime. We couldn't be more thankful that this process is being so nice to us! If you look at any online mommy forums, the ease of our transition is seemingly rare. I guess it just goes to show that my suspicions were correct: I was way more attached to the pacifiers than she was! And BONUS, Susannah's disposition has been even sweeter than usual the last 2 days, which makes those in-between-sleep times super fun. Not to mention, we've had SNOW to play in! [Cue cute snow day pictures]
Loving this white stuff!
Gloves gotta come off to taste the snow.
So much fun!
Today's snow was a little icy, so someone wasn't as excited to be out and about as she was yesterday.
And some other goodies:
Couponing.
Watching Elmo with my babies (Yes, John is pictured...barely)
Apparently something in the water is hilarious!
Trying to get Daddy's attention while he works out outside
For those of you who do not know this already, the Ackers are nicknamers. Hardly anyone on Pete's side of the family goes by his/her actual given name, so it's no surprise that Susannah has her fair share of nicknames. Her most recent and longest-lasting nickname is Shoey, but because Pete is all about nicknames that evolve, her newest nickname is Shooter. There may be some subliminal messaging going on there from her hunter-daddy, but I still think it's cute watching our Little Shooter walk around the house like she owns the place.
Susannah now officially knows the sounds for chicken, kitty-cat, duck, tractor, horse, and cow. She also asks for "hep" (help) allllllllll the time. I taught her that so she'd stop whining every time she needed assistance with something, but now she thinks it's the cure-all call. And the main problem with that is that Susannah ONLY whispers "hep." So if she wanders into another room and wants help opening a box or getting a book off the shelf, her whisper for help doesn't always reach the adult ears...which elicits the whining I was trying to stay away from with the teaching of that word. It's still adorable when you do hear her say it, though.
Speaking of books, that is also something Susannah wants to do allllll the time: READ! As a former English teacher, I think this is wonderful, but I have to be honest and say that I do get a little tired of reading the same 5 favorite books over and over again through the day. I can recite all of our Sandra Boynton books by heart now, as well as Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. But I'm thankful that she's constantly asking us to read rather than constantly asking us to turn on the TV!
And some picture highlights from the last few weeks:
Selfies at the swing
Susannah has gotten to have lots of quality time with her favorite "Ann-hee" (Angie) lately!
Always loving the outdoors
Also always loving a full tray of food!
Playing in the Chick-Fil-A play area was so fun!
Susannah LOVES Baby Charis, our pastor and his wife's daughter! They are both enamored with each other.
And speaking of their love for one another, Charis and Susannah had a hilariously sad interaction last week. Charis is teething majorly and Susannah didn't like seeing her friend hurting...and Charis didn't like silence:
