Austen's linguistic skills continue to improve at an escalated pace. She'll try to say almost any word. Point to something and say its name and Austen will do the same. She also regularly forms simple sentences by combining words: "Bye Bye, Chacha!" "Bye Bye, babies." "This is Mama's cup." "Scout! Get down." "Here you go." "There she is!" "More cheese, please!"
Austen also has started using names when identifying her family & friends. In addition to Chacha, she now calls Grandpa "Pa." She hasn't figured out what to call Grandma yet; when you tell her it's Grandma, she repeats "Mama?" and looks around for Mama. She's said "Jan" for Auntie Janet, some version of Heather for Auntie Heather and "Mor'an" for Morgan, although she needs to practice for a while before it sticks. She's also excited to see her good friends Mia, Riley and Aaron and usually greets them with "Hi Mia," "Hi Ri'ey" and "Hi 'Run," respectively. She's working on learning all her friends names.
For about two to three weeks, Austen has been drinking a lot of water throughout the night, waking up several times. It started off with just a little bit but at its peak, she drank almost 20 ounces in the middle of the night, often soaking her diapers, PJs and sometimes the bed sheet. Waking up two to four times each night, Dada quickly became pooped out. Fortunately, we were able to get her switched back to drinking more during the day and not the night!
In addition to making the sounds of various animals, Austen now identifies the animals by name. "Cow. Moo, mooo." She uses this skill to sing the Old McDonald song. She sings the ee-i-ee-i-oo chorus, adds the animal (...and on his farm he had some ... "Ducks!") and then repeatedly makes the animal's sound. She's content to sing the song on her own or along with someone. Sometimes, you can hear her singing it as she's going to bed or early in the morning before Mama or Dada tend to her.
Austen has started throwing some tantrums, so Mama and Dada try to only say no to her when absolutely necessary. She has a strong desire to feel in control. Time Outs work when Austen swings at the cats or stands on chairs, but Dada and the Rodey family aren't very good at discipline so there isn't a lot of consistency at this point. They still insist "She's just a baby." Mama knows she's a clever little whipper-snapper, who will take advantage of pushovers without stopping to bat an eyelash.
In the mornings, Austen watches videos (Baby Einstein and the Wiggles) while eating waffles, yogurt, fruit and cheese. For lunch, she usually has mac and cheese, or chicken and fruit ... with chocolate milk. She also enjoys a nice chicken burrito. For snacks, she likes cheese crackers, raisins, crispy rice bars (a.k.a. boo-yeah bars), and fruit bars. For dinner, she eats some sort of meat, lots of fruit, rice or bread, and string beans or peas or edemame. She's a big fruit eater, while Mama sometimes struggles to get her to eat high-protein foods.
At the very end of the month, Austen started napping in her crib, giving up her well-used swing. Most days she only takes one nap but it happens early, around 11:30. By 5pm, she's often a bit fussy. Austen and Mama often miss classes or play dates because of her lunchtime napping, and Mama wishes her nap would move to around 1pm if she's only to have one a day.
Mama has recently commented a lot on how Austen seems to have some sort of innate fascination with farm animals. Is it in her blood? If so, it skipped a generation because Mama wasn't crazy about living on a farm. Austen is fascinated by singing and dancing and animated behavior. She's even imitating it now. Mama sees a possible future for her on Broadway. At the very least, Austen and Mama will enjoy many trips to Manhattan to see shows.
